Best CD Player for using D200 DAC?

[Rodney Gold]

Well here is a suggestion , get Tidal and try a streaming solution.

but failing that the best CD transport I owned was a mark levinson 31.5
I always loved the old Thetas too .. bass performance was outstanding
I havent used a transport for many years so don't know modern stuff

[TDA]

Well here is a suggestion , get Tidal and try a streaming solution.

but failing that the best CD transport I owned was a mark levinson 31.5
I always loved the old Thetas too .. bass performance was outstanding
I havent used a transport for many years so don't know modern stuff

even though i suggested a Moon cd transport, i would agree with above.

But i wouldn't mention the solution since he asked for advise for CD transport. A lot of people out there, have i big CD collection still.

[yabaVR]

Ideally, there is a good cd player with AES output.

any advice?

I was thinking about buying an Oppo but given the rise of 4k, I do not want to buy one today.

I can totally recommend the Pro-Ject CD Box RS. It's reduced to the max and you can even improve it with an extra power supply. I've worked with it and it sounds really great and is worth the 1k. It also has some latent skills to be wakend with some tuning.

Expecting, you are going down the "streaming-path", be it USB/ AIR / or else, in the near future, I would get this "small" solution, because it sounds great/money and is quiet small - it's a really good backup, once you are totally in streaming and a really big upgrade on every CDP (3years and older) if you use it now. You don't want to have a big block next to your neat Dev that you only use occasionally 2years from now?!

This said it's depending on the fact that you validate for yourself that streaming is the better sounding source. For me a CDP is nothing more than a backup if at all only used 2 times/month.

gui


p.s. pm me if you like to meet me at a presentation of the Pro-Ject at a shop here in berlin.

[ozthepoz]

I have just bought a 300 gpb Cambridge Audio CXC transport from Richer Sounds. It sounds fantastic, certainly for the money.

[Nakatomi63]

As Devialet advised , it is better to use a AES/EBU connection like Pro-Ject or Moon has

[Rodney Gold]

I have a DSP based room correction unit with SPDIF and AES/.EBU output , both live
Im using kimber Orchid AES and D60 illuminati for SPDIF

The AES sounds totally different to the SPDIF .. you can just switch inputs to compare

They should sound similar with maybe small differences .. but in this case its huge
the SPDIF is less "airy" , has more impactful bass and the midrange is more prominent , the AES is far more relaxed , has better resolution and deeper bass but loses out on pace..it sounds "slower"
The differences are not subtle and I and others can pick them out instantly
Not sure what I prefer... for pacey music the spdif is better.. but it sounds harsher and harder

[samurai7595]

The Cambridge CXC CD Transport is a very nice unit!

For digital outputs, it includes a S/PDIF coax (RCA) and Toslink optical. I listened to one a few months ago at a dealer via Devialet 200.

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/cx/cxc

[GuillaumeB]

I have a DSP based room correction unit with SPDIF and AES/.EBU output , both live
Im using kimber Orchid AES and D60 illuminati for SPDIF

The AES sounds totally different to the SPDIF .. you can just switch inputs to compare

They should sound similar with maybe small differences .. but in this case its huge
the SPDIF is less "airy" , has more impactful bass and the midrange is more prominent , the AES is far more relaxed , has better resolution and deeper bass but loses out on pace..it sounds "slower"
The differences are not subtle and I and others can pick them out instantly
Not sure what I prefer... for pacey music the spdif is better.. but it sounds harsher and harder

Hey Rodney what do you put this down to? The variability of the Devialet inputs? Cables? Or both?

Guillaume

[yabaVR]

I have a DSP based room correction unit with SPDIF and AES/.EBU output , both live
Im using kimber Orchid AES and D60 illuminati for SPDIF

The AES sounds totally different to the SPDIF .. you can just switch inputs to compare

They should sound similar with maybe small differences .. but in this case its huge
the SPDIF is less "airy" , has more impactful bass and the midrange is more prominent , the AES is far more relaxed , has better resolution and deeper bass but loses out on pace..it sounds "slower"
The differences are not subtle and I and others can pick them out instantly
Not sure what I prefer... for pacey music the spdif is better.. but it sounds harsher and harder

Hey Rodney what do you put this down to? The variability of the Devialet inputs? Cables? Or both?

Guillaume

One thing that is different is the symmetry of the contacts. AES is very symmetric but RCA has got much more mass on the (-). We had a discussion here on the binding posts that they are imroving in sound if you get rid of their endparts that are screwed on the post. Actually you can only do this if you use bananas with your speakercables. But the conclusion here was that you loose a lot of mass on the binding posts and that mass actually refered to a lot of eddy currents. Knowing that the binding posts are 3$ cheap crap we can assume that the RCAs are of no better quality.

Next thing that fits to Rodney perceiving the AES being slowly and out of pace is, that the AES physically is sitting on a small circuitboard in company with the binding posts, 90° to the mainboard ( the RCAs are soldered directly on the mainboard near the DSP). So there are some connectors in between the AES-contacts and the DSP where all the inputs lead to in the first place. Connectors are of no good when it comes to signals going through them. They differ strongly in diameter AND material compared to the printed paths on the mainboard, so eddy currents are most likely in this places and that refers to timing-differences in frequencies and let the AES sound off track.

gui

[Music or sound]

Or something a bit cheaper, but does have AES/EBU output.....

http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod...ne&lang=en

(Actually, quite a lot cheaper than a Metronome)

I do use this transport and I really like it, it is my best sounding source next to my SD-trans. The only thing which is not perfect on the CD-box RS is the top loading design as there is not much space to grab the CD to get it out. AES/EBU definitely sounds better than SPDIF. I wish Devialet would have a second AES/EBU input as I am in the market for a new digital source for my downloads and streaming and want to avoid USB and AIR will not likely ever work again.