Recommend a CD transport with excellent SQ

[bumpy]

My best experience has been with the transport of early Marantz/Philips CD1 players, but these are old and getting tired now and I could be buying trouble.

So in terms of modern dedicated transports what would you recommend - lets give a target cost of very approximately £1000

Thanks

[hifinutt]

Slot loader or tray?

[Roy S]

Got one of these I've been very happy with (not that it gets used much since I got a streamer).

https://www.whathifi.com/cyrus/cd-t/review

[AJSki2fly]

My best experience has been with the transport of early Marantz/Philips CD1 players, but these are old and getting tired now and I could be buying trouble.

So in terms of modern dedicated transports what would you recommend - lets give a target cost of very approximately £1000

Thanks

I think you could be hard pushed to beat an Audiolab 6000CDT several on here have recommended it to me and only about £400.

I went a step further and purchased the Audiolab 8300CDQ which uses the same as the 6000CDT but has a very good DAC and can be used as pre-amp as well, its a bit of a hidden gem IMHO. see https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...hlight=8300cdq

[bumpy]

Slot loader or tray?

Not fussed.

[bumpy]

Got one of these I've been very happy with (not that it gets used much since I got a streamer).

https://www.whathifi.com/cyrus/cd-t/review

Yes the Cyrus players sneak into most overviews of good products.

[bumpy]

I think you could be hard pushed to beat an Audiolab 6000CDT several on here have recommended it to me and only about £400.

I went a step further and purchased the Audiolab 8300CDQ which uses the same as the 6000CDT but has a very good DAC and can be used as pre-amp as well, its a bit of a hidden gem IMHO. see https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...hlight=8300cdq

Yes I looked at this some time ago against the Cambridge CXC at a similar price. Finally I bought the CXC new and was untimately disappointed. Great player at the price point, but I would like a bit more.

Now that sets the bar high

[Roy S]

Had a CXC and the Cyrus definitely outperforms that by some margin. Got mine for around £500 on ebay, used through a Chord Hugo TT.

[AJSki2fly]

Yes I looked at this some time ago against the Cambridge CXC at a similar price. Finally I bought the CXC new and was untimately disappointed. Great player at the price point, but I would like a bit more.

Now that sets the bar high

Just noticed your set up Chris, you do have quite a high end system and it probably depends upon what you are looking for in CD playback. By that I mean if you have a lreasonable CD collection and want to play them a lot and want the best sound you can get then you may want to think about spending a bit more than the £1K. But if you're going to be an occasional CD listener and primarily listen to streamed Hi-res music then IMO I would try and get a home trial of the Audiolab 6000T at home along side the Cyrus Cdi and see which one does it for you, if neither time to think again.

Cheers

Adrian

[bumpy]

Just noticed your set up Chris, you do have quite a high end system and it probably depends upon what you are looking for in CD playback. By that I mean if you have a lreasonable CD collection and want to play them a lot and want the best sound you can get then you may want to think about spending a bit more than the £1K. But if you're going to be an occasional CD listener and primarily listen to streamed Hi-res music then IMO I would try and get a home trial of the Audiolab 6000T at home along side the Cyrus Cdi and see which one does it for you, if neither time to think again.

Cheers

Adrian

Thanks Adrian. Yep the system can be quite revealing
I've got about 5000 CDs of which over a 1000 so far have been copied down to my main music server and these form the core of what I listen to.

Many of the CDs have been acquired over the years and have not even been listened to properly. Equally many more in the future will be speculative buys from charity shops as many people discard the medium. I think it would be nice to just pop them in a CD transport for a listen rather than having to burn every one to a hard drive to see if its a keeper.