a year ago i bought a new TEAC VRDS-701T CD ’only’ transport. it has the newest version of the BIG-BOY VRDS transport and is built like a tank. when i bought it the list price was $2799. now it’s $3299.
https://teac.jp/int/product/vrds-701t/top
most SACD’s have a CD layer, so you can play all the discs. if you buy an SACD player and want the dsd layer, you are limited to the dac inside that transport, or need a proprietary interface that works with your dac so you are limited. i wanted to use my Wadax dac with a modestly priced transport so i could play silver discs.
as far as performance, it was just ’ok’ using a SPIDF interface into my dac......until......i hooked up my Esoteric G1X Clock to it and then it came alive and is really quite fine sounding.
but it does the job and i can now play my 4000 CD’s and 1000 SACD’s again. and it works sufficiently with my $400k Wadax. no it does not quite match streaming on the Wadax, but then nothing else does either. it’s good enough to not avoid silver discs if i want that particular music, or a friend brings a CD over with them.
for around $3k why mess with old transports and worry about it?