@skyscraper
Various issues here. I haven't heard any R2R DACs. My overall impression is that they tend to be more in the warm/forgiving camp. Often they incorporate tubes, though some must be SS. Although they're a subset of all DACs, there are plenty of makers and models out there, and there are several threads here. Everyone seems to have their own favorite. A bit of a rabbit hole.
Then you get to the transport issue. I owned a Cambridge CXC for a while, perfectly good sound, hated the user interface/remote. Also, the Schiit Gungnir had the well-known click syndrome with it. They both moved on. Jury is out on how far up the $ scale you really need to go with a transport to get optimal sound.
Three. There are a bunch of different chips and different implementations in one-box CD players. People will tend to ascribe certain sonic features to certain chip manufacturers, but it does also depend on the implementation.
For instance, in my experience the Bryston BCD-3 is very good and very neutral, neither warm nor "ruthlessly revealing". The Luxman D-05u is a tad warmer, but I don't think it trades off any detail for warmth. It also adds SACD.
Simaudio Moon also make excellent players, and is also another very reliable company, like Bryston.
I don't know of any currently-offered R2R CD players, though someone will probably be able to name one--they certainly proliferated in the past, but presently must be rare or perhaps non-existent among the current crop.
Various issues here. I haven't heard any R2R DACs. My overall impression is that they tend to be more in the warm/forgiving camp. Often they incorporate tubes, though some must be SS. Although they're a subset of all DACs, there are plenty of makers and models out there, and there are several threads here. Everyone seems to have their own favorite. A bit of a rabbit hole.
Then you get to the transport issue. I owned a Cambridge CXC for a while, perfectly good sound, hated the user interface/remote. Also, the Schiit Gungnir had the well-known click syndrome with it. They both moved on. Jury is out on how far up the $ scale you really need to go with a transport to get optimal sound.
Three. There are a bunch of different chips and different implementations in one-box CD players. People will tend to ascribe certain sonic features to certain chip manufacturers, but it does also depend on the implementation.
For instance, in my experience the Bryston BCD-3 is very good and very neutral, neither warm nor "ruthlessly revealing". The Luxman D-05u is a tad warmer, but I don't think it trades off any detail for warmth. It also adds SACD.
Simaudio Moon also make excellent players, and is also another very reliable company, like Bryston.
I don't know of any currently-offered R2R CD players, though someone will probably be able to name one--they certainly proliferated in the past, but presently must be rare or perhaps non-existent among the current crop.