The Data Universal is a modified Philips laser disc player. It has a high failure rate and many key parts are no longer available. If you get a working one (and it needs to be a Universal II) it sounds excellent. The Data Basic, on the other hand, is a dedicated CD only transport which uses the Philips CDM9 pro drive. The Data Basic II was a huge improvement and is also an excellent transport. My brother owns a Universal II and I own a Basic II. The sound is very similar but we did not do an extensive comparison.
