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

Hey bigkidz,

Well said bigkidz, you came to the same conclusions I did regarding the sonic qualities of this transport. Everything you mention dramatically improves when using Pro-Ject’s upgraded linear power supply. The whole presentation becomes more "effortless" with a higher degree of liquidity. For my tastes this is the best transport, regardless of price, I have ever had in-house, and as I stated before I have had some of the highest regarded transports over the years in my systems.

OK as promised - the Metronome T1A & AL2 CD Transport and matching separate Power Supply CD player (used as a transport only) versus the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2T dedicated Transport into the Vu Jade Audio reference tube DAC.

The Pro-Ject was received this past Friday and the Mertonome is a much older unit.

The Project revelated much more information especially the separation of vocals and instruments.  Much clearer sounding then the Met which sounded slow in comparison.  The Met throws a large soundstage top to bottom, left to right.  Think of this like a bay window.  The project is like three large windows that replaced the bay window.  Each window is clearer with better separation from what is coming from each of those windows.  This is especially noticeable with backing vocals and instruments.  The clarity has a very distinct separation plus while providing this clarity, each instrument maintains its own tone.  Cymbals, drum wacks or even brushes on the drum have their own tone and space.  It took me some time to get my head and mind wrapped around the clarity.  The Project had a deeper soundstage front to back.  One could live with either transport but the Pro-Ject was simply the better overall transport.  Even though it was new, it was not hard or harsh sounding.  I am wondering if we should have purchased the better power supply.  I will have to dig up a linear power supply from storage to see if there is an improvement.  The Met has a matching heavy power supply versus the Pro-Ject tiny wall wart.

I had compared the MET to the Jays Audio transport over a year ago.  I preferred the MET to the Jays for overall musicality.  It was more relaxed sounding with more beauty IMO.  The owner of the Jays felt that it was more dynamic but to me the sound was flatter so it sounded more dynamic.  I don't want to hear backing vocals on the same sound stage plane as the lead singers vocals if you understand what I am hearing.  The Project was completely different than these two players.

The project is a light weight unit and not very big in dimension.  If you are going to use big heavy cables on the unit, that may be a consideration for you.  I had no issues with the toggle switch.  It was right on the front of the unit and had a nice "click" to it.  The CD puck is a tiny thing about the size of a quarter or a little bigger.  The Met puck is a little bigger than that but not by much as compared to my old CEC with a bigger and heaver puck than these two units had. When you open the lid to the Project the CD is stopped, with the MET the CD is still spinning so that was interesting to me.

I am not sure what other transports are in the $3K price range but I have heard a few in the lower price point - NuPrime, Cambridge, Sim Audio, Electrocompaniet,  Rega, etc.  They are all nice players for the money.  If you are planning on spending a little more, you should be very happy with the Pro-Ject  CD Box RS2T.

I hope this was helpful.  Send me your questions if you want to know more.

Happy Listening.

       

@amorstereo
Thanks for your post.  I’m still on the fence about adding a transport to my almost finished bucket list mid-fi analog+digital system - only need speakers and cables.

Thanks Terry as it will very interesting to see how the two linear power supplies compare.  I look forward to your follow up. 
Charles 

Hey Charlies,

Long tall Dexter, he could really play his butt off!

I believe it's right around $850. I'm also waiting for Linear Tube Audio customized power supply, should get sometime in the next two weeks, to see which one might be the best at improving performance. The power supply should be 20 volt /3 amps for optimum effect on the transport.

@Amorstereo
.

Yep, power supplies.... the better the better the sound. I had a Sim 650 CD/DAC ~ $8K and hesitantly bought the ~$8K add on separate power supply... made a huge improvement. With the same kind of improvements you indicate. 

@amorstereo (Terry),
Thanks for the follow up. I am not surprised by the improved sound quality. I can’t recall any example of a component with  a standard switching power supply that was not improved with a good quality linear power supply in its place. What is the cost for the power supply upgrade? Agree that Pro-ject should default to the better linear power supply.

Terry , I’m currently listening to Dexter Gordon "Doin’ All Right" as a fellow jazzhead I suspect you’re familiar with this gem 😊.
Charles

Hey essrand,

Yes, historically I have had CEC transports, I use one right now in my smaller system (double belt model) along with many other transports including the Jay's Audio that you mention. The Pro-Ject performs at a higher level then any transport I have had in-house for evaluation or listening pleasure.

