"Michael Chare" wrote

As an alternative to the Transporter you could use a laptop with a M2Tech
HiFace USB/SPIF converter.

Why specify that particular USB/SPDIF converter?, other converters are
available at lower cost but equal performance.


It would appear that the HiFi world is moving in this direction. Perhaps
partly for convenience, and because it offers the opportunity to use
better than CD quality digital music.


Convenience is clearly the major driver in this move. But I'm not at all
convinced by "better than CD quality". As we know very few recordings on CD
actually use more than a small fraction of the dynamic range available from
CD, whilst few people old enough to be able to afford this sort of kit can
hear the full range of frequencies present on a CD, let alone anything
supposedly "better".

What limits the quality of domestically reproduced music nowadays is the
quality of the original recording, the disc mastering, the loudspeakers and
the acoustic environment of the listening area.

David.