Aqua 'La Diva' ($9k) or Gryphon 'Ethos' ($39k) versus. Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T ($3k)?
What sensible rationale is there for buying either of the two above-mentioned VERY COSTLY CD spinners (Aqua ’La Diva,’ a CD-only transport, and the Gryphon ’Ethos,’ a CD player with built-in DAC) when we can get the same pure Red-Book CD digital output from the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T for FAR less money?
What is a potential buyer getting for their significantly increased expenditure other than fancy packaging and possibly a boost to their egos from ownership of a prestige brand-name item? The one component (and a crucially-significant one at that) which all three of these products have in common is the new Philips-based Stream Unlimited CD Pro 8 CD player mechanism. Aside than that, what one appears to get with the two far-higher-priced components is little more than pure window-dressing, not substantive gains in performance over the CD Box RS2 T.
It is little wonder that one reviewer of the RS2 T thinks of it as nothing less than a "giant killer," in that it makes it nearly impossible for any level-headed purchaser, even one with the means to spend lavishly, to rationalize spending thousands of dollars more on these two competing products (or on others like them) when one can get the same sonic results (which from most reports are splendid) from the humble little CD Box.
Any thoughts? Do we audiophiles finally have good reason to come to our buying senses? To me, Pro-Ject Audio Systems may have struck a true winning vein with their CD Box when prospecting for gold.
The Pro-Ject transport is marvelously good!!! The lack of CD track programmability is simply a non factor (For me). @tommylion I'd give a serious look at P.S.Audio CD/SACD transport or the Jay's Audio CDT MK III as excellent sounding alternatives. If you want the CD Pro-8/Blue Tiger servo mechanism, it's also available with the Aqua Hifi La Diva M2 transport. Charles |
@ charles1dad: The programmable alternatives you’ve suggested tommylion consider are all fine and good, but the P.S. Audio and Aqua HiFi units are far more costly than I suspect he’s willing to pay for a good-sounding programmable CD player. His best option price-wise at our talking level would be the Jay’s Audio unit, which costs approximately the same (US$3k) as our little CD Box does. He’d be better off going for a "mid-fi" CD player of some kind or other at this point, which would have the added benefit of costing him less than US$1k. |
Why would you listen to CDs if you don't care about hearing an album as a complete work, instead of cherry-picking a few songs here and there? You have streaming and playlists for that, a vinyl/CD experience is the opposite of that. With physical formats, you take your time, like a good conversation with a friend. You don't say to them "please stop talking, I've heard the same story a hundred times and I want to talk about X that interests me more than your ramblings" do you? Throwing a tantrum and making everything about yourself like a child... It's clearly a feature that 99.9% of the people don't use and including it would make the transport more expensive for everyone else. I don't see why Pro Ject or Stream Unlimited would like to spend additional money to cater for a minuscule minority of an already minuscule market of audiophiles. And for transparency, I don't own the Pro Ject transport My 2 cents |
Ignore the dismissive comment made above with respect to you settling for a midfi $1K player. Aside from the options that Charles mentioned, I’ll offer another that has programmable functionality - Simaudio 260DT. I have this transport, it has Sim’s proprietary mechanism and software and to my ears it is a very nice compliment to my Mojo Audio EVO DAC. I use AES/XLR connection ; prefer it slightly to the SPDIF. Anyway, I have no idea how it sounds vis a vis the Project as I have not heard a Project in my system. Just offering it up as a possible consideration if you haven’t done so already as you explore your options. Good luck finding a transport that suits your overall requirements. |
