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The anachronistic CD Transport? And do I really need one.

CD Transports.

This is a machine that in my early audiophile days I could not afford. I appreciated, philosophically the advantages of it. Thinking of this device in 2021 seems strange. Yet they still exist and, maybe more importantly, they are still manufactured.

Just a few years ago (I dunno...maybe 2015) I remember thinking Redbook CD sounded great with the right DAC, and underlying system of course. But today, I don’t know this to be true. It is starting to seem that the compact disc is riding in the third row of the vehicle, with vinyl and non-cd-digital vying back and forth, musically for the driver’s seat.

So, my listening habits are

Vinyl 65% of the time
Digital 40%
CD 5%

I do have a small collection of CDs. They are things that I cannot easily or actually hear on other mediums.

I have a great DAC and it made an old (2005) Rotel CD player sound pretty good. The Rotel CD player's remote is dead with no easy replacement, and it does have progressive optical reading disease--...it drops in and out with less than perfectly clean discs.

Can you please evaluate the following options for me? Or tell me to piss off!

1. Buy a Transport
2. Buy a CD player (maybe with SACD ability)
3. Dump the discs and stick with your better sounding vinyl and digital.
4. Are you insane for listing as no. 1 "Buy a Transport"? You must be old.

Fire away.
128x128jbhiller
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
Since you have a great DAC, buy a transport. And since you don’t play CDs often you probably don’t want to spend a lot.

The Cambridge Audio CXC v2 is very popular around here. I use a PS Audio transport so I can’t speak to the performance of the unit, but it’s very affordable.
You’ll also need a good quality S/PDIF coax cable.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-MN0IhqYSJCe/p_779CXCV2G/Cambridge-Audio-CXC-v2.html?XVINQ=GLX&awkw...


chayro
2,974 posts
 
Transports are not anachronistic for audiophiles.  There are several companies producing high-quality transports and a good transport is important for quality CD reproduction from a dac.  If you like your dac, I would buy a transport.  If you check Ebay, Cambridge sometimes offers factory-refurbished CXCs for about $350 or so and I think they're very nice for the money.  
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,757 posts
 
My situation is very similar to yours and, as lowrider57 recommended, the Cambridge CXC was my choice. It's well built, the operation is straightforward, it sounds very good connected with a coax cable to my Bel Canto DAC and the price was very reasonable. 
whipsaw
758 posts
 
Overkill for your situation, but I recently bought a SimAudio Moon 260 transport to replace my high-quality, but old CD player, and am very happy with it. It would be an expensive alternative, though, given your small percentage of CDs.
facten
2,860 posts
 
Agree with the other posters, if you are going to keep your CDs get a transport. From personal experience the Cambridge is a competent transport for the money, and in it's price range others on Audiogon have also recommended the Audiolab 6000. I moved up to the SimAudio 260 in my main system and agree with whipsaw's recommendation of it  if you want even better sound and willing to pay the higher cost.
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