Is the NuPrime CDT 9 Pro a Best Kept Secret?

This comes from a couple emails from Jason Lim regarding the CDT-8 Pro transport mechanism:

“Thanks for mentioning online. The transport info is on the product page:• Philips SAA7824HL high-end laser reads/writes head control and decodes chips for CD transport. There are a lot more than the transport, the decoding is very crucial too, and we have a team from Microchip Technology helping to write the firmware code. Our sales volume is so low that such assistant came from old friendship between the bosses :).”
 
And regarding the actual brand/model of the disc spinning laser assembly or mechanism: 

”Dan,
That I am not sure. I have to check with R&D if they allow me to talk about it. What I do know is that part of the design was sourced from a company that also provided the exact same solution to several other brands that sell for $2K to $4K. NuPrime is a no frill engineering company and I am very sure the same thing would cost much more elsewhere. Seems that such details are important to some customers. The transport details were added after the product page was published so it is possible some people didn’t see it.
Jason”

This we already knew that it uses a SAA7824HL controller chip, but it’s what the laser is for the 8 and 9 that needs to be told, so we can see if it’s readily available, and for a reasonable price, otherwise without knowing this i know I wouldn’t go near it.

Cheers George

Aren’t all Phillips units out of production?

Aren’t all Phillips units out of production?

If that's the case and there's no subs, I wouldn't go near them.

Cheers George 

This Summer, I finally sold a fully functioning Rotel RCD 990, famous for its out of production Phillips transport. I bought it around 1996 and used it weekly.