The Theta Data Basic is a good transport, but is based on a Philips drive assembly that is no longer manufactured. For close to the same price used, they reccommend going with a Pearl (or Jade, at a higher price) tansport, based on the Pioneer Stable Platter mechanism, for which future service will not be as difficult. I have the Pearl and like it a lot, but have not tried a Pioneer player as a transport. Presumably, the audiophile-pedigree, transport-only Theta would be a superior implementation of the drive for use with an outboard DAC. Currently, Theta's in-production transports are now all based on DVD drives instead.
