I recently *bought* a Proceed CDD so your discussion caught my eye. I agree with much of Sm2727. Mine was recently upgraded with the latest software and a whole new drive ass'y, now also used in the 37 and 390S. The CDD does share much of its circuit design and functionality with the 37 as they were designed in parallel. Nevertheless, it still has a few operational quirks you'd never find in a cheap Philips or Sony. But even though it's $2K cheaper than the 37, I don't feel it's worth 2500 1996 dollars compared to many of the better current cd players that sound at least as good when used as transports. I did compare my CDD with a 37 using my DAC in a megabuck store system and couldn't tell any difference after 1hr+, so my unit is sonically fine.
The last few months I've compared my CDD to a bunch of players to try and justify its price, although no Really Good units (ie Wadia, SCD1, CEC). But stock $1K Denon 2900 and Yamaha DVD-S2300MkII universal multi-channel AV players sound just as good as transports:-O However the CDD and other decent CD-specific players are clearly better than sub-$1K dvd-based universal players in transport duty.
My BelCanto DAC2 seems to level the playing field and minimize transport sonics signatures, as it's insensitive to jitter by reclocking the input. You're right to point out there's more to the sound of a transport than the jitter, which your dCS also probably deals with well. Bass extension, image density and soundstage depth are the differences I heard, though generally pretty subtle.
Don't expect wonders with SACD at the $1K price point: the cdd/dac2 overall sounded better playing the (identical) cd versions of SACDs played through the analog outs of these 2 universal players. I wouldn't expect you'd get much out of the Philips 963 in comparison either. I'd also like to find a 2ch audio-only sacd/cd transport/player, but seems the marantz sa14 and the older sonys are about it now at a reasonable price.
The CDD has greater CD functionality, and with cones and a power cord does come out on top of all I've listened to by a hair, but I would advise you try the Sony 777 and its ilk before the CDD.
Happy hunting...
The last few months I've compared my CDD to a bunch of players to try and justify its price, although no Really Good units (ie Wadia, SCD1, CEC). But stock $1K Denon 2900 and Yamaha DVD-S2300MkII universal multi-channel AV players sound just as good as transports:-O However the CDD and other decent CD-specific players are clearly better than sub-$1K dvd-based universal players in transport duty.
My BelCanto DAC2 seems to level the playing field and minimize transport sonics signatures, as it's insensitive to jitter by reclocking the input. You're right to point out there's more to the sound of a transport than the jitter, which your dCS also probably deals with well. Bass extension, image density and soundstage depth are the differences I heard, though generally pretty subtle.
Don't expect wonders with SACD at the $1K price point: the cdd/dac2 overall sounded better playing the (identical) cd versions of SACDs played through the analog outs of these 2 universal players. I wouldn't expect you'd get much out of the Philips 963 in comparison either. I'd also like to find a 2ch audio-only sacd/cd transport/player, but seems the marantz sa14 and the older sonys are about it now at a reasonable price.
The CDD has greater CD functionality, and with cones and a power cord does come out on top of all I've listened to by a hair, but I would advise you try the Sony 777 and its ilk before the CDD.
Happy hunting...