I recently purchased a la diva mk2, I also own a CEC tl5 and was lucky enough to home demo the project rs2. Firstly, each transport, in my system was preferable to my antipodes ex/cx solution, even with the ridiculously convoluted chain I seem to have acquired. (Melco switch, spdif converter, linear supplies, high end Ethernet cables, usb etc)
the CEC is excellent, but does give up some detail to the other two transports.
the project is a crazy good transport for the money, really exceptional, and was very close to the Aqua. I had the Aqua on a 30 day return at the same time I had the project. Straight out of the box the Aqua dug up even more detail than the project, but it done it in an almost distracting non musical way, pushing the detail forward in an unnatural way. The Aqua dealer told me that the unit does require around 200 hours burn in. After about a week, the Aqua seemed to have settled down, and I had a week of direct comparison. IMO the Aqua had a slightly lower noise floor, I could distinguish slightly more detail, the sound stage was slightly bigger, but also had more depth, that was probably the most distinguishable feature. Both are a joy to listen to but I opted for the Aqua, it is the best digital playback I have heard to date. However, bear in mind I was using stock psu with the project, may have been different with their upgraded power supply. Also I used the coaxial spdif output on all transports. I have not heard the Gryphon, it is way out of my price range, but it would be fun to see what, if anything, those extra bucks get you.
Slightly off topic, but I would like to add, that while I have no doubt that in the fullness of time server based playback will exceed cd transports, in my opinion, on a £ for £ basis, and contrary to popular opinion, it is no where near cd at the moment! I was someone who jumped on the server and hires bandwagon, and it wasn’t until I had an issue with my home network and borrowed a transport did I realise what I was missing.
I have even down sampled my hires collection and burnt to cd. They sound better!
95% of my listening is now cd.
I hear lots of people say their server is way better than their CD player, but when you drill down they are often comparing a £10000 plus server setup against the digital out of their CD player. Maybe I exaggerate slightly, but my point is people rarely compare like for like, value wise, these two technologies.