If I was you I'd add a coupla C notes and get an endgamer. Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T Transport. https://www.stereonet.co.uk/news/pro-ject-cd-box-rs2-t-high-end-cd-transport-announced I might get one myself. |
The Sony 608esd is a very good choice. I had someone that really wanted to buy mine once before I had even heard it. So I plugged it in and compared it to a $2500 streamer / player hooked to a $5000.00 dac. First I ripped the cd to a flac file to compare. Me or my wife could not tell the difference when playing the same songs. I was so surprised. I kept it. Apparently a new laser can be a fairly expensive repair though. Good luck |
Thanks to all for the input, very much appreciated. I do plan to keep the Jolida DAC for now, so a transport is really all I need. Have read/heard good things about the Audiolab CDT 6000, yet not sure about the slot loading over a tray or even top load unit. The Denafrips will be something I look closer at. Goldnote Koala, Granite Audio 650/657, Line Magnetic 215 are CD players I have been considering. Bryson and Electrocompanient are probably out of my price range, even used. Sony ES, OPPO, Rotel, Marantz, Ayre all give me more to search out. |
Any CD player you buy will be lower in quality than a Tidal HiFi stream. Tidal HiFi is loss-less so your cd player would have to play each disk with 100% perfection every time to achieve the same outcome. For $500 you can get a BlueSound Node 2i and then with the remaining $1,500 you get Tidal Hifi for 6 years. That said, I’m keeping my old 30 pound battleship (Sony CDP-620ES) for the extremely rare occasion that I can’t find what I want in Tidals’ 50-million song library or on YouTube. The unexpected benefit of being easily exposed to hundreds of great tracks that I never would have found without streaming is just icing on the cake. And I didn’t have to go shopping, wait for the mail, or think very hard about it - I just clicked on a link. Also, you can stream to any portable device so add a portable external dac to your ipad or phone with a good pair of headphones and you’re streaming high quality away from home. Tidal is just one choice; there are several good services and anything loss-less at 44.1Khz or more will be as good or better than a CD. |
