CD Transport vs Music Server

[Al M.]

BTW, my CD transport does not have a BNC output. I use an RCA > BNC adapter (comes with the reclocking kit). The DAC does have a BNC input.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

Theoretically yes. In fact, I was skeptical about reclockers since the clock inside the DAC does the ultimate job and in mine it is supposed to be excellent. Turns out, the clocking inside the DAC, adjacent to the DAC chip, apparently works better if it gets a better pre-clocked signal to work with.



I preferred AES/EBU from the transport, but it turns out that the BNC that the reclocker works with, in conjunction with the reclocking itself, overall yields a better result. Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio prefers BNC to regular RCA because of less reflections. He has extensively measured it all.

RCA connectors have trouble maintaining 75 Ohm impedance, but they are the current standard. BNC can be 75 Ohms easy. Have you considered getting an RCA to BNC cable for your transport? I always try to reduce the number of contacts in the signal chain, meaning getting rid of any adapters.

 

[Al M.]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll discuss with Steve Nugent.

 

[MichaelHiFi]

A raving review of the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 Transport :

Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 Transport

I have had a long history (thirty years), having highly-regarded CD transports in my systems to spin my vast collection of over 12,000 CDs. I have owned and enjoyed some of the most notable CD transports like the Mark Levinson 31.5, CEC TL1-TL2N, Ensemble Dirondo, Accustic Arts Drive 1, PS Audio...

v2.stereotimes.com

Terry London, the reviewer bought it!

I’ve been fiddling with servers since they became available. I love them, playlists and all.

my latest generation includes a powerful server, ultrarendu, etherregen, lps’s and HQP. It took months to setup, understanding HQP, Roon, rendu, filters, settings, handshakes and even now, wonder if There are better filters to utilize in my setup.

Based upon Terry’s review of the Pro-ject RST-2, I bought one. Took what, 8 months to arrive. Now there’s a bit of a war between the RST-2 and the streamer. My DAC is a Holo May KTE.

I might say that the Transport has the edge on the streamer and I do not yet have a proper cable installed between the DAC and the Transport. The transport feels a bit more alive, open and transparent. But the server a bit more ordered, easy, yet still able deliver beautiful sounding recordings regardless of genre. Strangely, maybe, spinning CD’s again, I find that I listen to more music, music that was forgotten on the CD due to having playlists.

But there are so many variables to consider, as others mentioned, how do you like listening to music.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

I’ve been fiddling with servers since they became available. I love them, playlists and all.

my latest generation includes a powerful server, ultrarendu, etherregen, lps’s and HQP. It took months to setup, understanding HQP, Roon, rendu, filters, settings, handshakes and even now, wonder if There are better filters to utilize in my setup.

Based upon Terry’s review of the Pro-ject RST-2, I bought one. Took what, 8 months to arrive. Now there’s a bit of a war between the RST-2 and the streamer. My DAC is a Holo May KTE.

I might say that the Transport has the edge on the streamer and I do not yet have a proper cable installed between the DAC and the Transport. The transport feels a bit more alive, open and transparent. But the server a bit more ordered, easy, yet still able deliver beautiful sounding recordings regardless of genre. Strangely, maybe, spinning CD’s again, I find that I listen to more music, music that was forgotten on the CD due to having playlists.

But there are so many variables to consider, as others mentioned, how do you like listening to music.

I believe that both CDs and servers can play equally good. It's about how much work you put in, and CD is way easier to do right. Big kudos to you for working so hard on your setup. If I were you, I would like for those solutions to sound differently as much as possible to multiply my playback options, but that's up to you obviously

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...I still have my Luxman D-05u SACD player, although I seldom use it, due to the convenience and quality of streaming.

I deliberately left the D05u pathed to the Luxman c900 control amp and *not* passed into the MSB dac as a transport source.

My thinking was to leave my "old" digital pathway in place so that I would have a baseline/reference, as well as to enjoy that Luxman CD sound, which is excellent.

I actually think the sound from the server set up is better (to me), but it cost a lot of cabbage to create that delta. The sound from a good CDP in a good system is actually very engaging, IMO.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

...I still have my Luxman D-05u SACD player, although I seldom use it, due to the convenience and quality of streaming.

I deliberately left the D05u pathed to the Luxman c900 control amp and *not* passed into the MSB dac as a transport source.

