Audio Transport 2004

It is amazing that manufacturers can continue to justify the escalating cost of old technology. Redbook transports should be great at this point in time, and prices should be plummeting, yet in many cases the opposite is true.

I can see SACD, and DVD-A being expensive while the new technology continues to improve, which it certainly needs to improve!!!

Great new CDPs should be flooding the market at ever increasing levels of bargain, and quality! Not minimal improvements for huge cost increases! $20,000 CDPs at this point in the game is an outrage, regardless of the quality. They are selling us OLD TECHNOLOGY with a couple of new whistles and bells. Cut the bells and give me a good CDP.

Most manufacturers seem to be going to lower cost one box solutions or SACD and DVD-A machines. Seems like a step backward to me.

I couldn't agree more with the original poster. Many of us have excellent standalone DACs that would benefit from not only top-level transport sonics, but take advantage of the newer formats w/o the video or multi-channel overhead. There are some great new CDPs and universal players for less money now, but nobody seems to be making a new-tech 2ch audio transport for a reasonable price.

The hi-rez format copyright limitations might compromise how much 'fidelity' is available at the digital outputs for SACD and DVDA, and I dunno if they've implemented a DSD-PCM converter that sounds good and is 'legal'.

I've been listening to a number of transports lately, both high end CD audio and universal. There's a market for a 2ch audio mixture of the current technologies - with plenty of useful control flexibility, a great drive mechanism & servos, and good output buffering - for well under $1K. Please let me know when it becomes available...