Recommend a CD transport with excellent SQ

[wee tee cee]

Getting some hours on both.

Have shifted the BMU and various wires to the Audiolab system.

Constantly suprised just how good the system sounds.

Will maybe do a wee 6000a/cdp review.

Seriously thinking about getting a couple of the mono blocks....

[hifinutt]

yes surprised they are not more popular but one or two threads like this

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/thre...htmare.101251/

https://www.avforums.com/threads/aud...lures.2020235/

https://www.avforums.com/threads/hel...e-out.1409467/

[wee tee cee]

Interesting Phil.

I was looking at the 8300mb or the 8300xt, hoping the new designs dont have similar issues.

[hifinutt]

well that remains to be seen . perhaps put a separate thread on AOS and see the latest results

with so many competitors i would be cautious

[hifinutt]

just weighing up a Bel canto cd2 . will do a new thread at some time . Its extremely good . very versatile in that in case be used as a volume control straight into power amps . currently using as a transport with just the standard wall mart psu . once i get acclimatised i will try different psu

[Qwin]

Yes, but since there's no established standard two devices equipped with it may still not be compatible.

S/pdif is fine, i2S is just another solution for a non-existent problem. It gives the marketing department a USP to latch onto though.

Martin that is just not the case.
i2s is a long established standard, just not one originally meant for box to box connection, so no pin out or socketry is defined for this.
As far as I'm aware, most if not all devices use i2S as the native internal audio bus, whether it be a PC, CD player etc.
The i2s is converted to USB, SPDIF for export etc sent to the next box then converted back to i2s internally.
So the principle of removing the repackaging at both ends is a good one.
Historically, it only had a short transmission capability as that's all it was designed for, an internal bus for audio only.
These days the distance is easily extended by using a simple line driver, which is an internal item on the devices output.
The main issue is the lack of an interconnect standard, but to be honest in most cases, if you know the pin outs of the two different devices, you can convert between them.
The PS Audio pin out using an HDMI cable has been adopted by many, mainly because they published the circuit and said it was free to all to use. It uses a National Semiconductors DS90LV031ATM/NOPB line driver to extend distance to Metres rather than cm.

As you can probably tell, I looked into the subject at great length and have had several i2s capable devices.
Like most things, it boils down to implementation and I've personally not had a great deal of success with i2s.
My Nuprime CDT into a PS Audio Stellar DAC sounded better through SPDIF or AES than i2s for instance. These devices are pin compatible so just an HDMI lead is required between the two and was a major factor in me buying the Nuprime. Doh!
The Raspberry Pi i2s output has timing issues and needs re-clocking for high end use, as in the ALLO i2s re-clocking hat.
So yes there are issues, but fundamentally it makes sense to remove additional processes from the audio chain, so it's not just marketing spiel.

[Gazjam]

Good post Ken.
Strong agree.

[wee tee cee]

Getting a few hours on the transport and 6000a amp./

Really impressed sonically....proper hi fi....

[hifinutt]

Great , interesting how you get on .I think the 6000 would be better than the 6007 marantz I have. Which is good but I think the 6000cdt pips it from what I have heard so far

[hifinutt]

had a look at this yesterday , what a gorgeous pice of kit !!!

AA transport by , on Flickr

audio analogue aa cd drive . good points lovely smooth tray , quieter than a mouse in operation , aes out and decent rca

not so good points buttons under front is a bit quirky

beautiful for 2 k , feels heavy and well made