2. digital
  3. 166755-159189

A phenomenal new CD transport-Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 transport

I have had in-house for the last week Pro-Ject's new CD Box RS2 transport to review for the website Stereo Times. I was very curious to assess its performance because it uses the Pro 8 drive with the Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card. This drive was developed and built by StreamUnlimited a company started by the original Phillips designers that historically built the finest CD mechanisms. Only two other companies use the StreamUnlimited 8 drive and Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card, their pieces cost $16,000 and $39,000 compared to Pro-Ject's sane price of $3,000!

My reference for the last two years has been the excellent Jay's Audio MK-II transport that had out-performed much more expensive highly regarded transports in my system. Well, across every sonic parameter  (transparency/micro-details-overall dynamics/bottom-end extension/purity of tonality- a much more airy sound-stage with wonderful 3D imaging) compared to the Jay's Audio transport.

That's way I titled this thread a "phenomenal new CD transport" because while not inexpensive, it just might be a bargain based on its performance. Mind you, this superlative level of performance is based on using the switching power supply that Pro-Ject ships the transport with. I have shortly coming a custom 20 watt 3 amp linear power supply from Linear Tube Audio and Pro-Ject's own upgraded power supply to see if the RS2 transport performance will even go to a higher qualitative level of performance.

I'll be writing a full detailed review for Stereo Times in the near future. However, I wanted to share this information to GON members who still spin CDs. I have had numerous CD transports in for evaluation and this just might be the best sounding of all of them.

Teajay (Terry London)




amorstereo
wig's avatar
wig
1,274 posts
 
SW1X Dac III+ DHT via SPDIF and it sounds wonderful!

Wig
disc
122 posts
 
in_shore, the Pro-Ject runs into the DAC of my Boulder 866 via Wireworld Supernova 7 optical or Cerious Graphene Matrix digital coax. I think the coax sounds a bit better, but it's close.  A friend prefers the optical.  

charles1dad, LTA has been great to work with.  The power supply is a great addition to my system and their customer service is fantastic.  The power supply came with an excellent umbilical (the one teajay referred to above).  I asked them to make me a shorter umbilical (one foot).  They had it ready for me in a day or two, which was fantastic, and then graciously declined my offer to pay for it. 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
@disc,
Congratulations on acquiring the Pro-Ject transport and thanks for your feedback on it and Linear Tube Audio. . The CD transport’s owner/user database continues to expand and is reassuringly/ exceedingly positive.
Charles
in_shore's avatar
in_shore
596 posts
 
I do have a RS2 T on its way the dealer happened to get one from the distributor apparently wait time for one from the manufacturer is a long one.
Anyway I have a large collection of CDs and I like physical collection has anyone directly compared a well recorded ripped CD off a server to an actual CD played on the RS2 ? 
jaudio1
121 posts
 
I recently picked up the RS2 T and compared it to both ripped AIFF files stored on my Aurender N100H and also streaming Qobuz from the same Aurender.  The RS2 gives a noticeable increase in soundstage depth, transparency, and fine details.  Horns seem to sound more real with less edge when compared ripped files or Qobuz. It's almost like a fine veil being lifted from in front of your speakers.  This is all with the wall wart power supply.  From what I hear I will get even better results by getting the linear power supply from LTA or Pro-Ject.  So to be clear

Pro-Ject RS2 T > Aurender N100H playing stored ripped files > Aurender N100H streaming Qobuz.

  

More to discover