Resolving CD Transports Crowd Sourcing

@wharfy

BTW, your jazz recommendations, sometime back, have brought hours of great listening pleasure in the wharfy household

Hi David,

I am happy that you are enjoying them. You share a deep passion for jazz and appreciate the outstanding musicians that make it possible.

My comment/recommendation concerning the TEAC transport has to do with there highly regarded VRDS mechanism over the years. I have a 1990s era Esoteric/TEAC CD transport that still functions well to this day. They have certainly improved from my very early model. I suspect their new transport is quite accomplished.

David it’s a shame your RS2T was was faulty x 2 models. I really wish you could have gotten a good one like I did. I believe that much of the exquisite sound quality can be attributed to the superb Stream Unlimited top load drive and servo integrated unit. Same as used in the above mentioned Aqua HiFi La Diva (And Gryphon).

Jay’s Audio uses the highly regarded but discontinued Phillips drive mechanism. Personally I have never heard of any reliability issues with their CD transports.
 

You have an excellent audio system and great music taste. I’d take a thorough look at their CDT3. I believe it uses better parts and a better quality Phillips drive mechanism compared with the highly praised CDT2 model. I haven’t heard either, just going by what I have read. In reality, I don’t think you could go wrong with either transport.

Charles

I second (or third?) Jay’s CDT3 MK3. Although it sounds like not in your budget. In that case, the CDT2 should do. Full disclosure: I have never heard the CDT2, but judging by the “house sound” of my CDT3, and the specs, it should be pretty close.

The Pro-Ject audio Transport.  Have not heard the Jay's MKIII but overall the Pro-Ject was just as you said.  I have not found anything that worked as well in our search since I gave mine to a friend a f3ew years back.

CEC makes a very good transport not the TL-5 but up the line.  We use an Audiomeca Mephisto and Metronome but the are very old now.

Closet thing to the transport and our DAC was the Cary SACD 306 player.  BUT not in stock form.  We installed over 100 parts in that sucker to get it to sound like reference players.  Close to the best we have ever heard.

Anyone saying that they have a server that could compete is not using our DAC  LOL!

Best o get something you like and have it modified with better parts quality.

Happy Listening.

BTW if you are looking to sell one PM me.

The Audio Note UK transports are worth a look although a bit pricey.

I would consider the TEAC but the limited number of digital outputs put a stop to that. I appreciate TEAC CD transport mechanisms. Good looking unit too and with more outputs I probably would have purchased.

Although not exactly the latest in CD Transports, the Sonic Frontiers unit may be of interest if one is available on the used market. The Parts Connexion in Canada continues to support and repair this brand along with others. Recently, my SFCD-1 began not reading the table of contents of CD’s at times. The unit was sent in and the optical laser doo dad was replaced. Works like new. Quick turnaround. No complaints.
 

This is an important point to consider after reading some of the horror stories on here regarding manufacturers refusing to repair or replace a unit after a few years.