Help needed: CD Transport

[Nordlys]

Thanks guys

A lot of good advice, much appreciated!

Many new brands to research, just what I hope for...inspiration

I have had the pleasure of borrowing an Esoteric dv-50s, a Tascam 9010 and a Micromega “something rather”
But over time, so never side by side...as I recall the Esoteric was great, the Tascam was good and the Micromega didn’t really impress/beat my TEAC vrds 1, so not really a contender in my book

The Japanese Esoteric recommendation from Johnny nocash, great name by the way is waaay out of my league

Its also my personal experience that the quality of the Transport makes a difference, why I’m on this quest
When we tested we used the same setup only changing the transports (and also the same CD & cables of course), but the sound changed with the better transport also more than a better cable could have done IMO

There is actually a Audiomecca llx for sale locally, but as far as I can tell, they ore anyone else don’t service these 15 year old CD transports any longer + he wants a lot of money for it 1500£

I might just fix my old TEAC VRDS 1 & maybe upgrade it... but I’d much prefer a new unit

I actually have tried to demo the Audio Note unit, but no luck so far, Denmark is just to small, sometimes

[Spectral Morn]

Thanks guys

A lot of good advice, much appreciated!

Many new brands to research, just what I hope for...inspiration

I have had the pleasure of borrowing an Esoteric dv-50s, a Tascam 9010 and a Micromega “something rather”
But over time, so never side by side...as I recall the Esoteric was great, the Tascam was good and the Micromega didn’t really impress/beat my TEAC vrds 1, so not really a contender in my book

The Japanese Esoteric recommendation from Johnny nocash, great name by the way is waaay out of my league

Its also my personal experience that the quality of the Transport makes a difference, why I’m on this quest
When we tested we used the same setup only changing the transports (and also the same CD & cables of course), but the sound changed with the better transport also more than a better cable could have done IMO

There is actually a Audiomecca llx for sale locally, but as far as I can tell, they ore anyone else don’t service these 15 year old CD transports any longer + he wants a lot of money for it 1500£

I might just fix my old TEAC VRDS 1 & maybe upgrade it... but I’d much prefer a new unit

I actually have tried to demo the Audio Note unit, but no luck so far, Denmark is just to small, sometimes

The Audiomecca use a Sanyo laser, one with flying leads not the plug on the end. The 2x is a nice machine, but Audiomecca are no longer in business, so repairs require a talented, creative engineer. In saying that, find one and they are fixable. Price you mention sounds about right, for a machine that cost about 5000 Euros new, and has a bit of a cult following.

[Macca]

Its also my personal experience that the quality of the Transport makes a difference, why I’m on this quest

There's the problem of confusing a difference in presentation with a difference in quality, they aren't the same thing. Better quality to me means giving greater insight into the recording. Wheras presentation is just a subjective preference. In general I prefer Sony to Marantz, presentation wise, and plenty of people prefer Marantz. But to say one is 'better' than the other is just down to personal taste.


AS you live in Denmark you should have easy access to the German market and they have all sorts of weird and wonderful kit available second hand. However I still think you'll struggle to find a transport that is demonstrably better than your Teac in quality terms.

[Nordlys]

Hi Martin

You are of course right! And sound is very personal
And a super valid point

A good indicator is that of all my hifi friends 20 ore so, non of us have anywhere near the same setup

Mind you some of that is down to the size of the room/ house, income and the X factor “ownership”
Like me I LOVE studio grad gear, the industrial no nonsense look and feel, is the “thing” for me, I’m a simple jeans & T-shirt kind of guy

In contrast one of my brothers best friends has an all Gryphon setup with big Martin Logan’s & serously expensive cables etc. Great sounding setup, he LOVES Gryphon gear...waaaay out of my pay grade/ economical commitment to sound gear

However I’m also a big kid, and I love to play with cables, feet, fuses, room acoustic and all other aspects of this wonderful hobby

Back on track: My new transport....

Have any of you tried the PS Audio PW transport?

As a gear head I think this solution to CD playback is inspired, unlike the AudioMecca with takes great care to install correctly, like a turntable, it’s dependent on mechanical decoupling where as this decouples the sensitive CD drive/reader Electronicly thus eliminating jitter

This was my first “love”/contender for my new CD transport, but your ideals and experiences are much appreciated as it’s “a jungle out there”, soooo much nice gear so little time

Jesper

[anubisgrau]

These days apart from sound quality I would tend to check availability of vital parts, laser mech etc. There's some great machines you can't use anymore because no more spare parts.

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Martin

You are of course right! And sound is very personal
And a super valid point

A good indicator is that of all my hifi friends 20 ore so, non of us have anywhere near the same setup

Mind you some of that is down to the size of the room/ house, income and the X factor “ownership”
Like me I LOVE studio grad gear, the industrial no nonsense look and feel, is the “thing” for me, I’m a simple jeans & T-shirt kind of guy

In contrast one of my brothers best friends has an all Gryphon setup with big Martin Logan’s & serously expensive cables etc. Great sounding setup, he LOVES Gryphon gear...waaaay out of my pay grade/ economical commitment to sound gear

However I’m also a big kid, and I love to play with cables, feet, fuses, room acoustic and all other aspects of this wonderful hobby

Back on track: My new transport....

Have any of you tried the PS Audio PW transport?

As a gear head I think this solution to CD playback is inspired, unlike the AudioMecca with takes great care to install correctly, like a turntable, it’s dependent on mechanical decoupling where as this decouples the sensitive CD drive/reader Electronicly thus eliminating jitter

This was my first “love”/contender for my new CD transport, but your ideals and experiences are much appreciated as it’s “a jungle out there”, soooo much nice gear so little time

Jesper

I would love to try the PS Audio transport and DAC, interesting designs and PS Audio strike me as being a good company that care about their customers. I have heard them at various HiFi shows, but not in my own set up.

The Audiomeccas aren't that hard to set up and use. Adjust the mechanism to be level, easy to do, place on a level surface and away you go.

[Nordlys]

Hi guys

My search has ended, for now

Thanks for all your great insight & inspiration

Here is what happened:
A good friend of mine found a cheap PS Audio Transport in Germany & just across the boarder, from a dealer he has used before so
The transport was so cheap in fact, that he brought it straight away, as he new that I was interested

So here I am waiting for my “new” toy like a kid before Christmas

[da2222]

Don't forget the Bel Canto CD 2, built like a tank, looks great and sounds very nice indeed...

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[da2222]

....Ah just seen you're sorted..Good luck!

[Nordlys]

Hi Drew

Great post, I didn’t know that bel canto made a CD-Transport only players, their DAC’s sound great a friend of mine has one, I forget what it’s called, but nice product overall

Again THANKS so much for all your inputs & inspiration, I greatly appreciate it

Jesper