When I auditioned the Transporter last January I thought it had great fidelity and resolution. It was clear they designed it with top of the line materials and with particular attention to jitter which makes for that grainy, edgy sound. But at $2,000 it is pricey and I think the Duet remote/receiver for $400 is a better deal though its sound quality isn't on par with the Transporter.

We also compared the Transporter to a Mac notebook into a Benchmark USB DAC. The three of us favoured the Benchmark over the Transporter. The Benchmark supposedly has the lowest jitter of any current DAC. Based on that session I went with a Slim Duet/Benchmark DAC combo which was cheaper than the Transporter and gave me that terrific remote and the flexibility to add more receivers throughout my home. The Duet receiver connects to the Benchmark DAC through the optical port though I'm told the best sound comes via the USB port.

Since then I've added another Duet squeezebox receiver for $150 so I can stream tunes into my patio speakers and control them with the remote. For outdoor listening I just plugged the Duet into my old Sansui 9090db receiver. The Wolfson Dac in the Duet is pretty good just not up to the Transporter or Benchmark quality.




John