Proceed PDT 3/PDP 3

Bdl, this question of how the best of the older gear sounds compared to the newer stuff has come up before. I still use a PDT3 myself into a different D/A. I've heard newer one box CD players, some at faitly high prices. I'm honestly not sure if what I'm hearing is better or just different. One man's opinion.

I have not been keeping up with the advances in CD transport/DA converter technology and wondered if the sonic differences had advanced in leaps and bounds. I had assumed that it has especially in comparison to my 15 year old Proceed PDT 3/PDP 3.
Thanks for your input on the subject Tonyptony. Appreciate your opinion.

I would keep your PDT and try a different dac. You have a nice transport. Maybe try a newer ML dac. I used to have a #36 and liked it. Of course it is older but still a good one. Not sure what your budget is but I would think that newer dacs will be better than the PDP 3? Just my opinion of course.

You will get tons of opinions here so be ready...lol.

I have fond memories of those pieces. In between I have owned a lot of highly praised transpDACs and players.

I now have a Raysonic 168 and drive my amps direct from the balanced variable outs. Add a Machina Dynamica Code Name Torquoise for the well, Herbies tube dampeners and iso/cones, a quartet of Russian cryoed 6922s (www.tubeman.com) and you've got SOTA sound. The player is a mere $2600.

Good is good. I owned the PDT3 for years and years, finally one day it just died, the transport mechanism shot and can't be fixed. I'm in mourning because this beast really helped "perfect sound" (or close to it) to emit from my system and provided many many hours of enjoyment. I think I used it for 20 years and I had bought it used. Fantastic. Just shows that quality is quality and worth every penny! 

A little more info, just for the curious among you. On the Dac side, it was an MSB Link Dac, de-jittered via an Audio Alchemy DTI, which I’m still using for Redbook sources by the way (DTI had to be repaired once by Dusty Vawter).
I think of the DTi + Link Dac as the "poor man’s Mark Levinson", because once I did audition the Levinson 30.5 Dac and honestly it was not noticeably better than my setup, although also certainly no worse. But not to get off the topic, the PDT3 was a real diamond in the rough, which truly gave you a "taste" of the high end. Madrigal sure went the extra mile.