CD Transport advices


Greetings,
It' s been a long time since my last post here. After years pleased w/ the same system, last year, I started a complete upgrade, and as you will see, I do need some help from my Audiogon's expert fellows.
My current system consists of:

-Dali Epicon 6 - speakers (new - 6 weeks)
-McIntosh MC 452 - amp (new - 7 months)
-McIntosh D100 - pre/DAC (new - 9 months)
-Oppo 103D - transport (new - 9 months)
-Audio Aero Prima MKIII - transport - (old - 7 years) - broken last week...
-Cables: KS 1130 (interconnects), KS 3035 (speakers - arriving next week- I can't wait!), some Fusion Audio and one KS PK 10 Palladian (power cords), Transparent Digital Premium (coaxial).
-in the near future - Aurender server/streamer - model yet to decide.

My new speakers arrived six weeks ago. The differences to my old (and adored!) Anthony Gallo Reference 3.1, were huge w/ the Dali right out of the box, and are becoming more and more evident as the Epicons are running-in (they barely played 60h). I' m still astonished with what I can hear w/ the Epicons 6 in my room! The problem is that the Prima stop reading CDs in the middle of these huge changes and I got completely lost. I fed my oppo w/ the same cables that were feeding the Prima and could not hear (or better saying, remember) much differences between them, but: would I notice, in a A/B comparison? I mean, do you think the old Audio Aero Prima is, in fact, a better transport then the new Oppo 103? Do you think they should play equal when connected to the D100 DAC?! Or, maybe, the Oppo could do a better job, since it is a new project?
Is a CD transport, so crucial to the McIntosh D100 performance? What do I do?
-stay w/ the oppo and forget about CD transport?
-try to fix the Prima, if it should be a better transport then the Oppo?
-or forget both, and buy something else, more compatible w/ the rest of the system? What suggestions then?
Despite the fact that I will probably buy an Aurender server in the near future, I have about 700-800 CDs, some of them really audiophiles, and I wanted to play them in the old fashioned way, and in a level compatible w/ my new system.
As you see, I'm completely lost here, and any tips will be of great help. Sorry for the bad english, and for the long post.
Best regards.
rogertmac

Showing 1 response by tjassoc

Respectfully, IMHO and from my personal experience, a good transport / digital cable / DAC combination will outdo all but the best USB systems.

USB cables are not the ideal digital cables - XLR digital cables are with RCA digital cables a close 2nd. Again, from my personal A / B testing.

If you can, try a Meridian 800 transport. It will be a DRAMATIC improvement over the Oppo 103D transport. I have both and after trying the Oppo, as good of a Blu-ray player that it is - I was disappointed.

The 800 will offer transport performance similar to Meridian's 808 for a fraction of the cost.