Boukman, I bought mine from Walter/Underwood Wally. Very happy.
A phenomenal new CD transport-Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 transport
I have had in-house for the last week Pro-Ject's new CD Box RS2 transport to review for the website Stereo Times. I was very curious to assess its performance because it uses the Pro 8 drive with the Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card. This drive was developed and built by StreamUnlimited a company started by the original Phillips designers that historically built the finest CD mechanisms. Only two other companies use the StreamUnlimited 8 drive and Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card, their pieces cost $16,000 and $39,000 compared to Pro-Ject's sane price of $3,000!
My reference for the last two years has been the excellent Jay's Audio MK-II transport that had out-performed much more expensive highly regarded transports in my system. Well, across every sonic parameter (transparency/micro-details-overall dynamics/bottom-end extension/purity of tonality- a much more airy sound-stage with wonderful 3D imaging) compared to the Jay's Audio transport.
That's way I titled this thread a "phenomenal new CD transport" because while not inexpensive, it just might be a bargain based on its performance. Mind you, this superlative level of performance is based on using the switching power supply that Pro-Ject ships the transport with. I have shortly coming a custom 20 watt 3 amp linear power supply from Linear Tube Audio and Pro-Ject's own upgraded power supply to see if the RS2 transport performance will even go to a higher qualitative level of performance.
I'll be writing a full detailed review for Stereo Times in the near future. However, I wanted to share this information to GON members who still spin CDs. I have had numerous CD transports in for evaluation and this just might be the best sounding of all of them.
Teajay (Terry London)
My reference for the last two years has been the excellent Jay's Audio MK-II transport that had out-performed much more expensive highly regarded transports in my system. Well, across every sonic parameter (transparency/micro-details-overall dynamics/bottom-end extension/purity of tonality- a much more airy sound-stage with wonderful 3D imaging) compared to the Jay's Audio transport.
That's way I titled this thread a "phenomenal new CD transport" because while not inexpensive, it just might be a bargain based on its performance. Mind you, this superlative level of performance is based on using the switching power supply that Pro-Ject ships the transport with. I have shortly coming a custom 20 watt 3 amp linear power supply from Linear Tube Audio and Pro-Ject's own upgraded power supply to see if the RS2 transport performance will even go to a higher qualitative level of performance.
I'll be writing a full detailed review for Stereo Times in the near future. However, I wanted to share this information to GON members who still spin CDs. I have had numerous CD transports in for evaluation and this just might be the best sounding of all of them.
Teajay (Terry London)
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I've been listening to mine with a new LTA power supply (LSA is two blocks away from me, so...). Five days in, I'm very happy with it. I'd echo kully560's comments above. In particular, vocals seem more raw and true to source, as do guitars. I just listened to Jeff Beck live at Ronnie Scotts, and the tone and timbre of his playing seemed ... more (as did Colaiuta's drumming for that matter). I've not had any issue playing tracks at the end of CDs. Many thanks to Mark and Nicholas at LTA for their contribution to my listening happiness. (BTW, when I stopped by to pick up the power supply, Mark showed off a new "plus" version of his ZOTL 40 amp with refurbished Quad 57s. I was stunned. Quite the match.) kully560, would you mind posting a link to the DC power cord upgrade? Thanks. |
in_shore, the Pro-Ject runs into the DAC of my Boulder 866 via Wireworld Supernova 7 optical or Cerious Graphene Matrix digital coax. I think the coax sounds a bit better, but it's close. A friend prefers the optical. charles1dad, LTA has been great to work with. The power supply is a great addition to my system and their customer service is fantastic. The power supply came with an excellent umbilical (the one teajay referred to above). I asked them to make me a shorter umbilical (one foot). They had it ready for me in a day or two, which was fantastic, and then graciously declined my offer to pay for it. |
Here's Terry's/Teajay's review: http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/project-cd-box-rs2-transport/ |
pguezze, from teajay earlier: "First, disc I highly recommend you try the Black Cat Digit 110 AES/EBU cable that retails for $875. It's my reference cable and competes with much more expensive models." That has been seconded in this thread. I ended up going a cheaper route -- WireWorld Micro-Platinum Eclipse 8 AES/EDU. I got it from Walter at Underwood HiFi -- I've purchased several pieces of gear from Walter, including the RS2 transport, and have been very happy with his advice, pricing and speed of delivery. The WireWorld was a little more than half the price of the Black Cat. I'm loving it, though I'm sure I'll start dreaming about black cats in a few months. I tried to find a shoot out of various AES/EDU cables before buying, but had no luck. Cheers. |
@pguezze mine is 1.5 M, based on what I read here (likely the same threads you found). I usually go as short as possible, but made an exception. It's possible teajay or someone else has compared the WireWorld with the Black Cat and will chime in. |
musichead, I've had mine for several months and have had noises with noise. Very happy. I was using optical and switched to AES/EBU and am pleased with the improvement. There's a short discussion above about AES/EBU cable options. Alas, I can't use the I2S in my system griggy, re red/green, I've noticed that too. I switched from white background to black and was wondering if that was the reason. I'll start trying to track it. |
In regard to the discussion of noise issues with the Pro-Ject, my experience has been that it is dead silent. This is both in terms of the mechanism (eg, with some other players I could hear the disc spinning if I got close to the player) and the output (with the volume up on my amp and the Pro-Ject turned on, my speakers are dead silent even when very close to them). The latter is mostly the amp, I know. Anyway, not really data, but an anecdotal report from a happy owner. |