transport-DAC combo vs separates

[92135011]

Whats the difference between the two?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Whats the difference between the two?

Your typical dedicated CD player is a transport/DAC combo. Theta, Wadia, the now defunct California Labs offered a transport(the electronics that read the disc) seperate from the DAC(which decoded the output of the transport)in two different boxes. The benefit comes from being able to upgrade the DAC. However ANY CD player can be turned into a transport only by using an external DAC via a coaxial or toslink connection.