Cheapish Transport Choice ??

I have at the moment :-

Cambridge Audio CD4
NOS DAC ( Mr Shek V2)
Rotel RB991 Power amp
Audiolab 8000c pre
B7W CDM1SE speakers

I was loving the sound but the CD4 has developed a fault with the display so I am looking for a change BUT ... I am thinking of investing a chunk of wonga feb next year in a total system revamp so am looking for a transport to get me by - with a max budget of £200.

At this price there seems to be a plethera of choices from older models - can anyone give me their thoughts ??

 

I went from a Pioneer 575a into my DAC to a Meridian 500. Yes, there was a difference, and yes it did improve things. Whether it improved things by £400 is another matter altogether.
In the context of your system, I'm not convinced that it would be great value for money.
Assuming you are going for a tranport, I understand that the Meridian 200s are pretty good, and if you can stretch the budget the Teac VRDS are definitely worth checking out along with the 500 that I have.

 

You might actually pick up a VRDS within budget. Alternatively a pioneer stable platter plus clock upgrade. Personally id go with an older swing arm philips mechanism based player and maybe stick a clock in it and lots of shielding of the pcb tracks around the board carrying the data etc. For example ive got an old Rotel with a CDM4/19 which has a removable dac board which allow removal of as much rfi producing chips as possible and could have a clock easily installed - just cant seem to get around to it!

 

Id buy this: Im quite tempted anyway.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XTC-ORELLE-CD...oryZ3272QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

I'd be looking at a Teac VRDS based unit, but the newer the better, and try and find one thats been recently services as reliability can be questionable in my experience (which is one that seems to have been mirrored by others). The mechanism is complex to say the least and theres plenty of things that can go wrong - I've had a VRDS-7 and a T-1 now, both of which were just about ready for the bin

 

I think you should keep an eye out for Cambridge Audio DiscMagic-1 transports. I am currently using one and while I did not expect much from it, it actually beat off a Chord Blu transport. Even when driving the Chord DAC64! The DiscMagic did not have such good detail or imaging but it DIDN'T have the hard distorted (I guess jitter) sound the Blu did. So, I chose to stick with the Cambridge. I know they don't have a great name these days but the DiscMagic 1 was made before they were taken over by whoever it is and they made really good stuff. It has multiple transformers and regulated lines, copper shielding and all that jazz.

I suspect the Pioneer stable platter players are good too but the one I bought came to me with the lens sitting nicely on the platter when the draw opened. They are very fragile.

 

The discmagic was designed and built while Cambridge audio were under their current ownership (Audio Partnership).

 

Blogger - I've got a Mk1 Rega Planet fitted with a Tentlabs XO clock you can have for rather less than your budget. PM me if interested.

 

I have one of these, no idea if its really any good though...construction really is somewhat basic, yes there are some elements of quite good design (multiple transformers, albeit non-toroidal, and bits of copper shielding), but the chassis itself is pretty flimsy and the mech itself is a pretty standard Sony affair.

Its innards certainly look pretty budget to me, though that is to be expected given its original retail price, and I certainly think if you're considering clock mods and the like as future upgrades then a Teac VRDS is a far better starting point.

Take a look...heres mine prior to me cramming the insides with dynamat type stuff and various strips of blue tack to make the chassis less resonant:



At some point I'll probably get a clock put in mine (I have a 'spare' trichord DOB with inbuilt clock 3 that can be installed in a clock only configuration) and that'll serve me until I can get something better, but if I didn't have the clock of the right (16.3944Mhz) frequency sitting around doing nothing then I doubt I'd be bothering to spend money on mods for this...

 

Will, try a demo against something pretty expensive and I think
you could be pleasantly surprised just how good the DiscMagic is.

You say it looks basic, but what do you expect to find in a transport? I also firmly believe that the actual circuit design makes a far bigger difference than the components used in it.

How easy is it to do a clock mod? I might give that a go. Also, does anyone know where I can get a replacement power switch for it? The one in mine broke and I can't find any the same size to line up with the push rod.

Can you get a VRDS T1 for £200?

 

I realise a transport is rarely likely to be crammed full of PCBs and components, but in terms of the chassis and shielding used, the cambridge is very primitive - I'd go as far as to say that the Marantz CD6000 OSE has a more rigid internal chassis and construction.

The Teac T-1 (for example) has separate compartments for the power supply region, transport section, and digital output board, with shielding between these compartments, and a much more rigid 'double skinned' construction with copper shielding on many of the surfaces to reduce interference and vibration going into the transport and circuitry. Power supplies would preferably be toroidal as well.

I haven't compared the Discmagic to much else, I did find using the AES/EBU beneficial, but based on what I've read of it elsehwere the Discmagic isn't really all that good, and my impressions of its innards to my mind sort of re-inforce the view I have of it.

It might have a fairly simple design that means it performs better than its modest componentry would suggest though...as I say I haven't compared it myself as I've never had the chance (having never had 2 cdps at any one time), and other opinions don't seem to hold it in especially high regard when compared to other common transports (Meridian 500, Teac VRDS, pioneer stable platter, Pioneer DVD-575 et al). When I get back from the summer I'll be able to compare it a bit better, since I have a DVD player now that could be used as a comparison.

As for the clock mod, well I doubt I'll be doing it myself as my soldering skills are limited to say the least , but from what I've heard its really not that difficult!

 

I haven’t compared it to many transports either but as I said I did a direct 2 week comparison with a £4k Chord Blu and the DiscMagic was preferable. It is also better than my £400 Edirol soundcard's digital out. It is also better than the DVD player I was using for a bit. I bought it blind though, only expecting it to be with me for a few months lol! I’m not convinced chassis rigidly makes that much difference.. much along the same lines as racks, cables and green pens in my mind. Toroidal transformers could be nice however and as always you can improve a tiny bit with better caps etc…

Still I bet the VRDS and StablePlatter stuff is very good also if you wanna spend a bit more.

 

I'd reccomend saving for a Meridian 500.

It'll be about £400-£500.

It's what I use and I think it's top quality.

You would definatley hear the difference.

 

True, but the designer of the disc/dacmagic along with the isomagic and a couple of cd players is no longer with them (and sadly hasnt designed any recent cd players, although he was talking on diyaudio about a project based on the SAA7350 dac and the pmd100/200 filter). Before being taken over Cambridge produced the CD1, CD2 and CD3 as well as the DAC3 (not to be confused with the last iteration of the dacmagic which goes by the same name i believe and is very rare) which all used tda1541/a - designed by stan curtis.

 

Thanks Guys for all the suggestions !

Being the impulsive type and because I got it, for what I think is a very reasonable price, I plumbed for the first suggestion and am picking up a Meridian 200 transport with 203 DAC on Thursday. It will be interesting to compare this with the NOSDAC.

I liked the look of the TEAC - solid or what! I also would not have been averse to the discmagic if I could have found one - as I agree some of the Cambridge products are very underated .

Thanks again Guys :MILD: :

 

Indeed, the early Audio Partnership cambridge stuff (CD4, dacmagic, discmagic) was JW's (ex-pink triangle) work. As far as I know, their current range is not exceptional.

 

I have two transports for use with my nosdac a TEACP700 and a NEC multispin 602 external cd rom drive ,I am just comparing them as I write to see if I can hear much difference.The TEAC is prettier but I cant hear much difference ,make sure the multispin comes with a caddy though(a mistake I made originally).

 

How about this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/April-Music-S...9716148304QQcategoryZ3272QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

I think the Stello will be an excellent transport (I have not heard it out of an entire Stello system) but I suspect it will end for quite a lot more than £200.