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[Marvey]

CD Transport Face-Off: Theta Data III vs. Audio-GD CD-7 vs. Marantz CD5004 vs. Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 + Schiit Wyrd

Stuff Used:
DACs: Theta Gen Va and SFD-1mk2 w/ SE+ upgrades (Telefunken tubes)
Interface: SPDIF for CD-transports; USB (to SPDIF converter) for PC.
Transducers: HD800 and Fostex 6" Sigma driver BLHs
Amp: Schiit Ragnarok

Background
This was kind of a pain. Yes, as much as it may be hard to believe, transports do have their own sound. Some DACs tend to be more sensitive to others to transports. Some DACs may impart too much of their own sound to highlight differences between transports. It's for this reason, the Theta was used the most in this comparison. The SFD-1 is a great sounding DAC, but ultimately colored too warm and lacked the spatial and clean bass capabilities of the Gen Va.

Recordings
I stuck with two tracks. Wanted to keep it simple. Comparing transports is tough. These two tracks were selected because I love those songs and the singers. The k.d. Lang recording has a lot of plankton and ambient cues. It is a quality recording which tends to sound really good on many different systems. The Talking Heads is interesting because it tends to highlight issues with systems. Systems and rooms with bass issues will immediately been identified. Issues with upper mids and treble will immediately be identified. There are layers of David Byrne's vocals overlaid on top of each other. These two tracks are good for DAC / CD-Transport comparison.

• k.d. Lang - The Valley
• Talking Heads (from 200x remaster) This Must be the Place.

Ranking

Let me quickly rank them:

• Empirical Audio Off Ramp 5 (no turboclock; no SPDIF regulator upgrade) with Schiit Wyrd. The Off Ramp is a USB to SPDIF converter. The Wyrd is a cheap-ass USB de-fuckifier. For all intents and purposes, I'm consider the OR5+Wyrd a "transport".
• Theta Data III. A humongous laser disc player based transport from yesteryear. Theta sort of cheated on this one. It's based on a well known laserdisc player. Theta added some extra circuitry to get better jitter results on the digital outs. Thankfully, there is a CD sized tray that sides out from the laserdisc tray.
• --GAP--
• Marantz CD5004. Slightly modified. Damped and mass-loaded.
• Audio-GD CD-7. Probably the nicest constructed piece from A-GD that I've seen. Solid panels.

More Words:

The Marantz has the spongiest bass. This is it's most notable weakness. Having had this CD player for quite a while, I am very familiar with how it sounds. This CDP as a transport lacks the focus of the three others. However it does have good microdynamic capacity, deep staging (although not the most precise), and has an uncanny ability to draw me into the music. I believe the CDP ranked quite high in Anax's earlier comparisons, only to be beaten out by the Denon. The Marantz does not resolve as well as the OR5 or Theta. It resolves about on par, possibly a little better than the A-GD CD-7. Out of the four, the Marantz is technically the weakest.

The A-GD CD-7 has notably better control and focus than the Marantz. However, compared to the Theta, the bass is a bit blurry and lingers on for just a touch too much. Imaging precision seems excellent left to right. However, upon further inspection, one realizes that the AGD simplifies the recording. Stage depth is practically non-existent. Microdetail is notably lacking coming from the Theta, causing one to feel unease and strain to listen for that something is missing. Related to this is flat micro-dynamics. Somehow the the AGD CD7 doesn't draw one into the music; although te chnically in terms of precision and control, it's better than the Marantz. Finally, there is a bit of hollowness to the sound. The high treble and lowest bass seems the most muted of the three, but it's not a significant different. Flat (in more ways than one) is how I could describe the sound of the CD-7. Out of the four, the CD-7 connects least with me on an emotional level.

I thought the soundstage of the Marantz was pretty good until I the heard the Theta Data III. Ambience, layers of dubs, separation, etc. are on another level. The Data III is also on another level in terms of microdetail compared to the Marantz and AGD transports. Precision, control, focus is slightly ahead of the CD7. The bass is a bit tighter. Tonally, the Theta sounds more correct than the Marantz (spongy bass) and especially the CD-7 (slight hollow coloration, rolled at the extremes, slow bass).

The Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 5 with Schiit Wyrd essentially sounds like a slighter better version of the Theta Data III. Same tonality. A bit faster, a bit more precise, a bit more layers, a bit more resolving, etc. OR5 was used with AES3 connector, which may have given it a advantage.

UPDATE 11/18/14:
BNC and more pix: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1930.msg52378.html#msg52378
AES and ST: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1930.msg52503.html#msg52503

[lmswjm]

Where the differences just as apparent on the HD800 as the speaker rig?

Did you notice any differences with transport cables?