My thinking was to leave my "old" digital pathway in place so that I would have a baseline/reference, as well as to enjoy that Luxman CD sound, which is excellent.

I actually think the sound from the server set up is better (to me), but it cost a lot of cabbage to create that delta. The sound from a good CDP in a good system is actually very engaging, IMO.

Well, we have exactly 40 years of experience with playing CDs, while streaming is still fresh. I think it's settling now, we have all the resolution and sampling rate we might need, and now it's up to refine the software, which is the biggest challenge in streaming.

 

[facten]

For what it's worth, I have the Simaudio 260D and Mojo Audio EVO DAC. I heard SQ improvement switching connection from SPDIF RCA to AES/EBU. Since I use different brands of digital interconnects for SPDIF RCA and AES/EBU I wasn't sure if the SQ improvement was due to the particular brand cable, or if possibly Sim optimized the AES/EBU connection. I posed the question to Simaudio via email and received a response that the AES/EBU connection is the better option on the transport. I am happy with the Mojo Audio AES/EBU digital cable, but I am going to research digital AES/EBU digital cable options for further improvements.

 

[rau]

I bought the Jay's CDT3 and using RJ45I2S to Lampizator Horizon.... Now im in the market for another transport for another location . Can anyone tell me how the

PS Audio PST SACD compares to PS Audio Memory Player​

 

[GSOphile]

I bought the Jay's CDT3 and using RJ45I2S to Lampizator Horizon.... Now im in the market for another transport for another location . Can anyone tell me how the

PS Audio PST SACD compares to PS Audio Memory Player​

The PST SACD looks like an innovative design. Especially interested in how it does with SACDs using someone else's DAC.

 

[melomane99]

Hi @charles1dad - yup the Pro-Ject RS2 T is on day 3 of running in now. So far it's good, certainly better than the Cambridge CXC v2 (obviously!), but not knocking my socks off. As of day 2, slight preference for the PS Audio which is more run-in and has a hair more solidity and depth to it, but the differences are subtle enough that I'm not sure I particularly care for one over the other. Based on the remarks here, I trust the Pro-Ject will be more compelling after a few more days. Once it settles in, I'll try my linear supply (HDPlex 300W) as well. I'm using a modest (DH Labs) AES-EBU cable to either PS Audio DirectStream or Mola Mola Tambaqui DACs, and I've also tested S/PDIF (Audience Au24 SX) to a RME ADI-2.

I will say I'm not taken with the overall build quality and engineering of the Pro-Ject. The little sticker nub which contacts the lid switch seems misaligned and doesn't consistently register the lid as closed; it doesn't always read my discs on the first shot; and it's hit or miss if the unit or remote buttons respond e.g. skipping tracks. The PS Audio has similar quirks and I was hoping Pro-Ject would be better, but it's about the same. The Pro-Ject is also a little noisier in operation than the Marantz SACD-M3 transport in the more solid chassis of the PSA. I get why these low-volume units cost as much as they do nowadays, but it's a disappointing when these are basic things that $150 players back in the day got right. I miss those old school Japanese players which were responsive, convenient (loved that you could enter track numbers and hit play to close the disc tray!) and absolutely bulletproof...

Side thought: anyone compare a Simaudio 260D to any of these transports?

I just wondered how you will be able to use the HDPlex 300W LPSU with the Pro-Ject RS2 T as it requires 20V and the HDPlex 300W only has 19V - or mine has? Perhaps your's is different?

 

[longinc]

I’ve been fiddling with servers since they became available. I love them, playlists and all.

my latest generation includes a powerful server, ultrarendu, etherregen, lps’s and HQP. It took months to setup, understanding HQP, Roon, rendu, filters, settings, handshakes and even now, wonder if There are better filters to utilize in my setup.

Based upon Terry’s review of the Pro-ject RST-2, I bought one. Took what, 8 months to arrive. Now there’s a bit of a war between the RST-2 and the streamer. My DAC is a Holo May KTE.

I might say that the Transport has the edge on the streamer and I do not yet have a proper cable installed between the DAC and the Transport. The transport feels a bit more alive, open and transparent. But the server a bit more ordered, easy, yet still able deliver beautiful sounding recordings regardless of genre. Strangely, maybe, spinning CD’s again, I find that I listen to more music, music that was forgotten on the CD due to having playlists.

