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

I recently purchased a la diva mk2, I also own a CEC tl5 and was lucky enough to home demo the project rs2. Firstly, each transport, in my system was preferable to my antipodes ex/cx solution, even with the ridiculously convoluted chain I seem to have acquired. (Melco switch, spdif converter, linear supplies, high end Ethernet cables, usb etc)

the CEC is excellent, but does give up some detail to the other two transports.

the project is a crazy good transport for the money, really exceptional, and was very close to the Aqua. I had the Aqua on a 30 day return at the same time I had the project. Straight out of the box the Aqua dug up even more detail than the project, but it done it in an almost distracting non musical way, pushing the detail forward in an unnatural way. The Aqua dealer told me that the unit does require around 200 hours burn in. After about a week, the Aqua seemed to have settled down, and I had a week of direct comparison. IMO the Aqua had a slightly lower noise floor, I could distinguish slightly more detail, the sound stage was slightly bigger, but also had more depth, that was probably the most distinguishable feature. Both are a joy to listen to but I opted for the Aqua, it is the best digital playback I have heard to date. However, bear in mind I was using stock psu with the project, may have been different with their upgraded power supply. Also I used the coaxial spdif output on all transports. I have not heard the Gryphon, it is way out of my price range, but it would be fun to see what, if anything, those extra bucks get you.
 

Slightly off topic, but I would like to add, that while I have no doubt that in the fullness of time server based playback will exceed cd transports, in my opinion, on a £ for £ basis, and contrary to popular opinion, it is no where near cd at the moment! I was someone who jumped on the server and hires bandwagon, and it wasn’t until I had an issue with my home network and borrowed a transport did I realise what I was missing. 
I have even down sampled my hires collection and burnt to cd. They sound better! 
95% of my listening is now cd. 

I hear lots of people say their server is way better than their CD player, but when you drill down they are often comparing a £10000 plus server setup against the digital out of their CD player.  Maybe I exaggerate slightly, but my point is people rarely compare like for like, value wise, these two technologies. 

Transports are important, no doubt about that, but let us not forget that there are brands which use cd rom transports in some of their top models (Meridian comes on mind as obvious one) and that does not seems to affect the quality of music reproduction.

So, as much as I prefer to have big clunky machines like Dcs or Burmester I guess I would not object to have Meridian as well. Some saying about skin and cat comes to a mind....

Trying to put different machines 'in the sam bag' on basis of their transports (or to wonder about reasons of their cost differences) is kind of funny, no offence

@theburbster1

This is exactly what is of value, a "direct" comparison between the Pro-Ject RS2 and the Aqua Hifi La Diva M2 in the same audio system. And granted even then it’s one listener’s opinion but that’s okay. We know by its very nature it can only be subjective. This However is still more meaningful than comments and strong opinions from those who’ve heard neither or certainty did not hear them directly.

In your assessment you used the term slightly several times when describing the difference between the two CD transports. This narrow gap does not surprise me. I believe the Stream Unlimited CD Pro-8 drive and Blue Tiger servo control card shared by both transports is the dominant factor responsible for the superb sound quality of both.

I can see the Aqua La Diva M2 being "slightly " (As you put it) better due to additional fine tuning. What is quite telling is your RS2T was compared utilizing the stock SMPS wall wart. And yet results were very close. What happens when you instead use a linear power supply (LPS) which the Aqua utilizes internally?

Both exceeded your CEC CD transport (Other listeners on this forum have reported the same). It seems very apparent to me that this latest Stream Unlimited CD technology has undoubtedly elevated the performance bar. @theburbster1 , same as you I’m highly impressed with the sonic performance of the RS2T. It has surpassed my high expectations. All of this with  the tiny (Humble)  wall wart supply.

My Fidelizer Nikola 2 LPS will be shipped to me soon, I’m very curious to discover where things go from there. Thanks again for taking the time to post your insightful listening experiences with two wonderful CD transports.

Charles

@theburbster1 

The Gryphon Ethos is a complete CD player. What would be another interesting comparison is the Aqua La Diva M2 and the Accustic Arts Drive II. This is a dedicated CD transport that incorporates the CD Pro-8 drive unit and retails for 18K USD. What might it offer above and beyond the La Diva M2? Aesthetically it's very attractive and elegant. 

Charles 

@ghdprentice Before I decided on purchasing my Aurender N20 I exhaustively explored every avenue for ripping/streaming/storage. I auditioned Aurilic, Weiss, Lumin, Naim everything basically.

I was drawn to the Aurender ACS100 initially because it has two HDDs programmable in RAID format and since I wanted back up protection I valued this feature.

So I extensively compared the ACS100 against my smallish already ripped CD collection (ripped using DbPoweramp) by downloading onto the ACS100 HDD and from a USB and also freshly ripping CDs directly to the ACS100 HDD.

The differences were very, very subtle but they were there in favour of the ACS. So I decided to rip my whole CD collection on the ACS100 and buy an N20.

I have never subscribed to the bits is bits BS because a really resolving system will reveal many differences in digital cables etc. YMMV.