Do Slot loading Transports have sonic Advantages

No they don't, most transports are made of plastic, and some cheesy plastic clamping system. If you want a good transport system you have to search for well made ones ...Like the Esoteric Verdes Neo drive is an example of how good a transport can get...there are others too.The goods ones use Aluminum or a combanation of plastic and aluminum. Slot loading means nothing as to the quality of the drive. The best drives I have seen use a drawer. I am not seeing any trend you speak of for slot loaders.

As mentioned above, apart from the drives made by Esoteric, most of the slot mechanisms are nothing special. Most are cheap CD ROM drives. I think cheap is the primary "driver" of the choices made by manufacturers, and perhaps, availability.

I think its fair to say that its probably more important to take in the design of the slot load transport, as opposed to it just being a slot loader.

Yes.... Mattmiller',Larryi, & Zd542

Of course what matters is what happens once the disc has been seated. I just wondered if there was a mechanical effect on the clamping ability of one technology vs. another.

Slot loaders have the cat advantage, or from a cat's eye, a disadvantage.

The Sherbourn CD-1 could be used as a transport, which sports a slotted loading system.

I have a 20 year old Sony x77es that has a very thick molded polymer bed with solid aluminum faceplate that runs on a sled that reminds me of a swiss watch when activated. It is a mechanical thing of beauty. Although the inboard dac sounds great the transport is where the magic begins. If you haven't experienced these older Sony ES cd players you are missing out on a special player.
So yes, a stable bed is a priority in a good disc player,

"Of course what matters is what happens once the disc has been seated. I just wondered if there was a mechanical effect on the clamping ability of one technology vs. another."

That's why I said the design matters. In my Wadia for example, the loading tray has nothing to do with the performance of the transport. Once the CD is inside the player, its lifted off the tray from the bottom up. The tray isn't used for anything else. It has no effect on sound quality.

My older Wadia 830 had a Pioneer stable platter transport. In that unit, the tray itself was a working part of the transport. (The Pioneer Stable Platter units were the ones with the thick loading tray that you needed to put the CD in upside down.). Once inside, the CD stayed right where it was and the laser read it from the top.

There's several other designs, as well. As far as slot loading transports go, I think your best bet would be to do some research on a model that is in a CD player you are interested in. You need to find out what happens to the disc once it is inside of the machine. That's what really matters.

clamping is the most critical issue for player, the spec of the redbook for the central hole of the disc have some tolerance due to molding, the tray player allow proper positioning of the disc which is helping for clamping in the case of slot loader 2 wheels are on the side to position the disc they are made of plastic and with time they get loose creating some eccentricity effect which create vibration.....

I Just wanted to share with you guys that I took the cover off a McIntosh CD 201 player. Because my brother was complaining that it skipped on Super audio and red book cd's.Once inside I noticed the drive was made by hitachi and it was the usual cheesy type BUT the main thing is that this player spins disks at 4x or 2x the normal speed.So,the disk sits on a thin rubber ring on top of a aluminum spindle,if the rubber ring gets dusty or dirty the disk slips and causes the skipping. I cleaned this ring and now the player works like a champ! Amazing how 1 little thing can cause a real problem. SO keep your spindles clean and players dust free and you too wont have to ship your stuff off or carry it to the local store for service. Your welcome:-)