CEC Belt Drive CD Transports vs Jay's Audio CD Transports

@alexberger Hello and thank you for your post!  I will try and investigate the SHANLING ET3 or SMSL PL200 that you have mentioned.

Best wishes,

Don

@whart I appreciate your recent post!  It seems as though you and I may be somewhat similar.

I do a lot of research, auditioning in home when possible, etc before buying a piece of gear.  I too have been lucky in that I've been very happy with the majority of my gear and have had it all for a very long time.  I'm not a flavor of the month kind of guy.  I buy the best that I can that is within my budget and I am generally very happy with that for a very long time.

I suspect that vinyl will always be my primary source.  But like you, I want to be able to listen to music that I can't find on vinyl.  I've spent hundreds on single records that I really wanted... but I refuse to spend thousands on some of these records and so I am hoping I can find decent sounding cd's of the same.

Yes, I agree... I am hoping there may be a few people who have had the opportunity to hear both the CEC and the Jay's that can share their experiences with me.

Thanks again for your contributions!

Best wishes,

Don

@mbmi I love your excitement you have regarding the CEC/Laiv!  I'm curious, what other cd transports have you compared with the CEC? How did they compare or differ in sound?

Thank you for your post!

Best wishes,

Don

@no_regrets - others may disagree, but I really don’t think Redbook 16/44 has improved since the CDS days. You can buy very good Redbook dacs for less money than before, but IMO, the CDS, 555, Wadia, Vekian and a few others were exceptional. But I’m sure the LTA will sound great and the tubes may give it some warmth you may prefer to the CDS. I’m sure you will enjoy trying. 

@no_regrets - as an aside, are you using the Naim HiLine IC with the CDS?  It is night and day over the gray standard IC.