But there are so many variables to consider, as others mentioned, how do you like listening to music.

@MichaelHiFi FWIW, I was at the Pacific Northwest Audio festival this past weekend, and I was in one of the rooms that (to my ears) was making excellent sound, and noticed the guy doing the demos was playing CD's off a MSB CD transport. I couldn't help but mentioned my "struggle" in getting my streamer/computer audio setup to sound as good as my CD transport (both using the same DAC). And he said he is not surprised at all, and that's why he travels the world with his bag of CD's when he does these audio shows. He feels computer audio is just not quite there yet. And he had the Taiko Extreme in the room as well. To be clear, the Taiko is an excellent excellent music server, but as others on this thread might have said that getting it to sound better than a good CD transport takes alot of $$'s and optimizations (still to be discovered/developed). Are you powering the RST-2 with an LPS? If not, give it a try and see whether the delta with your streamer setup widens further. Happy tweaking.

 

[rau]

I received a RST-2 and had a LTA linear psu on order , The RST-2 is a POS I'm sending it back they should be ashamed selling this junk .

 

[longinc]

I received a RST-2 and had a LTA linear psu on order , The RST-2 is a POS I'm sending it back they should be ashamed selling this junk .

Sounds like Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3 is the way to go these days....been hearing alot of good things about it

 

[GSOphile]

My choice for a reasonably priced CD transport with good build quality wound be the Simaudio 260D.

 

[facten]

I received a RST-2 and had a LTA linear psu on order , The RST-2 is a POS I'm sending it back they should be ashamed selling this junk .

Based upon some posts on Audiogon it appears that the Project sounds great but a number of folks have build quality problems with it.

 

[rau]

Sounds like Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3 is the way to go these days....been hearing alot of good things about it

Excellent

 

[taww]

Based upon some posts on Audiogon it appears that the Project sounds great but a number of folks have build quality problems with it.

The build quality is indeed a bit sketchy. Some details seem like a bad joke, e.g. the little piece of stick-on rubber footer used as a nub to engage the lid sensor. Just handling the thing the first few days I had it, wondering how something that cost over $3k could feel so janky, I felt like I should send it back.

Nevertheless, I decided to keep mine. I'm not sure I made the right call, given I can't even use my system for the next 6 months or so (packed in storage for a home renovation). Paranoia that the transport supply would dry up and/or prices would keep going up probably weighed into that decision. And yes, it does sound excellent - I preferred it by a small margin to the PS Audio, though it was subtle. Something about ProJect just let me have more of those "magical" experiences where the music just sounded more immediate and "right." Anyway, here's hoping the thing lasts!

 

[taww]

The PST SACD looks like an innovative design. Especially interested in how it does with SACDs using someone else's DAC.

Unfortunately I don't think you can use it as a SACD transport with another DAC, at least not one I know of. There's no standardized scheme and it technically violates licensing agreements to pass it unencrypted over I2S (you are supposed to use HDMI protocol), so PS Audio is cheating a bit with their proprietary solution. That said, I don't think it's a huge loss. Weirdly, I found the PS Audio to be less compelling on SACD vs. CD feeding my DirectStream DAC. While CDs on the transport sounded consistently better than their rips played via Roon/Bridge, I wasn't so sure about SACDs. My DSD rips sounded just as good via Roon, and on some discs I actually found the transport to sound a bit thinner and less involving than the rip. This was with limited experimentation of HDMI cables though.

 

[taww]

I just wondered how you will be able to use the HDPlex 300W LPSU with the Pro-Ject RS2 T as it requires 20V and the HDPlex 300W only has 19V - or mine has? Perhaps your's is different?

I was able to get the RS2 T to work ok with the 19V the HDPlex provides. It all probably gets regulated down to 12V and 5V rails internally anyway, so it only needs enough voltage to clear the minimum dropout of the regulators in the RS2 T. Given the most dated 78xx regulators have a comparatively large 3V dropout, I wouldn't be surprised if the RS2 could run on as little as 15V. My guess is they specify 20V to allow for plenty of sag with poorly regulated supplies, or perhaps it is double-regulated, so add another 3V or whatever - 18V would probably still be plenty.

I did not find the RS2 T to sound any better with the HDPlex vs. the stock wall wart, but the jury-rigged daisy chain of adapters I was using were probably to blame. With a proper DC cable, perhaps I'd have heard the effects better.