New, Very Interesting CD Transport

I well remember back about thirty years ago when the golden-ear crowd was gaga over the CEC belt-drive transport! Anybody ever see one of those lately? Didn’t think so! How about the Theta transport praised by TAS that was actually a $200 DVD player hidden intact inside a metal shell? TAS said it was the best sounding transport ever and a new standard for digital playback!

*facepalm*

I remember the CEC transport with the unique belt drive system. It was really expensive at the time. I seem to vaguely remember the price being somewhere around $10,000? As I recall it was positively reviewed by the audio critics.

Back to reality for my audio budget. lol

I use the transport section of an Onkyo C-7030 CD player with a few different dacs; all with good results. I paid $173 for it in 2017, and that included a separate 3 year extended warranty. Could the Shanling be that much better for $729? Maybe, maybe not.

It is kinda neat though. 😊

So has anyone actually tried this new Shanling ET3 CD Transport? If so, please give us a report on your impressions, and which other transport(s) you were comparing it to, as well as information on the other important parts of your system involved in the audio chain during the test.

Makes me want to order one and get my collection of Monster CD Sound Rings out of storage.