I have just got done listening for five hours to the Pro-Ject transport with Pro-Ject's upgraded external power supply and reference connecting cable between them.
It took this superbly performing transport to another level in the following ways:
1) Layering and placement of instruments in an airy and enveloping sound-stage became even more precise and 3D in nature.
2) The noise floor went down, so the smallest micro-details were revealed even more clearly.
3) The bottom-end is faster/tighter and better controlled.
4) There is even more a "sense of ease" that many would refer to as analog sounding in nature.

The combo of the Pro-Ject transport and the Audio Note UK 3.1/II Balanced DAC is by fair the best digital front end I have had in-house. My only slight criticism towards Pro-Ject would be they ship this great transport with a very inexpensive switching power supply, which stills sound terrific in spite of it, for 3K. Hell, add the cost of the upgraded linear power supply and sell them as a pair for a reasonable up charge.

@amorstereo, Have you heard any of the CEC belt drives?

For e.g how would the CEC TL5 at the same price point compare to the the RS2 or the Jays CDT2, am very curious to know.

It appears that Phillips/Stream Unlimited is looking to give Teac some competition. Utilizing some of the same attributes that made Teac's mechanism one if not the best ever produced. - Milled solid aluminum, extra rigid clamping device and carbon fiber chassis with vibration damping system. 

I believe that the Teac/Esoteric Neo VRDS Mechanism is regarded as the premier Drive Unit. The VRDS Mechanism was first used in earlier Teac CDP models and then produced for companies like Wadia.

After the success of  companies like Wadia CDP models, and diminishing sales of Teac CDPs, Teac produced CDPs and transports exclusively built around a enhanced VRDS mechanism under the Esoteric name. They ceased to produce VRDS mechanisms for any other company. Until...

Wadia was supposed to have negotiated a deal to feature the VRDS NEO in their 981 model, before their demise, which only made it to the  prototype stage. Only 6 units were produced, however its rumored that only 1 actually has the VRDS in it. The other 5 have the Stream Unlimited mechanism which was standard in the s7i Models. 

dcs uses the Teac VRDS Neo VMK3 Mechanism in Vivaldi One models.
They use the same/similar Stream Unlimited mechanism ( as Wadia used) in their Rossini Model.

And their excuse for it is just their own attitude. 

Why is there always a degenerate loud mouth on every thread? You can't just come in a thread and try to learn something in peace.

Essrand,
Since when does NAGRA make CD Players/DAC combo?? Thats what we are talking about. Stay on Topic

@facten

Nope, he doesn't. Or I wouldn't have posted with the question :) Listening oneself is the best test of all, of course.

@riaa

I don't live in the US anymore, here PS Audio has a distributor.
Also, I own a Nagra Tube DAC which supposedly smokes most Esoteric gear (this is from people who have owned both, not me of course :))

@bigkidz 

Looking forward to your impressions, I am gonna pull the trigger any day now, hope your comparisons happen before that :)

@bigkidz wrote,
"I will follow-up with a comparison this weekend."

Thanks for taking the time to do so. Should be quite informative and interesting.

"So far in my experimenting and experience - the streamers while are getting very good are just not at the level of transport port and DAC (has to be a reference DAC) thought".

If streaming services are predominantly providing "compressed" recordings then streamers are placed at an intrinsic disadvantage up against good quality transports playing better recorded/mastered CDs. The actual streamer could be excellent sounding if fed uncompressed recordings.
Charles

Terry - thanks.  Funny thing is that I just bought one for a friend and it arrived yesterday.  Took it over to another friends house to listen to it cold out of the box.  Hard to say what I was hearing as I don't know what this system really sounds like since he uses a streaming device.  First impression was it sounded excellent without another transport to compare it to.  We did use my DAC so I was familiar with something about the sound we were listening to.  We enjoyed the sound of the system very much but like I said nothing to compare it to.  I have several transports that we will compare it do, most likely my two chassis Metronome from years ago..

Someone mentioned the toggle switch - my friend who bought the unit said the same thing but I kind of liked the little toggle, so to each his own.

I will follow-up with a comparison this weekend.

So far in my experimenting and experience - the streamers while are getting very good are just not at the level of transport port and DAC (has to be a reference DAC) thought.

