Is this a good transport? Is the now discontinued Phillips 12-4 transport used in it a durable, long-lasting mechanism? Although Robert Harley of Stereophile praised it, he also said it was upfront, somewhat bright in the treble, & had some grain. Any opinions?
If the SFT-1 sounds polite, that's because Theta's have a forceful sound which is why Cory Greenburg liked them so much. Robert Harley rated the Theta as Class "B". The SFT-1 Class "A".
Thetas are forceful? After two months of constant play, I can say that the Pearl is definitely smoother and more refined than my previous player. Much more relaxed and enjoyable. But I suppose it's all relative, because the unit it replaced was a $500 Musical Fidelity E60 player being used as a transport.
I have a friend who has a ARC CD-1 which uses an earlier version of the Philips transport and has been having severe tracking problems with it. Acording to ARC, the grease in the mechanism hardens with age. The only remedy is to replace the transport mechanism which would cost nearly as much as the player is worth. Hopefully these problems are not as severe with the newer transport as many of the top High End designs use this mechanism. I owned the EAD T-1000 for many years which uses the Pioneer transport and was very happy with it.
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