Modwright Transporter VS Opera Droplet 5.0 CDP.

Thank you for the heads up, Grant! Sorry for the late response, I took a short summer vacation...

My honest opinion of Consonance is that majority of the components sound at least pretty good. However, there are some specific products/lines that have some issues in terms of reliability, which I would steer clear of, the current Droplet 5.0 with Philips CD transport/laser assembly NOT being one of them. In fact, that particular model, in my experience, is the most reliable CD player Consonance has produced, the original Reference 2.2 MKI (with Philips transport and volume knob on the rear panel) being up there as well. For the most part, the Consonance tube amplifiers are also both good sounding and reliable.

For the record, based on my friend Paul Folbrecht's advice, I picked up an Audio Note CD (an older CD2.1x) player, and it is easily the best digital I've ever had in my system. The sense of being alive won me over in a big way. One day in the future, I'll pick up one of the aforementioned Audio Note DACs as well, and move the player to my second system.

By the way, if this thread http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/14/147594.html resonates with you, you might be interested in contacting me offline regarding the aforementioned products I represented.

Well, I've previously never heard anyone describe the Droplet 5.0 "tiring and irritating". In that quest to sound non-digital, most feel the company erred on the rich and full-bodied side. But (unfortunately) knowing how often Consonance changes their components in production, perhaps that model has undergone more "revision" than just the digital in? Of course, these things are always dependent on the system/person.

At any rate, your conclusion lines up perfectly with what I said in my first post in this thread, the Audio Note CD player I picked up clearly beats the Droplet 5.0 to my ears, with the Droplet 5.0 being head and shoulders the best (from the perspective of both sonic and reliability) CDP Consonance produces.

Don't feel bad, instead rejoice in the fact that you've ended up with the best player for your system! And, at lower cost, no doubt.

Thanks, Chillinimrod!

We are in total agreement regarding Audio Note.

Unless you are simply in love with the the aesthetic, if you are not going to use the Droplet 5.0 as a standalone player, I would recommend against using it as a transport.

Along with the inconvenience of being a toploader, it simply is too large (22" wide) and heavy (65 lbs) for most people/systems to easily site and use. Its best feature as a transport would be the Philips laser assembly/transport, but you can find that in many other, more convenient front loading machines at a fraction of the Droplet's cost. Beyond that, my personal experience is that if one of the two 6H30 Supertubes happens to short, which I have seen on more than one occasion, the resulting spike in current draw takes the power supply out with it as well. Unless you are willing to put some real money into the very involved repair (entire power supply, less toroid, and all the time/labor involved in the complete teardown and reassembly of a large, complicated component), you are now in possession of a large and unique looking doorstop.

I credit the typical Consonance under-engineering and the inability to bring most of the designs in the fold to completion for the lack of such a simple, logical, easy, and straightforward idea of protecting an otherwise very complex machine under these and other circumstances. It's this sort of thing that was one of my few issues with the tube amplifiers, a bad tube could cause the power transformer to fry, which I've dealt with on four or five occasions, and precludes one from having a local tech be able to make what should be a simple repair, and instead now the company has to be approached in regards to a proprietary and not all that inexpensive replacement part. My opinion was the Consonance would be better served to offer far less components in the lineup, but put far more effort into each individual product they choose to go to bat with - obviously, they feel otherwise.