CD Transport

@leog2015 - selling?  No, I just got it. I was just posting my initial impressions for anyone in the market for a TL5. 

jasonbourne71

545 posts

10-09-2023 at 05:12am 

Since you believe that CD transports sound different nothing I say will convince you otherwise. Therefore buy the least expensive of the three.

Forget it. Common sense is always frowned upon here.

I have a Jay's CD3 MK III and I have a Teac 701 on order with Music Direct. Recently they told me that the Teac will ship in November. Before the Jay's I ran a PS Audio PerfectWave Transport. I have also had several CD players, my current one being a Marantz KI Ruby and before that I had a Marantz SA 8005.

My primary advice regarding transports is to choose a brand that specifically identifies the manufacturer and model of the drive itself. Then research the reliability of that drive. If the Transport maker is coy about which drive they use then I would avoid them. I came to this lesson from my experience with PSA where they used a $15 cheapo computer drive in their $4000 transport. After going through three drives they quit supporting the unit and wouldn't assist me with replacing the drive myself. BTW, any drive adapted from a computer application is unfit for a CD player. Computer drives are designed to spin up, read data, then spin down. They are not designed to spin CDs for hour after hour.

Marantz makes their own CD drives but for some reason they don't make a transport. One option I would consider would be to get a used Marantz player such as a model from the 8000 series and use that as a transport. I've had 3 Marantz CD players over the years and they have been 100% reliable. You will likely get a better transport for less money with a Marantz player than if you bought the Audiolab or Primare. Teac obviously makes their own transports and the 701 should be an excellent unit.

FWIW I have compared the sound of my Jay's transport with my KI Ruby used as a transport and they sound virtually identical through my Berkeley Reference Series 2 MQA DAC. I doubt I could identify them in a blind test. I think transports are likely to sound very similar so other factors will weigh in on the decision. Reliability, ease of use, form factor, and pride of ownership should mostly drive the decision.

The K1 Ruby has the same transport as the SA10?

I’m also considering a used CEC TL2N, opinion?

Here's an interesting article by Arthur Salvatore to the effect that the transport is more important to the overall presentation than the dac.  A minority view to be sure, but make of it what you will. 

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Digital.html#2011