New, Very Interesting CD Transport


On John Darko's website today we learn of the brand new Shanling ET3 CD Transport. And for $729 USD it looks really capable. Top loading with Philips SAA7824 drive. AES/EBU, coaxial, TOSLINK and I2S digital outputs. Plus Wifi and Bluetooth. USB to connect to a external HD and built in upsampling, too. It even will output digital to USB for connection to a DAC but not with upsampling.

Here's the skinny:

https://darko.audio/2023/06/shanlings-et3-cd-transport-comes-with-two-twists/

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xcreativepart

Bits are bits. Wires are wires. No difference in the sound of any turntable(s) because they all just spin an album. Someone stated a Sony Walkman portable CD player running on batteries is the best CD player for his audio system. All amps sound the same. What’s the truth, who knows?... we just take the ride.

 

JasonBourne71

I don't think you've been at this longer than me at all I've been doing this for over 40 years and if you think of $16 transport is going to be an esoteric transport you better get your head examined and get your ears checked cuz you're totally clueless if you think that every transport sounds the same so tell me what your system is and I'll tell you what mine is, mine is worth 72,000 and I guarantee you it'll kick the crap out of your system if you're using $16 transports lol give your head a shake buddy you know absolutely squat.

@magnuman 

JasonBourne71

I don't think you've been at this longer than me at all I've been doing this for over 40 years.

Humm, I'm 73 and got my first turntable in 1965. Let's see, that's 58 years. So, that either means I'm too old to know any better... or some kind of audio genius. Depends, I guess, on who you talk to.

@2psyop 

Bits are bits. Wires are wires. No difference in the sound of any turntable(s) because they all just spin an album.

I looked at your systems - you know the difference. Now you're just trolling.

We each have a bias based upon experience.  My bias is based upon my purchase of an Audiolab 6000CDT, which isn’t anyone’s idea of the best transport.  I just didn’t like what I heard.  Fast forward to a major upgrade of DAC and the purchase of an Aurender N20 and my full CD collection now resides on the Aurender and the better CDs sound quite musical and really didn’t leave me wanting more.  So, my bias with regards to digital is to put the money into a great DAC and streamer/server.  That said, perhaps someday one of you will bring over a transport that puts my streamed files to shame.

’71’ is certainly the resident skeptic.  I know that his power cable skepticism comes from a decades old dealers PC comparison.  I suspect his bits are bits declaration has a basis in his experience.  So, @jasonbourne71 a true upgrade to ‘52’, what past experiences/events have you convinced that inexpensive transports provide, or can provide equivalent performance to more exotic offerings?