Thank you, Al; for that excellent description!
I doubt that anyone currently makes a conventional CD transport that emulates the USB port of a computer - and "emulates" is the key word here. But one would think that such a transport is theoretically possible and could be relatively inexpensive. The CD drive would have to be smooth and quiet, unlike many found in computers. I have heard tell that Sanyo makes such an OEM CD drive (for conventional players) and I imagine that Matsushita/Panasonic does also and perhaps Sony.
This could result in a $1000 CD player that sounds like a $30,000 CD player.
I doubt that anyone currently makes a conventional CD transport that emulates the USB port of a computer - and "emulates" is the key word here. But one would think that such a transport is theoretically possible and could be relatively inexpensive. The CD drive would have to be smooth and quiet, unlike many found in computers. I have heard tell that Sanyo makes such an OEM CD drive (for conventional players) and I imagine that Matsushita/Panasonic does also and perhaps Sony.
This could result in a $1000 CD player that sounds like a $30,000 CD player.