Schiit URD CD Transport SOON?

Yes, the URD is out! One of the reasons for the lengthy development period (maybe a GOOD thing to work out bugs) has been covid, and material shortages. I believe that SOL went away because of high assembly demands and issues with the sources of machined parts (Schiit does not do machining). And Schiit has had some delays getting the drive mechanism. The mechanism and support electronics is made by Stream Unlimited, who make the best CD drives short of very expensive ($$$$) custom designs. So this transport will not go away because Schiit is a small company, or because they are lacking in mechanical ability (the drives are made elsewhere). If it does go away, it would likely be due to poor sales or sonics that fall short (from Moffat???). In addition to having the Stream Unlimited drive & electronics, the URD has 2 transformers, linear regulation, (4 !!!) 32 bit microprocessors, and a proprietary Unison USB output solution, as well as USB hub functions. The URD is easily the least expensive CD transport to use the Stream Unlimited drive system. It may turn out to be a bargain, and with a 5 year warranty.

I am getting this because the recent Yggi+ LM DAC I got is amazing.

The price is not too bad for getting back the convenience of playing CDs. There are times when streaming is not working great or the internet is down.

A shame it is not a ROON Endpoint. I could have used it with my Peachtree GAN1 amp. With the volume controlled by the CD player.

Maybe it is lost on me but I do not understand the appeal of the USB input function, pasted via the Schiit site:

Here’s where things get interesting: you can also connect two USB devices to the Urd. Yes, Urd has two USB inputs! Then, choose what you want to listen to—CD, USB1, or USB2—using the standard remote control. Now, you can run CDs when you feel like it, and stream when you want convenience, all with a DAC with a single USB input.

 My DAC, and I feel like most every DAC that I have seen or is available (including  nany of or most of Schiit's own products), has a USB input, several Coax, optical, and maybe AES connection. I plug in a streamer and CD player to the DAC, and used to plug a TV into it also, and could switch those inputs via its remote. So to me, most DACs out there already solve this problem that Schiit is suggesting is a value-add of this product. 

Just saying or what am I missing...

@arcangles "Just saying or what am I missing..."

My understanding is that Mike Moffat at Schiit, their co-owner and designer of their digital gear, strongly prefers their Unison USB over coax and optical connections.  Many DACs, including Schiit's most expensive units, have only one USB input.  That means that if you want to have both a streamer and a CD player in your system, you'd have to relegate one of the player outputs to something other than USB. Using their new Urd CD player would allow you to use USB for all of the player outputs -- the CD player and two other USB out devices. 

In my case, I took the CD player out of my system a long time ago and have no desire to return, but I can see how some users would appreciate the options offered by Schiit's approach.  As they say, YMMV. 

Fair enough. YMMV, indeed..