comparison between Teac 701t transport vs esoteric p-70 model or alike?

@sgordoxyz  Yes, the Jay  line of transports  looks very impressive. Yet it’s the old Philips Pro2 mechanism that worries me. I am pretty conservative when it comes to changing gear—I have enjoyed all the VRDS transports I have had and used , so I guess I have sort of "blind" faith in Teac transports.

If I had a chance to audit one of Jay’s transports here, I would have gladly do it.

If it were me, I would get the Teac CD player with the DAC. Teac/Esoteric’s new DAC technology is exceptional and the VRDS 701 can serve as an excellent digital frontend. Under the hood, the Teac is almost identical to the Esoteric N-05XD Streamer/DAC which will be the same in the VRDS. The build quality is extremely high for the price point.

When it comes to source i rather split " powers". Also i realy like my dac's sound signature. Over the years i felt more attached to the built quality  of the jappanese companies rather than their taste in how music shpuld sound.. As a fact the P70 stood the test of time more than its D70 D/A converter sibling .

But thats my personal belief and taste ofcourse. I do belive that Teac will deliver above average  performance in the d/a zone. 

I have the 701T as well as a Jay's Audio CD3 MkIII. Both are hooked up to my Berkeley Reference MKII MQA so it's easy to compare them. I can't say with any confidence that I can hear a difference. They both sound wonderful.

The reason I have both transports is because the Jay's Audio won't decode HDCD discs, which I collect (I have a few hundred). It puts dither in the 16th bit where the HDCD encoding resides. It also won't play MQA discs. However, it does 4 times over sampling which is the mode I use to play Redbook CDs.

The Teac plays Redbook CDs accurately which allows my DAC to decode HDCD discs. It also plays MQA CDs and I have bought a bunch of thoses to test them. Most of the time the MQA is pretty much the same as the regular version but on some remasterings the MQA is obviously better. The Doobie Brothers MQA discs are an example where the MQA version is an audible improvement. Whether that's because of MQA or a new master (I suspect the latter) I'm glad I'm able to play these discs.

For most people I would recommend the Teac 701T. But I love having both because they are both fine pieces of gear. The Jay's Audio is built like a tank and the ergonomics of the sliding door and the loading are very satisfying. It uses a highly proven Phillips drive and Jay's has promised that they have a large stock of these to be able to supply a replacement if one ever wears out. I also doubt that you will ever wear out the Teac drive but Teac is expected to have them for a long time.

@8th-note Thanks!! you helped me a lot. Appriciate the efforts writying the detailed reply.