Looking for comparisons between CD transports

I’m definitely looking for a transport, not a player. I have a Cambridge Audio CXU (their long discontinued universal disc player) which does an okay job as a CD player/transport and and reads SACDs (though in my system it converts to PCM because it can only output DSD through HDMI and my DAC doesn't have that option--very few do) but is best for DVDs and Blu-ray discs. I think the right dedicated transport will offer distinctly better performance for standard redbook CDs.

Thanks, everybody, for the information. The S.M.S.L. player looks intriguing, and I might add that one to the list. I don't know if the PS Audio Perfect Wave player is that much better than their Direct Stream player, but I did own the latter for a short time several years ago and really disliked it--the sound was bright and in-your-face forward, not at all pleasant to listen to. Still, if anybody has experience with any of the 3 players I mentioned in my original post, I'd love to hear about it. 

Thanks, David--that is very useful information. In a sense, I already HAVE a Cambridge Audio transport, that is, my CA CXU referred to above which I'm using as a transport. It's actually pretty good but I think for redbook CDs other transports might be better. One thing that attracted me to the URD is its AES/EBU output, which corresponds to the only available input in my current DAC. The rest (optical, coax, USB) are already occupied. 

Do you think the CXC is significantly better than my current disc spinner?

I thought that, at this point, it might be helpful to list the rest of my system in hopes that it may provide some insight into which player(s) would best complement it.

Modwright KWI 200 integrated

Ryan R610 standmount speakers, REL S/2 sub

Sonnet Morpheus DAC

Cambridge Audio CXU

Power conditioning: Furman Elite 15 PFi, Core Power Technology Deep Core 1800

Audience AU24 SE speaker cables, Audience Studio 1 jumpers, Cerious Technology Graphene Matrix XLRs (DAC to amp).

Hope this is useful.

Here’s an update: I looked at the various alternatives and from what people have said in various reviews and to keep the budget under control, I’ve added the Shanling ET3 to the system. There was a really good deal offered by their online store so I took the plunge. Took a while to get here (about 3 weeks, but hey, I’m patient) and it’s now going through its paces in my system. Right away, I’m hearing a significant improvement over my previous player (the above-mentioned Cambridge Audio CXU), and I’m hoping that with further hours of break-in time things will improve even further.

It’s connected to my Sonnet Morpheus DAC via AES/EBU (from Audio-Art Cable) because that’s the DAC’s only available input--the rest are all spoken for by various components. Of course, right out of the box, things did not sound particularly good, but over the next few hours that initial thinness and harshness moderated quite a bit though there’s still, perhaps, a way to go before it finds its voice--I’ve only put about 8 hours on it so far. We’ll see.

This transport imparts a sound that is plenty detailed but definitely fuller and more unified than the Audiolab CDT6000 that I used to own. I’m hearing the music as a whole event, not parsed into individual instruments, but the little details are definitely all there. There is also a sense of spaciousness in the presentation, definitely wider and deeper than my other player(s). 

The ET3 offers an option to upconvert from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz or to several DSD densities (the Morpheus doesn’t do DSD, so that wasn’t an option for me) but I didn’t think the upconversion to 192kHz added anything compelling to the sound. It may be slightly sharper, but it’s also brighter and perhaps a bit more shrill.

One or two things that I’m less happy with: the transport has trouble reading some discs, possibly because its error correction (if any--not sure here) is less robust than some other players. This may be because the designers didn’t want to add any more processing than absolutely necessary, though this is just a theory. I tried one disc in my collection that plays fine in every other player I’ve tried, but the ET3 simply refused to read. Another of my favorite discs exhibited clicks and dropout on certain tracks, a problem I haven’t experienced before. Everything else I’ve tried seemed to work just fine.

This transport can also play from USB sources, and I did try that out. Getting the feature set up turned out to be quite an adventure, though. There’s an app you can add to your phone (Eddict Music Player) from which you can access and control the information on the flash drive, but you have to follow Shanling’s detailed instructions carefully go get it to work. Not for the tech-averse, this process. In the end, I still preferred the sound of the actual CD to that of the USB drive.

So far I’m pretty happy with this transport despite the problems I’ve detailed above.. Definitely intend to live with it for a good while. Then we’ll see whether stepping up the upgrade ladder becomes a temptation. (Believe me, I did give a LOT of thought to investing in the Jay’s Audio machine but just couldn’t justify the price, at least, not yet).

Hope you’ll find this info useful.