Schiit URD CD Transport SOON?

jriggy:  I worked in Acoustics & vibration research & development for 33 years. The Pro 8 housing is a very hollow block of aluminum (most of it has been CNC machined out).  The housing (now with thin aluminum walls) would still be subject to resonant vibration issues (no internal damping applied).  The only real advantage (a very mild one) is that possibly the alignment of drive parts will be a bit more precise in the CNC milled box.  As to the carbon fiber, it is very light and stiff, but is used in a way that is likely to have no impact as far as vibration or resonant energy. And carbon fiber is not noted for any superior vibration damping characteristics (it is actually very low)  There have been discussions at DIYaudio.com about the deceptive elements of the Pro 8 aluminum drive; the earlier Phillips "PRO" drives that had a die cast enclosure (not entirely unlike the Pro 8) were similarly deceptive in that it could be perceived that there were "superior" components inside, which turned out not to be quite the case.

The Schii tUrd could arrive early in the morning tomorrow (maybe a lot earlier than that with Miralax 😁).....these goofballs and their product names...

I received an Urd and have been having problems with the transport recognizing disks. About half of the time it will work properly then I have to reset it by unplugging. I tried a Moon Audio Silver Dragon USB C to B cable (which works fine from another source directly into the DAC) but I kept getting the broken USB icon on the transport. I used an AES/EBU to connect and it does sound very good. I have a Jays CDT2 Mark 3 which does sound better but not superior, I would say that the Schiit is about 85% of the Jays. My DAC is a Denafrips Terminator II 12th.

which does sound better but not superior

Humm, isn't something that is better by definition superior to the other thing? Seems like it to me.

I received an URD on 7/24.  No problems reading CD disks (or CDRs).  It did not sound too great right out of the box, but now that I have 35 hours of break in, it is starting to sound really good.  I suspect that it will get better still by the 100 hour mark.  I have so far been using the SPDIF coaxial output exclusively, feeding a Denefrips Pontus II 12th.

My experience with the break in issue does not surprise me; similar things have happened with other components of various manufacture.  It will be interesting to see just how good the URD gets when it is fully broken in.  If it comes within 90% or better of the Jays Audio unit, I would say it is a bargain.  I will post further when I reach 100 hours.