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The anachronistic CD Transport? And do I really need one.

CD Transports.

This is a machine that in my early audiophile days I could not afford. I appreciated, philosophically the advantages of it. Thinking of this device in 2021 seems strange. Yet they still exist and, maybe more importantly, they are still manufactured.

Just a few years ago (I dunno...maybe 2015) I remember thinking Redbook CD sounded great with the right DAC, and underlying system of course. But today, I don’t know this to be true. It is starting to seem that the compact disc is riding in the third row of the vehicle, with vinyl and non-cd-digital vying back and forth, musically for the driver’s seat.

So, my listening habits are

Vinyl 65% of the time
Digital 40%
CD 5%

I do have a small collection of CDs. They are things that I cannot easily or actually hear on other mediums.

I have a great DAC and it made an old (2005) Rotel CD player sound pretty good. The Rotel CD player's remote is dead with no easy replacement, and it does have progressive optical reading disease--...it drops in and out with less than perfectly clean discs.

Can you please evaluate the following options for me? Or tell me to piss off!

1. Buy a Transport
2. Buy a CD player (maybe with SACD ability)
3. Dump the discs and stick with your better sounding vinyl and digital.
4. Are you insane for listing as no. 1 "Buy a Transport"? You must be old.

Fire away.
jbhiller

Showing 1 response by harrylavo

harrylavo's avatar
harrylavo
346 posts
 
Here's a very low cost solution.  Back at the dawn of high-res disks, Pioneer introduced a very inexpensive mass market universal player (SACD, DVD-Audio, and CD).  The transport is rock solid, the same one that gave expensive audiophile CD players such a good reputation vs. Sony.  Has both coax and toslink digital output for CD's, and sounds excellent through my Bel Canto e.One series DAC 3 (better than my Oppo 105 and much better than my Sony C2000ES SACD player.

The unit was inexpensive (less than $200 when new) and many were sold.  In the US the model number was DV-578A, but elsewhere either DV-575A or DV-676A-S).  At one point, John Atkinson raved about this little machine.  They are around on the used market for maybe $75.
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