A phenomenal new CD transport-Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 transport

I'm getting anxious to hear this transport having the Holo May KTE. I ordered mine this past summer. Expected date to arrive is now March 18th 2022.

So now I'm most unhappy regarding my delivery date from AA.

Looks like I'll be making some phone calls tomorrow. 

I received my RS2 transport a few days ago. I'll give you my initial impressions (well, mine and my wife's).

Out of the box, I was ready to send it back. Pretty disappointed really. At the same time, I didn't have a solid cable option nor did I have a LPS but dang this box had no bass and sounded entirely disjointed. It felt like an amplifier or cable that needed severe maturing, but for some reason I dismissed that. I mean, it a Transport right?

So I figured it was placement and cable issue. I don't have many options, no AES cable so I substituted a very good balanced cable, the right one I think... I got a generic optical and a Coax from long ago, but a good one.

Next day it still sounded weird but a few songs played well. Wife liked Jesse Cook but Frank Duval was lifeless and completely uninvolving. I was also disappointed that Pro-jects i2s doesn't mean i2s in the Holo May world. I use a Holo May KTE and tried all 4 configurations. No bueno. 

It was further troubling that there are so many audio stars in this thread, teajay, Charles1dad and others, that have such a positive "spin" on this transport. What am I missing?

There was something else though. Behind the confusion of the music there appeared to be a lot more information emanating from the silver box compared to my stellar streamer system, which was was destroying the RST-2 in sound quality. I had moved the RST-2 to maple but didn't get a sense of improvement. Maple was game changing on my Lindemann Musicbook.

Day 3. What happened? I now had lower end. Music had become organized. Textures were being realized and space now had a representation of location. But way more than that. There is a palpable suddenness, an explosion of sounds that come so fast that it takes us by surprise. I look at the Allnic and say, "you little devil you, you're a part of bringing what the RS2 has brung". I would say that there's not the accurate front to back layering (room issue?) I had experienced with the very best of systems and perhaps a not so smoothness, digital glare maybe, whatever the heck that is. But here I am with perhaps not the best cable that my system deserves given where my system is at. Now my streamer is nervous, very nervous. Who's this new kid in town?

So we sat and replayed Duval and other CD's that basically sucked @ day one. 20 hours in it's is a completely different sonic picture.

Busy in the yard, busy at a picnic, today I wanted to spin more discs. I want to hear even more. My CD collection is not only reinvigorated, it's looking forward to more friends.

OK so I'm going to ask, which one of you, or all of you, thought the RST-2 sounded good out of the box? Am I the only malcontent?

Thanks to the forum members for putting me on the right - track.

I received the LTA power supply last week and fresh out of the box we found it profoundly different than the stock switcher. We did find the stock switching power supply very good. It has its strengths.

The midrange became the focal point with vocals being very convincing and especially smooth. Dynamics lacked but being a power supply, it needed seasoning. 

Im at the twenty hour mark and the LTA is really opening up. The Pro-hectic really is showing what it is capable of against my very good streaming system. I haven’t gone back and A-B’d as I’m waiting for a AES/BU cable (Audio Envy) to show up. I ordered the wrong version - coax- and although sounded very good considering it is not broken in, I wish for the former and a longer length as well.

A few days ago a received a set of Townsend foot pods. They are intended for my phonostage, but first tried them under my May KTE DAC. Not a noticeable improvement vs the maple, I tried them under the maple that holds the Pro-next and the LTA. That was a noticeable improvement. More space, greater separation, just more of everything. 

The footers are still going under my phonostage but I may order a set of the foremention footers in this thread or the Lessloss bindbenders (may have spelled that wrong). Predictably, the CD transport plays better with appropriate damping.