I have recently upgraded my Transporter by having Dan Wright at
Modwright replace the output (analog) section with his tube-rectified,
output modification. I thought it might be useful to discuss my
experience with those who have not yet had the chance to hear this unit
compared to the original Transporter.
I had purchased the Transporter and was thrilled with the additional
control and access I now had to my music collection (ripped to FLAC).
But in comparison to my moderately expensive Musical Fidelity A5 CD
player, I was disappointed in the sound quality. [NB: in Audiophool
terms, is $2500 moderately expensive?]
I felt that the sound quality, while pristine and accurate, lacked the
"breath of life" that I cherish in my music. I go to an average of 2
concerts a month, so I'm intimately familiar with the sound of live
music, and the Transporter didn't deliver it for me. I was going to
return the Transporter at the end of the trial period, but then I
decided to use my Christmas Bonus to do the ModWright thing.
I suppose this comes down to the classic "truth vs. beauty" argument.
I think Sean Adams would argue that adding tubes (an antediluvian
technology) merely adds a pleasant distortion, but that it does not
reflect the true content of the original recording. I beg to differ.
I think the addition of the tube stage has recreated MORE of the
original musical experience. I don't think this can be explained in
terms of 2nd harmonic distortion. My experience is that the ModWright
Transporter now has the essence of the experience that it lacked
before.
For instance, I'm listening at this moment to Putamayo's "Women of
Spirit." This is a fantastic album, if you're into female vocalists.
Anyway, I've heard both Cassandra Wilson and Ani DiFranco in concert,
and the tonality and flavor of the music through the ModWright is
"right on!" {said with an ex-hippie fist raised in the air}. This
same album played before with the Transporter was impressive in its
detail retrieval, but I didn't have the impression of real live
singers, sharing an emotional experience with me.
And to me, music is all about emotion, and not much about left-brain
rational exposition. I don't want to think about my music, I want to
FEEL it! I am now "Transported" and that's a good thing. So if your
Transporter leaves you cold (as mine did), there is an alternative out
there which IMHO is a real improvement over the already-excellent
original.
Hope this helps rescue someone else from Transporter let-down
Frank
--
HalleysComet
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