Audiofederation- I tried the Drive-1 in my system. It was very good, and it was a slight improvement when serving as transport into the digital 'in' of my AA Capitole MK 1 (slightly better than the Capitole's own transport). HOWEVER, I now own a transport that I got for $900 and was made in 1988, and it bested the Drive-1 doing the same test- the Teac Esoteric P-1- better detail retrieval.
Basically, I think some of this comes down to what transport mechanism 'methodology' is preferred, and it may be system dependent. i.e.- you've got the Phillips Pro; CEC uses the belt-drive system; Audiomeca designed his own proprietary one; and my Teac uses the heavy-duty VRDS clamping system- my personal preference for ultimate detail retrieval- ALTHOUGH, I suspect and have heard the CEC TL-0Mk II is also excellent in this regard (mucho denaro though).
Anyways, cost no object, I would opt for the Japan-only Esoteric P0s. There is an Agon member who picked one up in Japan (ultra-rare) for about $8k USD, and he e-mailed me the pics- talk about tank-like build quality!!
