A phenomenal new CD transport-Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 transport


I have had in-house for the last week Pro-Ject's new CD Box RS2 transport to review for the website Stereo Times. I was very curious to assess its performance because it uses the Pro 8 drive with the Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card. This drive was developed and built by StreamUnlimited a company started by the original Phillips designers that historically built the finest CD mechanisms. Only two other companies use the StreamUnlimited 8 drive and Blue Tiger CD-84 servo card, their pieces cost $16,000 and $39,000 compared to Pro-Ject's sane price of $3,000!

My reference for the last two years has been the excellent Jay's Audio MK-II transport that had out-performed much more expensive highly regarded transports in my system. Well, across every sonic parameter  (transparency/micro-details-overall dynamics/bottom-end extension/purity of tonality- a much more airy sound-stage with wonderful 3D imaging) compared to the Jay's Audio transport.

That's way I titled this thread a "phenomenal new CD transport" because while not inexpensive, it just might be a bargain based on its performance. Mind you, this superlative level of performance is based on using the switching power supply that Pro-Ject ships the transport with. I have shortly coming a custom 20 watt 3 amp linear power supply from Linear Tube Audio and Pro-Ject's own upgraded power supply to see if the RS2 transport performance will even go to a higher qualitative level of performance.

I'll be writing a full detailed review for Stereo Times in the near future. However, I wanted to share this information to GON members who still spin CDs. I have had numerous CD transports in for evaluation and this just might be the best sounding of all of them.

Teajay (Terry London)




amorstereo
"This is only one of the Emails I have received with the same superlative results"

The feedback from owners overwhelmingly tout the superiority of using a linear power supply with this transport. Makes me wonder why Pro-Ject even bothers with a switching mode power supply wall wart.
Charles
kully560, ...or LTA will!

jriggy and teajay, thanks for the Black Cat rec.  I'll check it out.  I'm running the Pro-Ject into the DAC in my integrated with optical, and am expecting (hoping) that the AES/EBU will be an improvement. 

Or Pro-Ject could simply make the linear power supplies the default choice and rightfully raise the price for this better sounding packaged combo.
Charles 
@rsf507 RCA or spdif cables are 75ohms AES/EBU cables are 110 ohms. I'm not an engineer so won't tell you why but that is the case.