SACD/CD Drive Mechanism Replacement

It depends on the brand you buy. If you buy from a high end audio company they should have a stockroom of spares in case this happens to you in the future. On the other hand they probably have modified the drive to make it sound better, so, they will have to do the replacement.

If it is a budget drive. Well, not sure why you would want a spare. Playing discs is becoming less and less common with streaming sounding as good or better.

Any reputable tech can install a drive not that hard.

having a spare is only a thing if you know there are not many available. Like an older out of production drive. If parts are plentiful why bother.  mind you if your sanity is an issue worrying about it then buy one. Probably buy the optical side as well. They don't always come together. 

No regrets. My Marantz SA10 lens gave up. It is now fix . I bought 2 extra lens for my Ruby and and my Sa10 player.If you are buying used player. Make sure you have a back up lens and tech to do it.

The players I am considering are very high-end products utilizing Esoteric VSOP drive mechanisms which are no longer being sold outside of Esoteric players.

If I were able to purchase a replacement, the manufacturer will be willing to install it, for a fee obviously, but my concern is this.... who knows how many years will go by before I would need the service and what if the manufacturer is no longer in business? 

I didn't know how complicated it would be to have some other audio technician do the installation?  

I'm not sure if the drive mechanism comes with the laser assembly, so that is a great question for me to ask.  Thank you for bringing that to my attention, glennewdick and jayctoy!

The more I keep trying to research CD/SACD players... it seems all the brands have issues with the drives, with many of them no longer being able to be serviced.  I have to admit... I'm getting cold feet about buying something used out of warranty, and I'm not willing to pay the price for these high end players new.  

I'm mainly a vinyl guy, but there are times I want to be able to listen to "new" music that isn't released on vinyl and I was hoping to find a player that will come close to my analog rig in sound.

I appreciate everyone's comments and giving me more to think about :)

Best wishes,

Don

No need to worry.  I bought an Esoteric SACD player with the VRDS NEO transport in 2008 and still use it a few times every week.   It has worked perfectly for 16+ years.  I love the player.