Transports: Simaudio, Pro-ject, Jays

I have a Simaudio Neo260D; excellent machine; it doesn't play SACDs

I have a Simaudio Moon 260D and while it is not an SACD player it will play the standard red book CD layer on a Hybrid SACD. I only have a few Hybrid SACD's and they work fine.
I have also been able to play the CD-R’s that I have without any problem.
Also, I purchased mine with the onboard DAC and think it is a very nice sounding DAC. I am currently running my Bluesound Node 2i through the Moon DAC.
Connection from the Moon CD player to my preamp is with balanced interconnects.

I wrote a review on the Pro-Ject transport for the Stereo Times website. The other transports you mention were in-house, among many others, and the Pro-Ject clearly outperformed all of them. There are two other threads on this topic and everyone who has gotten the Pro-Ject piece has been quite impressed.

Regarding your dealer experience: 1) Pro-Ject's build quality is quite good and the company customer support is excellent. 2) Oh, I'll bet his profit margin is a lot less on the Pro-Ject than the Sim Audio, and that's why he was pushing that model over the Pro-Ject transport.

Teajay (Terry London)

Personally, if I were buying an expensive transport right now, between the 3, I would buy a Jays with 2 extra transports. The Pro-ject may be great, but they are a new company with a new product and who knows where they’ll be in a year or 2 in these times. And nobody, Terry included, is going to reimburse you for the transport if it breaks and the company can’t be found. I’m not talking about Pro-ject, I’m talking about the company that makes the transports. With the Jays and the extra transports, you are assuring yourself many years of service. I’m not saying you should follow this advice, I’m just saying what I would do if I were shopping in this price range. Good luck. I know when Linn put out their CD12, they stocked up on enough extra transports to service all the units in the field, which was a great idea.  I certainly don't know a lot of people with CD12s, but I have never read a post anywhere where a CD12 owner ended up with a boat anchor. 

Hi @chayro,
Following that logic , one could simply purchase a current production CD Pro-8 drive unit and keep it for future use/installation if ever required. Jay’s Audio uses a well regarded but obsolete Phillips CD drive unit. As you point out supply still exist and one can purchase spare units if desired.

Pro-Ject (Well established company by the way) worked with Stream Unlimited (All former Phillips engineers/developers) to created the newer technology CD Pro-8 drive mechanism. So latest tech CD drive versus respected but out of production CD drive .

I’ll choose the latest effort from these talented developers and if that concerned about potential future availability, buy an extra CD Pro-8 unit. Ample feedback from listeners who’ve heard ’both’ say Jay’s is really quite good, however the Pro-Ject is better sounding.
Charles