CD Transport - budget in the order of £1500

[Frank Harvey]

It's amazing sometimes that people can't just answer the question that is put forward. The OP has mentioned a couple of times that he is going to be buying a better transport regardless, and the "you should do this instead" and "it's all BS" comments still flow forth.

Not really the way to keep forum members is it - unless that's the intention...

 

[Exoticsounds]

Generally speaking when used as a transport with an external DAC any well built cd player/transport will sound the same. But buying a solidly built one with fast operating speeds will still have its advantages.

Some brands do offer "matching" DAC's and transports which have custom clock syncronization (to reduce jitter), they will usually then have 2 cables from the cd to the dac. In such a case using them together will in most cases give better sound than matching the DAC with any other cd player/transport.

So unless you are looking at such a combo, choose the cd transport you like for its design, solid built and speed of operations and you should be good to go.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Any suggestions?

My main one would be to have your CD8se upgraded to a CDT transport or to the CDXTse2, which can also be improved by adding a PSX-R at some point - the PSX-R will then be in charge of spinning the disc. Cyrus tried the PSX-R supply's g various parts of their CD players, and found that supplying the drive mechanism made the biggest difference.

Even with the amount of manufacturers we deal with. There's not too many dedicated transports around nowadays after they fell out of favour many years ago. I guess they might make a bit of a comeback off the back of the DAC resurgence, but with streamers taking over the market. It's a very small market for a manufacturer to target.

I suppose the good thing about upgrading to a Cyrus transport is that they make their own laser mechs,so they're not at the mercy of Philips and Sony who are notorious for discontinuing laser mechs on a regular basis (one reason why Cyrus decided to make their own). At least Cyrus can make CD players and transports for as long as they like - and Cyrus ones are still selling (probably because the likes of Linn, Classe, Bryston etc have stopped making them).

 

[expat]

Going slightly above the 1500 market you should def try the bel canto cd2 its got a built in dac and is head and shoulders above whats been mentioned so far

 

[BigColz]

Cyrus are pretty much the only company that design and use their own CD drives and are very good at that.. I'd agree with david and either sell your CD player and get a second hand CD-T or if you really think it's worth it a CD xt+2 or whatever they're called.. Before though i'd do a side by side test to see if you can hear a difference.. Your talkin 3 x the price remember.. I'd personally get a CD-T if transport is 100% the way you want to go.. Although i would (and did) get a streamer with digital inputs and rip to a NAS (external HDD for now). You could dem the Musical fidelity as well but probably uses a generic philps or sony CD spinner (not saying it won't be superior as a transport to a DVD player thought of course)..

 

[ebentjerodt]

Go for the Roksan Caspian CDP adn AMP.

kr

Eduardo

 

[ReValveiT]

A £10 PC DVD-RW will grab every last drop of data from a given CD at 40x speed. That's no "missed data" as some would have you believe... No errors, just 100% perfect verified data.

It would be fairly moronic to believe any modern, fully working CD transport upwards of £50 wouldn't do the same at normal speeds.

Save your dosh.

 

[BigH]

If you want to upgrade your Cyrus cd player you may want to look at what Mapleshades do to improve them.

 

[chebby]

The last time I tried a CD on a Blu-ray player my (normally very quiet) old Sony S370 started sounding like a turbofan spinning up to full power on an airliner!

With DVDs and Blu-rays the fan never kicked in but the CD had it going at an alarming rate.

When I get home later I will try a CD on my S390 (also extremely quiet with BDs and DVDs).

It is connected (via optical digital) to the same internal DAC that the built-in CD player (in my M-CR603) uses, so it should be a fair comparison. (Assuming the S390 doesn't also want to start emulating a turbine like the S370 did with CD!)

 

[ifor]

If you want to upgrade your Cyrus cd player you may want to look at what Mapleshades do to improve them.

I've not heard of Mapleshades; I'll have a look.

 

[ifor]

If I were you I would be auditioning some active speakers before spending anymore money on your system, it maybe not for you, but the last guy who changed his Naim system for one can't believe how incredible it is and far cheaper than his old system.

It was always drummed into me at school, before exams, to make sure I had carefully read and understood the question, before attempting to answer it.

 

[BigH]

Maybe but I think it pays to be opened minded when spending money to get the best results.

Anyway this is a forum not an exam paper.

 

[The_Lhc]

Maybe but I think it pays to be opened minded when spending money to get the best results.

Speaking from experience or did you just read that off another webpage?

 

[BigH]

Maybe but I think it pays to be opened minded when spending money to get the best results.

Speaking from experience or did you just read that off another webpage?

No I did not read it anywhere.

 

[Anonymous]

Can I ask why you want a CD transport. I wanted a CD player because it is still better than lossless through my Sonos and DAC, and I just like the physicality of CD's.

