I have not had the opportunity to try a DVD player as a transport, but have read mixed reviews about them. Some people swear by them-others say they are a little lean sounding in comparison to a good cd transport. I have tried several transports and will offer mho. The "planet" is a better cd player than transport. As a transport, it was the equal of my Radio Shack 3400, OK, but not great. I have had good experience with Phillips based transports such as an old Marantz CD94. My friend's Theta Data Basic (also Phillips based) is the best transport I have heard. I also have a Parasound CDT2000, which is transparent, dynamic and fairly smooth-very close to the Theta. I have just purchased the Aiwa for $90 as a concession to my Wife and Daughter who wanted me to add multi-disc capability. I am using it with an AA DTI Pro and Bel Canto Dac 1. The Aiwa is probably a good buy for $90 but in its stock form, is no giant killer. It is ok for background music but is not very involving. It has a clunky changing mechanism and its leds flash when it is playing. To be fair, the Aiwa is not broken in yet. It took around 3 or 4 days for it to stabilize to the point where the secondary lock on my DTI would work with it. I am using a 1 meter Monster Lightspeed toslink, and have not tried the 2 meter which some prefer. I am seriously considering getting the Stan Warren mod because it is fairly cheap and even if it is half as good as claimed it would be a good value.
