2. digital
  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
tommylion
874 posts
 

Virtually every player/transport since the dawn of CD has been programmable. It is one of the key advantages the format has over LPs or tape. Sure, some people don’t use, or care about, this feature, but having it available for those who do doesn’t hurt them in any way. Honestly, if it was a deliberate decision, I think it’s a pretty stupid one. I think the more likely scenario is that someone messed up, and they decided to act like it was deliberate, or no big deal, instead of fixing it.


The reports of this transport’s sound quality obviously have me very interested. If it had track programming, I’d be all over it. Yes, I value sound quality over features, but the omission of such a basic feature, that I highly value, and can’t see having any negative impact on sound quality, is hard to swallow.

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erictal4075's avatar
erictal4075 OP
70 posts
 

@ tommylion : You’ve made it abundantly clear by now that your PRIMARY objective is to own a CD transport or player which lets you select ONLY those tracks on a CD which you want to hear, whilst skipping over (OMITTING) all the rest.

With a little due diligence, perhaps aided by doing a Google search, you should be able to lay your hands on a half-way-decent programmable CD player.

You may have to sacrifice some degree of sound quality in order to satisfy and fulfill your other, far more urgent, requirements.

Such is life!

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

The Pro-Ject transport is marvelously good!!! The lack of CD track programmability is simply a non factor (For me).  @tommylion I'd give a serious look at P.S.Audio CD/SACD transport  or the Jay's Audio CDT MK III as excellent sounding alternatives. If you want the CD Pro-8/Blue Tiger servo mechanism, it's also available with the Aqua Hifi La Diva M2 transport.

Charles 

erictal4075's avatar
erictal4075 OP
70 posts
 

@ charles1dad: The programmable alternatives you’ve suggested tommylion consider are all fine and good, but the P.S. Audio and Aqua HiFi units are far more costly than I suspect he’s willing to pay for a good-sounding programmable CD player. His best option price-wise at our talking level would be the Jay’s Audio unit, which costs approximately the same (US$3k) as our little CD Box does.

He’d be better off going for a "mid-fi" CD player of some kind or other at this point, which would have the added benefit of costing him less than US$1k.

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