@wharfy I would very much appreciate it if you could post any listening impressions your friend may communicate to you regarding the La Diva Mk. 2. My current transport is now 20 years old (and still performing flawlessly) but I know that time is not on my side. I have the Accustic Arts Drive 1 and their latest reference transport uses the much loved SU CD Pro 8 drive, as does the La Diva, but it’s twice the price of the Aqua so if I have to make a change, by default, the Aqua will be first on my list.
Resolving CD Transports Crowd Sourcing
Hi everyone! A couple of years ago I purchased my endgame CD transport- a Pro-Ject CD Box RS2T. Loved almost everything about the unit--highly resolving presentation, dead quiet background, balanced placement of instruments in a believable 3 dimensional soundstage, and the synergy it had with my components. In fact I loved the transport so much I had two of them because Pro-Ject quality control and customer service is the pits. After almost a year of hassles, I'm swearing of Pro-Ject.
I'm in the market for a replacement CD transport that has the same qualities of the Pro-Ject minus the quality issues and customer service.
PS Audio, Jay's Audio, CEC, Audio Research (which are CD/DAC units) come up in my search. What are your thoughts? With all the bells and whistles the Pro-Ject was around $3300, so that gives you an idea of my budget, though I could go higher.
Thanks in advance!
Showing 3 responses by acresverde
@charles1dad I fully expect I would be thrilled with the La Diva. The biggest quandary for me is, knowing that I can get a refurbed CD Pro 2 like the one in my AA drive from ENCO, is the CD Pro 8 that much better to justify the 20x cost to get the Aqua. I do expect it will sound better but <$500 also sounds pretty good compared to approx. $9000. |
@lalitk My point in referencing the refurbed CD Pro 2 was that for less than $500 I could buy it and have it replace the current drive in my AA Drive 1 if the original drive were to crap out. Therefore, unless the Aqua smokes the fully functional AA Drive 1, the value proposition is squarely in the corner of the AA. I do suspect the Aqua will perform at a higher level but it will have to be more substantial than just "incremental" for this retired car salesman to consider it. |