Happy Listening

For that price I'd expect something better than the toggle switch on the front that looks like a reject from some old fashioned spare parts bin. 

Bit perfect copy of overly compressed/crappily remastered recordings that are currently in the record labels possession. NOT the music that was originally recorded back in the day by the master engineers/producers/mixers. We get it. Sad that you will never realize that the CD’s you purchased back in the 80’s are in most cases better digital recordings than what you are being offered on your streaming services. Do your homework. There is a reason the 1st pressings (Or the best pressings) can go for Hundreds of Dollars each....Just like Reel to Reel tapes do.
I will also wager any Esoteric you claim to have used was one with a DAC CHIP and no master clock hooked up to it.
Do us all a favor so you can stop embarrassing yourself. Go buy something like the recent Doobie Brothers Quad Box Set, or a Tull Steven Wilson mix....play those Discs on some Mid-Fi OPPO Spinner or comparable low end universal spinner.  Those mixes from the ORIGINAL Master Tapes will sound better than whatever files you have on your preferred music server.  I realize this will take you away from your nightly Barry Manilow listening session so I apologize in advance for infringing on your time.  Copacabana will still be there for you tomorrow....albeit a crappy recorded version of it where your missing instruments from the original recording cause they have been compressed out on the recording thats available to you on Tidal/Quobuz

Riaa we did shootouts with esoterics vs ahigh end server 

Ther will always be read errors with optical no mater the transport You are shooting a laser beam off of a piece of plastic 
Vs loading a bit perfect  copy of the data and loading that data into a ram buffer and precisely sending that data via usb to the dac

Hey jriggy,

The one I have in for review is totally silent and has performed perfectly in all its operations.

How noisy is the transport mechanism when running? I read a comment on a YT vid saying it was noisy and audible from 10ft away. The statement was from 2019, so maybe they’ve changed it? 

   Well like you said....you dont know BUT your certainly entitled to your opinion of me which doesnt matter to anybody but yourself. I will call BS if I see it. He might think he knows everything about audio equipment but when it comes to the actual music he obviously is completely clueless as to its origins in the studio/mixing/mastering area. Whats available NOW vs What was available before. He probably isnt even aware of the massive fire that destroyed thousands and thousands of the actual Master Recordings more than a decade ago in California. He thinks whats currently available in the streaming world is the ULTIMATE in sonic reproduction that has ever been. Thats a TOTAL Lie.

ESSRAND....Your aware that PS AUDIO no longer has a Dealer Network right?  So the chances of ANY dealer (former PS Audio Dealer or otherwise) telling somebody to buy one of their products over another is highly unlikely. Can you provide your dealer source??  For a Few thousand dollars more you can buy an Esoteric Spinner with a NON CHIP DAC that will smoke anything that PS Audio could ever produce.

essrand, does your dealer carry both the RS2 and the PST for you to get a firsthand listen to both so you can decide for yourself?

Riaa I don’t know Dave of Audio Intellect from a hole in the ground however reading your attack on Dave and his business is a little much , kinda nutty as a matter of fact ,.LOL 

@amorstereo, would you be looking at the Psaudio Perfective SACD transport (PST) anytime soon.
Based on this thread, I was close to pulling the trigger on the RS2 but my dealer swears the PST kicks ass in comparison, for a few thousand dollars more, of course :)

True. I am keeping an eye on the transport market as I own the Cambridge CXC however may replace it with another. I am very happy with my Audio Mirror Tubadour III DAC.

George, yes nice link to transport use! Thanks.

It's also good for seeing what d/a chips are used 

Cheers George

So why did you Re-Brand your name??? Too many bad reviews/complaints on the net??

Nope...your Servers dont sound better than any of the above players/Dacs/Clocks. Of course you wouldnt know that cause you dont have the client base to support those brands. T+A is a Wanna-Be...Their Disc Spinners/Dacs arent up there.
Keep selling those Metal Tweeters and giving your customers Tinnitus/Ear Bleeds down the road as a Freebie.

Might want to confer with some dealers that DO Carry those brands mentioned AND also Aurender and the other TOTL Streamers. They will tell you the EXACT same thing. They prefer Non-Remastered/Compressed PHYSICAL Media played on Quality Players over their streaming gear.