I dont care to discuss the boring data is always the same regardless source theory, what you feel and hear is what matters in music. If people want the science behind this, there are plenty of dedicated resources that will do that. This is a hifi forum afterall.

 

[ifor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only pure CDT's that have have been suggested are:

Cyrus CDT

Cyrus CDXTSE2

Wadia 571 CD

Chord Blu (second hand to be in budget)

Musical Fidelity M1CDT

other suggestions such as Bela Canto, Plinius and Roksan Caspian are complete CD players with built in DACs, so they don't fit the criteria.

I wll explore further and if anyone else has any relevent suggestions please let me know. No one has mentioned the Heed Obelisk DT which surprises me; I've heard it has had some rave reviews.

Cheers

Ifor

 

[WinterRacer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only pure CDT's that have have been suggested are:

Cyrus CDT

Cyrus CDXTSE2

Wadia 571 CD

Chord Blu (second hand to be in budget)

Musical Fidelity M1CDT

other suggestions such as Bela Canto, Plinius and Roksan Caspian are complete CD players with built in DACs, so they don't fit the criteria.

I wll explore further and if anyone else has any relevent suggestions please let me know. No one has mentioned the Heed Obelisk DT which surprises me; I've heard it has had some rave reviews.

Cheers

Ifor

I used to own a Cyrus XT-SE CD transport (used with a DAC-X), happy to give my feedback on it if you're interested?

 

[ifor]

Can I ask why you want a CD transport. I wanted a CD player because it is still better than lossless through my Sonos and DAC, and I just like the physicality of CD's.

I dont care to discuss the boring data is always the same regardless source theory, what you feel and hear is what matters in music. If people want the science behind this, there are plenty of dedicated resources that will do that. This is a hifi forum afterall.

My iTunes ALAC streaming through my Arcam rDAC does not sound as good as CDs played on the Cyrus CD8 SE. I believe, though not yet proven, if I get a good enough DAC that might change. The question will then be, do CDs played on the Cyrus sound better through the "new" DAC or though its own built in DAC. I suspect it'll be the former. If so I will then have an unwanted DAC built into a CD player so why not either upgrade it to a better Cyrus CD transport or trade it in against a CDT of another make. My hope at this stage is that the "new" CDT will sound better than the CD8 SE played through the new DAC. No decisions will be made without a home loan and a good amount of listening time.

 

[The_Lhc]

Maybe but I think it pays to be opened minded when spending money to get the best results.

Speaking from experience or did you just read that off another webpage?

No I did not read it anywhere.

Funny, I thought you said you recommended active speakers because you read someone else's experience on another forum?

 

[MajorFubar]

I appreciate you feel too many responses to your thread have not given you an answer you like. And no doubt you will dismiss this as yet another.
But at least recognise that most people have at least been trying to help you.
You asked for opinions, you got them.
And the dominant opinion in this thread is that spending £1500 on a different transport won't better your Cyrus.
If you don't like the answer, that not the respondees' fault.

 

[BigH]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only pure CDT's that have have been suggested are:

Cyrus CDT

Cyrus CDXTSE2

Wadia 571 CD

Chord Blu (second hand to be in budget)

Musical Fidelity M1CDT

other suggestions such as Bela Canto, Plinius and Roksan Caspian are complete CD players with built in DACs, so they don't fit the criteria.

I wll explore further and if anyone else has any relevent suggestions please let me know. No one has mentioned the Heed Obelisk DT which surprises me; I've heard it has had some rave reviews.

Cheers

Ifor

But would the Heed go with your DAC, you may need to buy the Heed DAC as well?

 

[The_Lhc]

Can I ask why you want a CD transport.

Because he has a separate DAC so only requires the transport.

 

[The_Lhc]

My iTunes ALAC streaming through my Arcam rDAC does not sound as good as CDs played on the Cyrus CD8 SE. I believe, though not yet proven, if I get a good enough DAC that might change. The question will then be, do CDs played on the Cyrus sound better through the "new" DAC or though its own built in DAC.

Have you tried plugging the CD8 into the rDAC to see if it degrades the sound quality to what you hear from the iMac? At least then you'd know you can hear the difference between the transports as you'll be bypassing the Cyrus DAC.

 

[ifor]

But would the Heed go with your DAC, you may need to buy the Heed DAC as well?

That remains to be seen as do any of the combinations. If it doesn't play well with it it won't be purchased.

 

[BigH]

Maybe but I think it pays to be opened minded when spending money to get the best results.

Speaking from experience or did you just read that off another webpage?

No I did not read it anywhere.

Funny, I thought you said you recommended active speakers because you read someone else's experience on another forum?

I suggest he heard them and just saying that one pre-Naim guy was very happy with his active speakers. Just as another guy who is posting on this thread is.