I have a Vivaldi DAC, Upsampler and Clock and Accuphase amplifiers. To play CDs I will need to add the Vivaldi transporter but this is an expensive option. An alternative is to add an Accuphase CD player to my system such as the well regarded DP770 which is half the price of the Transport.
There is probably limited opportunity to demo and compare each option. Any one had experience in comparing the Transport against a high quality stand alone CD player ? Is the Transport worth the high additional cost ?
Am I correct in assuming that you would be looking to connect the digital output (either coaxial or optical) from the DP770 into your Vivaldi system, as opposed to replacing the Vivaldi system with the DP770?
Ghe main technical issue is that correctly use with a dCS system requires a CD transport with wordclock input in order to ensure correct synch between it and the dCS
DAC. Without this facility you risk glitches being created ( which may not always be heard as substantive events but affect the sound generally). Further lacking this facility questions using that very costly Vivaldi system in the first place.
You can save cost ( as I have) by using a Rossini Transport instead. It is broadly similar to Vivaldi Transport II though still expensive and you give up control via Mosaic, though it will be controlled though the IR " plank" which you should have received with Vivaldi DAC.
This really depends on how extensive and how important your CD collection is to you as there is now at least one Chinese unit with a wordclock input. This is pretty cost effective to put it mildly. Regular @Dunc has purchased one and seems to be very pleased.
I was thinking rather simplistically of just connecting the DP770 output into my Accuphase preamp using balanced cables and of course keeping my Vivaldi system for streaming.
I am not technically aware enough to have considered connecting the 770 into my Vivaldi system. Would there be an advantage in doing so ??
Understood, thank you for clarifying. Apologies for the wordy post here, and if any of what’s in it is already stuff you know…
The 770 has the option of either analogue or digital outputs - in your case, the analogue would go to your preamp bypassing the Vivaldi system and using the 770’s internal DAC. The digital outputs however could be connected to your Vivaldi system, and this method would use the Vivaldi’s Ring DAC instead of the 770. That would definitely give a significantly higher level of sound quality, though at that point you would just be using the 770 like a Transport instead of a Player (the difference between the two being that a Player will use its own internal DAC and output an analogue signal whereas a Transport is a product that outputs a digital signal).
It isn’t too tricky to get the Vivaldi running in such a setup, so I wouldn’t bypass the Vivaldi for the sake of 10 minute’s setup at the expense of a big sound quality hit. There’s plenty of help available to get something like that up and running.
I should note that, as Pete alludes to in his comment above, the big downside to the 770 is that it does not have an input for a wordclock signal. In essence this means you wouldn’t be able to use your Vivaldi Clock when playing CDs, and the whole system would be being “clocked” by the 770. There are some real technical downsides to that and it’s much better to use a Transport that has a clock input available that works with your Vivaldi Clock (so a 75 ohm clock input that can lock to a 44.1kHz wordclock signal).
Any dCS Transport will work with the Vivaldi system, and out of our current range either the Rossini Transport or Vivaldi Transport II are the offerings you can get brand new. As Pete says, the benefit of the Vivaldi Transport II in your system is that some of the nice features of the Vivaldi system (like EasyPlay) need it to be a Vivaldi series Transport that is connected. Using a Rossini Transport will absolutely work and will sound fantastic, but you’ll lose some functions like EasyPlay or being able to control playback through the dCS Mosaic app.
So to sum up, I’d definitely look for a CD solution that has digital outputs, and ideally one which has a suitable clock input, to be connected to your Vivaldi system. dCS Transports do tick those boxes and the Vivaldi Transport II will get you some other features that could make it a nicer overall user experience.
Thankyou Pete and James for your very helpful and informative replies. Using a Vivaldi transport is clearly preferable to make the most of my Vivaldi system.
While you are saving up, then the transport i have is an extremely cheap and good option. It won’t play SACD’s but it ticks all the right boxes for connections as far as dCS dac’s go.
Certainly don’t discard it on cost alone, as its very well made, works great, and sounds great. All for less than £500 new.
I am just using one of the cable that came with my dCS kit, as i have some shunyata sigma that I now use between the upsampler and dac.
I am happy with how it’s preforming like this, as I certainly wouldn’t be spending say £500 or more on a cable for something that only costs £500, but that’s just me.
I also just use a cheap power cable and I had a spare clock cable to use. But you can add a separate power supply to it if you wish as well.
But it’s a nice bit of kit, that if it was priced at £2000, I still think it would be worth it. Less than £500 and made from solid billet, own design transport, it’s a bargin really.