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Reference Transports: An overall perspective

Teajay did a great job by starting a threat called "Reference DACS: An overall perspective."
I thought it might be beneficial to start a similar thread on transports.
Unfortunately I really have nothing much to say; I just hoped to get the ball rolling.

I'll start by throwing out a few names and a question:

Zanden 2000
CEC TL-0X
Metronome Kalista; T2-i Signature; and T2-A
Esoteric P-01; and P-03(?)
EMM Labs CDSD
47Labs PiTracer
Weiss Jason
Accustic Arts Drive 1
Ensemble Dirondo
Wadia 270se

I know that there are very few companies that actually make the drives themselves. The few I know about are:
Philips
TEAC
Sanyo/CEC

Do the various Philips drives or the TEAC VRDS transport mechanism each have a particular sonic signature regardless of which maunufacturer uses them in their designs?
exlibris
enjoy_the_music
39 posts
 
Yes...and Victor. My XL-Z900 has one of the finest transports ever. It is the same as the one used on the Reimyo 777 copy...it is japan only!

So are the Sony R-series...far better than any ES series units...also japan only. They have super expensive fixed point pickup assemblies.

I have the CDP-R10 and CDP-R3...very rare and wonderful players that hold their own against the worlds best. The R10 is in the top few ever....built in less than 100 units for Sony top executives.

Richard
teajay
1,696 posts
 
Ubglub, the company that built the 31.5 transport was Mark Levinson, as far as I can tell they no longer offer this piece. The production of this reference and highly regarded transport ended about five years ago. It sold for $10000.00 new and be gotten for around $3500.00 to $4300.00 on the used market. Built like a Rolls Royce it still would hold its own with current reference transports regarding performance/sonics.
mburnstein
60 posts
 
Richard, can you tell us about the CDP-R3?
Thanks
Mark
ubglub
76 posts
 
I've heard that the current problem with CD transports is that one or two companies have a monopoly on the production of the requisite laser mechanisms, which are poorly made and have a high rate of failure. Due to this lack of options even the best gear ends up having to employ cheap lasers. Furthermore, the manufacturer changes the laser design every year. Therefore, someone building a transport needs to buy a huge backstock of the lasers all at once in order to be able to offer a warrantee service, and also factor in the cost and problems associated with repairing many failed units.
Is there someone knowledgeable who can comment on this?
tmhaudio
122 posts
 
Henryhk:
Yes, lots of great transports/DACS originate from Japan. But as the NA distributor of the French Metronome, I must state the T2-i Sig is a world Class-A transport/DAC in 2 chassis. The even more stunning 2-chassis Kalista transport (in sound & aesthetics) w/separate Power Supply was recently compared to vinyl in 6moons.com review - perhaps the highest compliment one could receive to achieve analog purity & resolution.
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