On 30 Aug 2003 12:35:16 GMT, (Derbydrummer)
wrote:

From the comments comming back it would appear that there is agreement that all
cd transports/loader/lasers sound the same and by definition have the same
abilities. This is far from the truth and not just a subjective matter as you
are able to see the differences clearly on test equipment.

While different transports will certainly have different 'eye'
patterns, modern multimedia drives with dual lasers are just as good
as 'dedicated' CD drives. That is a simple fact, which you can indeed
verify with measurements.

The new multimedia designs are inferior at reading standard cds or should I say
not as dedicated and the sound quality is only satisfactory for people who aint
bothered about true high fidelity.

This is utter nonsense, and betrays a profound lack understanding of
digital audio systems.

Obviously this concern is only going to be
raised by enthusiasts and these are the minority of consumers and are no longer
of interest to the majors in manufacturing.

It is not just about 0's and 1s and a CDrom on a computer has a lot of fuzz the
digital filter has to look at as well as the signal.

It *is* just about 0s and 1s so far as the transport mechanism and
associated error-correction and data restructuring electronics are
concerned. The digital filter does not come into play until the
datastream has been completely reclocked and edge-cleaned.

If I am going to be forced into using an inferior transport mech then It will
degrade the sound of my audio system.

Absolute ********! If you really *must* use a separate transport (a
fundamentally inferior process with CD), then what matters is the
quality of the DAC, not the quality of the transport. Please note that
a good DAC is *not* sensitive to different transports, despite what
some ignorant 'high end' dealers will try to tell you.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering