Phillips no longer producing transports


Hi folks, as many of you are no doubt aware Phillips have decided to stop producing the Pro 2 LH transport used by ARC, Ayon, Vitus and others. What does this all mean? I'm informed by one manufacturer who I wont name that their stock of transports is good for another year or so of production whilst maintaining stock for warranty service. I'm told they are now moving toward designing a server to replace cd players in future. Esoteric are still manufacturing transports, and Accuphase have moved to a proprietory transport mechanism, so cd players will still be produce into the future. But for a powerhouse like Phillips to give up on cd transports is a harbinger, a sign of things to come and the likely phasing out of cd production. It is likely in future cd production will only continue in small runs of for audiophile labels and boutique producers, and high res downloads will continue to develop and become more mainstream. I think Bob Dylan said "The times they are a changin'".
melbguy1

Showing 4 responses by jafant

All great points Rich and Nonoise. This is the perfect time for those companies to step up and develop their own transports. CD/DVD/BR players are not going away, anytime soon!
Let us hope that a more focused group will continue to produce CD drives, exclusively. As far as hybrid (cd/dvd drive + server/streamer) products go, those will be inferior because of multi-use ROM-based drives. Not the same quality standard.
Knghifi -

there are a plethora of spinners out there that uses some form of Phillips CD drive- no chapter 11 in sight!