Looking for comparisons between CD transports
I'm still a disc-spinner, having a pretty large collection of CDs across a range of genres, though mostly classical. About 2 years ago I bought an Audiolab CDT6000 and lived with it for about a month before deciding it wasn't my cup of tea and selling it off. While its clarity and soundstage were impressive, there wasn't sufficient heft to the music, and it seemed to favor the music's component parts rather than portraying a cohesive whole.
I'm considering the Audiolab 9000, the Schiit Urd, and possibly the Primare DD15. That's the budget range I'm comfortable with. (Despite the glowing reviews, Jay's Audio is kind of out or range for me at this point). I'd be grateful to hear opinions on how these transports stack up against each other from those of you who have heard one or more of them. It will be running through a Sonnet Morpheus DAC, if that info is helpful. Thanks!
You want a CD Transport or CD Player? I went thru 9 players, got recommendations here, did a lot of research, chose and found a lightly used Sony xa5400 es SACD player this seller says only 330 hrs laser use. Sony xa5400es, listed 7 days ago believe it or not, that is a good price for one of these with little use. Lasers do get weak when heavily used. sacd dsd out? |
I’m definitely looking for a transport, not a player. I have a Cambridge Audio CXU (their long discontinued universal disc player) which does an okay job as a CD player/transport and and reads SACDs (though in my system it converts to PCM because it can only output DSD through HDMI and my DAC doesn't have that option--very few do) but is best for DVDs and Blu-ray discs. I think the right dedicated transport will offer distinctly better performance for standard redbook CDs.
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I have an OPPO BDP-83 that I got used for $200 and use it with this device to play SACD and CD. The HDMI out of the OPPO delivers DSD or PCM. It sounds amazing with the Schitt Yggi+ and Benchmark DAC3B both via SPDIF. My frame of reference is the Sony SCD-1 SACD player, which died recently. Amazon.com: GeerFab Audio - D.BOB Digital Breakout Box : Electronics The other option for a transport is a cheap computer drive with the following streamer from ARIES S1 - AURALIC This is a memory player so the quality of the transport should not matter one bit.
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I can’t comment on the three transports that you want to compare. I use a Sony 5400 ES and Oppo 105 as transports into my Bryston DAC 3. My NAS however is a Melco N100, and I bought the Melco Optical Player to use as a ripper. The player will also function as a disc transport if combined with the NAS and that is actually the best Redbook playback in my system |
