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  3. 173571-168630

Aqua 'La Diva' ($9k) or Gryphon 'Ethos' ($39k) versus. Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T ($3k)?

What sensible rationale is there for buying either of the two above-mentioned VERY COSTLY CD spinners (Aqua ’La Diva,’ a CD-only transport, and the Gryphon ’Ethos,’ a CD player with built-in DAC) when we can get the same pure Red-Book CD digital output from the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T for FAR less money?

What is a potential buyer getting for their significantly increased expenditure other than fancy packaging and possibly a boost to their egos from ownership of a prestige brand-name item? The one component (and a crucially-significant one at that) which all three of these products have in common is the new Philips-based Stream Unlimited CD Pro 8 CD player mechanism. Aside than that, what one appears to get with the two far-higher-priced components is little more than pure window-dressing, not substantive gains in performance over the CD Box RS2 T.

It is little wonder that one reviewer of the RS2 T thinks of it as nothing less than a "giant killer," in that it makes it nearly impossible for any level-headed purchaser, even one with the means to spend lavishly, to rationalize spending thousands of dollars more on these two competing products (or on others like them) when one can get the same sonic results (which from most reports are splendid) from the humble little CD Box.

Any thoughts? Do we audiophiles finally have good reason to come to our buying senses? To me, Pro-Ject Audio Systems may have struck a true winning vein with their CD Box when prospecting for gold.

128x128erictal4075
erictal4075's avatar
erictal4075 OP
70 posts
 

Immersed in watching the video I posted above, I see a connection between the kind of inspired talent those railway engineers of so long ago displayed so spectacularly and courageously applies in a different but equally impressive way to what the best minds of today are doing when confronting the challenges of converting digital "ones and zeros" into analog sound that our ears and brains can perceive as a true-to-life replication of the original recorded event. Pioneering efforts all the way around.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,427 posts
 

“Transports and servers are crucial partners and their level of quality matters.”

@charles1dad

I am in complete agreement. I love to own a player like Ethos or La Diva but instead I’ve taken a slightly different approach to digital playback. Instead of relying on CD transports, I bought a high quality CD ripper with SSD storage last year. After extensive A/B, I could not discern any audible differences between a CD playback and the ripped tracks of the same albums played through my DAC. BTW, I am still buying CD’s that offers superior recording quality and ripping them to SSD for playback :-)

Late last year, I’ve upgraded my DAC that eliminated the need for a external server or streamer. It has also eliminated the need to rely on vulnerable digital protocols like USB, AES or SPDIF. I couldn’t be any happier!

amadeus888's avatar
amadeus888
21 posts
 

The best CD transport of the world is of Esoteric. Vrds Atlas. Dcs Vivaldi One use the Vrds Neo that is of much lower quality that Vrds Atlas. It costs $80000.

erictal4075's avatar
erictal4075 OP
70 posts
 

@lalitk: Which CD Ripper did you get, and do you know what kind of CD-reading mechanism it uses? You describe your Ripper as being "high quality" - therefore you must be reasonably confident that the device inside your Ripper which reads the data off your CDs is trustworthy, and not merely some generic off-the-shelf Blue-Ray, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM mechanism.

If your Ripper uses the same transport mechanism found in the Pro-Ject CD BOX RS2 T, then you’re likely getting the best transfer currently possible of your CDs’ data into your SSD storage.

Is your CD-ripping machine a top-loader, or does it have an opening/closing tray which slides out the front of the unit to receive your CDs, or does it have a narrow slot into which you insert your CDs, which are then "swallowed" (drawn in) by your Ripper?

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