New, Very Interesting CD Transport

Hi @tweak1

I use ET3 SPDIF and USB outputs.

I2S is tricky. It is not a HDMI standard. Each DAC producer connects I2S to HDMI pins differently.

Some sellers on AliExpress make custom HDMI cables. But in this cas you can’t choose your cable by sound quality and price.

Compared to the Cary 303mk1 with upgraded digital transformer, RCA connector and fuse that I used as transport, ET3 sounds more lean, with mose space between instruments and more accuracy.

I like its ability as a USB external memory player.

I don’t use oversampling feature because I listen to my DAC in NOS mode.

I don’t like in ET3 a number of things:

1. No song number in remote control.

2. Very bad application to use it as a USB memory player.

3. Once per number of CDs playing it jumps. Cary doesn’t do so.

4. ET3 doesn’t play 1 CD out of the 30 that I tried. Cary played all the CDs.

I use NBS Signature 2 SPDIF and Audioquest Carbon USB cable.

NBS sounds better with CD and Hires PCM files. I use Audioquest Carbon mostly with DSD files.

I tried 2 HDMI I2S cables. But they don't work with DSD because of a different pin connection, but with PCM I preferred NBS SPDIF cable sound quality over I2S I have.

It looks like sound quality depends more from cable quality than from interface SPDIF, I2S or USB. 

I use my ET-3 plugged in via I2S into my Holo Audio Spring3 KTE DAC using a run of the mill HDMI cable. It sounds great. I like the I2S sound quality over using USB. I even like S/PDIF over the USB output.

I've never had any skipping nor any CDs that would not play.

The ET-3 doesn't read or play any DSD disks, but will upsample PCM or output DSD via I2S. With USB you cannot upsample at all.

It does recognize and play MQA disks, if that matter to you. I bought one just to see and it plays at 88.2mhz.

For the price it has a lot of features. The main plus is the top loading mechanism in my book. I have never streamed with it.

A good CD transport should load fast and be very mechanically silent. I had an old Sony ES CD player years ago that I used as a transport. It would only play redbook CDs, and it loaded faster, switched tracks faster, and ran more silently than any multi-disc reading transport I've had since. 

@alexberger

Thanks your 411 is very helpful. I may still get one if the price is right. FYI my digital connection is coax and my Audio Alchemy DDP -1 + PS 5 dac/pre is old. it still sounds amazing

@creative Thank you too. Bummer that it doesn’t read DSD I have a lot of them. So it's no longer on my radar

Hi @creativepart

ET-3 Plays DSD from USB memory and does it great!

I can use PCM oversampling though coaxial. But don’t need oversampling. My DAC has AKM AK4191 that is built to work with AKM 4499 DAC chip and does oversampling job better then ET-3. But I prefer not oversampling mode of AKM 4499.

And cable quality matters! My $1000 NBS coaxial SPDIF cable overperforms any $100 I2S cable that I have by a big margin!