One of the best units that I have heard as a transport only is the Pioneer Elite DV09 player. It is from the time where Pioneer Elite over built their equipment and it is seriously impressive. It outperformed as a transport all units (CD or DVD players) that I compared it with. The reason why DVD players are considered as CD transports is 1) they play CDs.
2) DVD players are outdated when some new bell and whistle come alone. In this case, HTMI came alone and the older DVD units that didn't have HTMI were quickly on the used circuit. However, that doesnt' mean that they weren't excellent as a CD transport, and can still be used as such. In this case, I have been hard pressed to find new CD transports and DAC combination that outperform my DV09 and Theta DS Pro Gen VA. The DV09 used is about $250 and as I have said, you would be hard pressed to find a better player as a transport only.
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2) DVD players are outdated when some new bell and whistle come alone. In this case, HTMI came alone and the older DVD units that didn't have HTMI were quickly on the used circuit. However, that doesnt' mean that they weren't excellent as a CD transport, and can still be used as such. In this case, I have been hard pressed to find new CD transports and DAC combination that outperform my DV09 and Theta DS Pro Gen VA. The DV09 used is about $250 and as I have said, you would be hard pressed to find a better player as a transport only.
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