Ive been working with the Music Industry for over 35 years now. None of the Labels are giving Tidal/Quoboz Unique Hi-Res master recordings of music from the 60’s to 80’s. Your getting the COMPRESSED/REMASTERED Crap that they have been churning out for 30 years. Yea you can probably get Neil Young/Tom Petty/Tull etc versions that were done RECENTLY by the likes of Steve Wilson/Kevin Gray.....BUT 99% of whats available are INFERIOR versions supplied by the labels to what they were putting out back in the early days of digital recording when they actually gave a damn and were concerned about QUALITY and getting people to fall in line with the new technology. In order to get THOSE mixes you MUST buy the old physical media....or in your case maybe get the Files from somebody who ripped THOSE versions to their server.

BTW a I-Phone/Tablet IS a computer. Again...not everybody wants to deal with that. Some people that work all day on PC’s/Tablets dont want to come home and have to do the same thing. Put in a Disc and RELAX for 45 minutes.
Thanks for the list of MID-FI gear you carry. NAIM is the only one on the list I would consider and even they have that whole Power Supply scam thing going for them which is a turnoff to many...and unique cabling.

Riaa you obviously dont read a server can storebit perfect rips

And when ever you read off a hard drive there are no read errors as what happens with optical playback

 so usually a server will sound better because you don't have read errors with a hard drive but you do with optical reading

Not to mention both Tidal and Quobuz offer high resolution un
compressed digital files

You dont need a laptop you can c ontrol a server with your phone e or tablet


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George, yes nice link to transport use! Thanks.

Hopefully we will have the ~$1,250 Schiit transport in the fall to compare with the Pro-Ject.  It will have Unison USB pass through, supposedly.

The more I think about $3K for just a transport, the more the Technics SL-G700 makes more and more sense. Fantastic build quality and play both redbook and SACDs


https://www.technics.com/us/products/grand-class/g700-series/sl-g700.html

hth

georgehifi

Thank You for the link/list of spinners that utilize HD850.

Happy Listening!

Forum tough guy is forum tough. 
As for me I have an excellent DAC. Shoveling 1’s and 0’s isnt a tough job so not worth $3k

Hey gochurchgo,

I'm not really trying to be a peacemaker, but I think Cleeds was not going after you personally. He was just trying to point out if your DAC is not at a high level of performance you would be wasting your money to buy a reference level transport. 

If you read my brief description of what this transport provided in my system you would understand what a better transport can provide, if the receiving DAC and the rest of the system is up to it.

cleeds 

Lol. 

gochurchgo

I use a $29 cd player to shovel data to my DAC, what does a $3k version do more/better?

Probably nothing if you're also using a $29 DAC.

I use a $29 cd player to shovel data to my DAC, what does  a $3k version do more/better?

I have an Oppo 205 also and is is great for all discs. Unfortunately, this model got a bad name for 'skipping' - having blank non-playing passages at random intervals. Although not figured about by Oppo and their distributors, the cause was not the player as such but the interface with some TVs with them trying to 'shake hands'. The cure was to switch off (do not leave in standby) or disconnect the TV and set the player to "Pure Audio".

@riaa award:  That is why I'm first getting an Esoteric to replace my Oppo 105.  Server can wait!  K-05XD and K-07XD will be out later this year.

I have the Pro-Ject DS2T which is brilliant for me ripping CDs to minidisc on one of my high end Sony minidisc players.

There are only a few cd transport manufactures. The high end companies buy those and shield, isolate from vibration and my modify them. I have hear Audio Research just discontinued their manufacture of REF CD9se because the manufacturer stopped making their transports. They tend to be fairly reliable and need to keep a lot in stock for repairs.

Why the modified wall wart?
Is there a better power supply available?

jafant13,452 posts05-16-2021 9:49pmgeorgehifi

which player(s) does a SF-HD850 fit?

Happy Listening!

Looking at this it’s just the cheap Sanyo SF-HD850 slot loader mech, in a fancy aluminum housing
https://ibb.co/JHcCdFN

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=Sf-hd850&_...

There’s 34 other cd transport/players here that use it, press control F and type in HD850
http://vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm


Cheers George

Terry nice review on the Audio Note Dac-3 balanced, I own it's great great grandfather the Dac-3 Signature circa 1995 and love it.