The only DAC I have is the M7 which I believe limits what transports I can use. Kingwa has said that the BNC connection is the best on his DACs, and that is what I have found. I have tried several RCA S/PDIF transports including the ModWright Sony XA-5400ES and a vintage Denon CDP. The AGD CD7 was strikingly better than all due to what I think is the M7 BNC advantage. 

I recently picked up a CD7FV and compared it with the CD7. During some quick A/Bing, I was initially a little disappointed at what I thought were only marginal improvements in SQ. For some reason though, I was much more drawn to the FV in the first minute or two. Then I quickly realized that it was because the ceiling on the soundstage was now raised up much higher. The CD7 had good lateral extension, the FV now added a much bigger vertical dimension. Comparisons were with the HD800.

I also noticed significant improvements in SQ when I swapped out my Canare and Blue Jeans BNC cables for a silver Furutech cable recommended by Chris and terminated by PCX.

If LH stays on track, my next transport will be the Geek Source due out some time in 2015.

BTW, I've always liked Mullards a lot more than Telefunkens in my Tube DI's. More livelier and punchy. Idk if the same would apply to the SFD-1mk2.

[Anaxilus]

"The Oppo is a mediocre digital transport at best.  I had a 103 which is the same except for the analog output stage.  It was outclassed by current Marantz and Cambridge Audio offerings, not to mention vintage players that were even better.

In fact, I found the Bluray playback surprisingly unspectacular as well.  Nothing special about the Oppos IME.

A friend of mine has an old Sony XA series but impressions seem to indicate a lack of low end performance.  I'll have to give it a listen one of these days."

"It's better than average but not for the money.  My vintage CDP sounds better via Coax than the PWT via I2S.  So would the Marantz or Cambridge Audio.  I gave one a spin for few weeks when I had a  new production PWD mk2 in for diagnosis.  I would not drop that kind of dosh on a PWT.  I'd rather look for a sd card reader than could output I2S over the PWT, if one exists.  Off ramp is the better way to go than the PWT."

http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,981.0.html

"Quote from: SoupRKnowva on September 15, 2013, 12:31:18 PM
Speaking of converters, John Grandberg(Project86) put up a review of the AP1 with PP, included a comparison to the OR5 http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/09/06/audiophileo-1-with-pure-power-the-little-combo-that-could/

Unfortunately it doesn't appear John was able to test the OR5 via I2S which is where it shines.

I'd also prefer my CDT over the AP1 thoug but it smashed 7 other CDTs I AB'd including two Marantz (5004/6004), Cambridge Audio and the PWT."

http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,485.msg30171.html#msg30171

[Anaxilus]

and a vintage Denon CDP.

Which one?

[lmswjm]

It was the DCD-2700. I don't believe i heard what it can do because of the M7 handicap. I still have it and plan to give it another go when Yggy comes to town.

[Marvey]

The soundstage differences were smaller to me on headphones. To the point were the Marantz was definitely in last place. As I've said, I can't hear soundstage and layering as well on headphones. I'll give the BNC a shot.

The M7 in my experience wasn't all that great with the few SPDIF I've tried. Maybe something there with BNC synergy between M7 and CD7. That would seem to make the most sense after all. I only liked the M7 with i2s via OR5. And even then, especially with speakers, the M7 is well behind the SFT and Theta.

[Anaxilus]

It was the DCD-2700. I don't believe i heard what it can do because of the M7 handicap. I still have it and plan to give it another go when Yggy comes to town.

Oh yeah.....I hated it on the M7 too.  Coax sounded like the worst input on it for me.  Yup yup, gotcha.  I'm never selling my 2700, the bass and low end texture is amazing, so are the mids and their tonality.

Btw, fwiw, marv's modded 5004 crushed the 6004 side by side.  The 6004 lost all the depth, layering and space his 5004 had.  Not sure if from the mods or something else changed.

[lmswjm]

Just to confirm, output 2 is recommended for most DACs that are compatible. If not, use the RCA shorting plug in output 2 if the # 1 output is to be used. This applies to RCA and BNC. Please forgive if this is what you're  doing already.

[Azteca X]

So USB transport with a rip sounds best. Interesting.
Since Anax mentioned it, I have an Oppo 103. I am planning to try the HDMI out into the cheap Kanex converter that converts to SPDIF. We'll have to see.
I wish an audio company would make a really great transport with digital outs, not worry about internal D/A. I would hope that could shave off a lot of the cost.
If there was one cd transport I wish I could have, it would be the current Parasound that is essentially a tiny Linux box that reads each sample four times as it plays. I wonder how easy that is to DIY...Or I can just keep ripping everything as I get it and not worry!

[Marvey]

Just added a note. OR5 was used with AES3 which gave it an advantage over SPDIF. I know Steve says the SPDIF is better, but my OR5 does not have the SPDIF regular update. AES3 does sounds better than SPDIF.

AGD M7 has BNC, so I will need to try that. Theta Data III has AES3 and ST optical.