Anyone ever use one of the old computer ...

[Laudanum]

... CD drives as a transport?    I know a lot here are going to computer hard drives for their music now.  But I remember reading, years ago now,  about using old computer CD drives as transports with an outboard DAC.  I dont know all the proper terminology but these were the drives that required that the disc be loaded in a seperate tray (cart?) and then loaded in the drive.   I dont think these drives had internal DAC's at all.   Supposedly they made for excellent transports for connection to an external DAC rather than using a regular CDP.   I never used it but I ended up buying one and some of the trays for real cheap on epay maybe 10 years ago.   I ran across it the other day so Im asking.   I had several CDP's already back then and didnt want to spend the money on a decent DAC.   No immediate plans to try it but wondering if anyone here has?  

[rif]

I never tried it but did look into it a few years ago. sound quality will likely depend on the drive itself. Some are better than others. Newer doesn't mean better

They should have both analog and digital connectors on the back. Don't know if the digital is spdif.

There are kits on Ebay that plug into the ide connector to drive an LCD display and control playback

Hope that helped a little
-David

[rif]

There's a lot of talk about CD drive quality at dbPowerAmp or eac. Most of it is probably about ripping a CD, not playing it. As I said it's been awhile so my facts could be wrong.  But I did recent try some movies from DVD for the first time, and my "newer" drive with faster specs was significantly slower. Same thing for audio rips.

I am sorry for taking this a little of course.

[earwaxxer]

From what I have read regarding computer based audio, the process of ripping the redbook to hard drive yields a better sound quality (in general) than using the CD/DVD drive as a transport. I have not heard of anyone with data or experience to refute that generalization, although for sure there are CD transports (players) that sound 'better' than a computer. Not many, it appears, and those are the highest end of players available.  I would tend to believe that a superior sounding CD transport (player) has more to do with the supporting digital data processing/handling than the particular transport in question. Given a choice between playing redbook data in realtime or ripping, I would definitely choose ripping from what I can gather to date. There are probably jitter issues at play here, and all of this may change with better jitter management over I2S. I know that the original Playstation (1) was coveted as a superior sounding CD player. I think if I was just going to spin a disk I would use a dedicated player like that, vs involving all the noise and issues of the computer. As far as I know, the I2S data path is still preferred over other protocols.

[electrovice]

I think you are speaking of the NEC 602. I played around with one for a while. I lost interest in it when it refused to cough up a cd that I had inserted.

The unit had both a digital out for an external DAC and standard RCAs using its internal DAC. There were primitive front mounted controls and a display. Most of the internet buzz interest in the machine was for use as a transport. It is/was a solidly built machine. NEC also made a variant of the machine that used an external power supply. This other machine was a top loader (like Rega players) and, if memory serves me, did not require the use of the carrier.

John

[Laudanum]

Hi John.  I'll have to look closely at it again, but I dont believe it has RCA outs.  Digital and,  I believe, an IDE.   I think it is an NEC unit though.  It's not a top loader but does have provision for external supply.  By the way, this is NOT a regular external CD drive.  We actually had a couple of those, Sonys units. They were USB only units with wall warts as supplies.  I think we got them to add to old computers that didnt have CD drives (only Floppy).  This was a while back, obviously.  Although, the wife did have one in service not long ago as an extra drive.   

Anyway,  I just ran across the box for the NEC unit a few days ago and remembered it.  I didnt open the box so my descriptions are all from memory (probably poor memory).   Again, I dont think it will end up being used, Im happy enough still spinning redbook on my tubed CDP's and, of course, my vinyl.   Not into the entire computer music thing just yet either.  Too expensive to do it right at the moment, with a Mac mini it seems, and it's not on the short list at present.  

Back to the CD thingy ... I was just curious if anyone here ever ended up using one as a transport and how it worked out.    Thanks for the info John, and everyone else.

[ironbut]

A few years back (2008 IIRC) I ran a Headfi room at the last VSAC. One of the guys who brought a DIY rig was using a plain jane internal optical disc player as a stand alone transport.
I kinda remember asking him about how he did it and it seems like it was pretty simple (all off the shelf cable adapters). He was using a DIY DAC.
His rig sounded excellent!