Unitiserve v high end CD Transport

Posted by: Hasselblad100 on 02 December 2015

Hi

 

I currently have a DAC-V1 which is fed by a Cyrus CD. I'm looking to either:

 

1. Upgrade the CD to top of range transport or

2. Get a Unitiserve to rip discs and connect to the DAC

 

Does anyone have experience of comparing the US to a top Transport?

 

I'm not too bothered about network or streaming aspects at this point.

 

Cheers

Paul

 

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by hungryhalibut

The UnitiServe works best as a server. If you want a CD player you want something with buttons to make it work. Whether anything such as a CDX2, when played into the V1, is actually better than the Cyrus is anyone's guess, but I suspect it would be pointless expenditure. 

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by Hasselblad100

Thanks... I guess I need to audition both. I have seen various reports the the US and DAC-V1 sound very good.

Are you saying that a good transport will generally beat ripped CDs?

cheers

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by hungryhalibut

I'm not saying that at all, simply that a UnitiServe would not be my choice for a CD player. 

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by Hasselblad100

So for £2k, what's best option to digitise CD collection and get very high quality sound. In the end it's about playing digi files as the proposal is to not have a CD 'player' at all. I can see that the US has the disadvantage that it has no direct interface

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by 40 below

For me, the 'Serve stacked up as a means to convert completely to digital, ripping a large collection in a few days, and having confidence that the job was undertaken to the best level possible. Others will argue that dbPoweramp can do the same, it's a personal choice.

The 'Serve can also perform as a SPDIF transport.  In this role it can be elevated to very high performance levels through a good power supply, as reported by Martin Colloms / Jason Kennedy and some forum member's experience.  But buyer beware, the mid-price option is not a bargain...

Posted on: 02 December 2015 by TOBYJUG

Depends on what's compared ? A high end transport in my book is something that will cost a lot more than 2k and would be let down by the dac v1 in any case. 

For the price the unitiserve offers more than a transport of course and it works just as well if not better from not being used just as a server natively into a dac