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)




amorstereo

I bought the "Demo" for sale at AA, one thing I didn't know is their Demo's are actually customer returns. Already somewhat questionable, but for a very good price I decided to take a chance. 

I have to say that I've never heard CD's sound so good, But after three+ hours of listening there was a few like static sounding noises produced, then on the next song there was about six quick same sounds in a row. It continued  playing the disc after the noises were through.

I've now had this for about 2 weeks, and every listening session there has been at some point the same static noise interruption. I was told by the sales person it comes with the warranty and I do have a 60 day return window.

I really want to keep this and have it serviced under warranty as the sound reproduction is almost stunning, but I'm also afraid that option may prove to be a long term mistake. 

@jetter wrote:

I would never have thought that someone would make up bad things about any CD transport because there is a competition between CDs and streaming?

I’m not implying they make it up, but rather that the technical issues reported by a few are easily blown out of proportion and this way, implicitly, can act as an argument against CD playback more generally. Competition may be too strong a word, but certainly the taking of sides as it pertains to consumers comes in revolving around the old and newer/not based on a spinning CD way of transferring digital data to the D/A-converter:

There’s momentum and inertia to streaming as a natural evolution in digital playback, while conversely there’s the sense that CD-transports as a digital source in our present day hifi-milieu are a regression; physical CD’s take up space, they are susceptible to scratches, lasers wear out as do the associated drive mechanisms, they’re not "high-res," they’re bothersome, etc. Streaming on the other hand is devoid of mentioned mechanical hassles, offers an easier, more intuitive user platform, a near limitless musical repertoire at your fingertips, high-res files (for whatever it’s worth), a great way to explore new music, etc. On the face of it streaming has everything in its advantage. 

However what streaming qua streaming offers in convenience, ease-of-use and vast musical repertoire is partially offset by the dependency on the streaming chain prior to the streamer itself and the demands placed here to harness its fuller potential, not to mention that streamers easily wind up as rather expensive affairs. By comparison a CD-transport is a more locally restricted and mechanically based source, and if the Pro-Ject transport is anything to go by - which it most definitely is as a singular item anyway - then excellent sound quality from a physical CD can be had somewhat cheaper than a streaming scenario with a similar file type. 

And this perhaps is the crux of the matter: the difference in price (for similar performance). Among some there’s the insistence that different platforms that perform similarly-ish are also (or rather must be) more or less similarly priced. For some reason it rubs them the wrong way when the price here is not the same, not least if the platform they’ve chosen is the more expensive one. Even if one were to tell them they are effectively paying extra dough for convenience and ease-of-use (or maybe because of that) then those extra dollars invested - from their chair, willfully - still have to do with something additionally gained in sound quality. Which is to say: to them it’s not as much that price matters than that it HAS to matter. 

I’ve had mine for about 4 years and it’s been great. I haven’t had the problems others have reported.  But the reports seem legit to me — more than a few, from different sources, and with similar complaints.  I bought mine shortly after Teajay dropped his review, before any complaints surfaced.  But if I were buying one now, I’d insist on testing the specific unit.