SACD Player/Transport Choices

@stereo5, if I read correctly, your MCD350 is not outputting a true DSD stream, limited to the onboard DAC, or a toslink connection to an external DAC. 

Japan is one of the largest music markets in the world, and cds are still more popular than streaming.  

As a result of the enduring popularity of physical media, Japanese hifi companies such as Accuphase, Luxman and Esoteric continue to make very high end CD/SACD players.

@henryeng I’ve learned that if sitting from 10ft away or more, you have to be mindful of where you’re pointing the remote. The unit is quite small and the IR window looks small as a result. If you are more accurate with the pointing, it should be fine. Have you noticed other issues?

I have not spent a much time with gapless content, but I’ll let you know what I find when I do. 

@mattsca 

I bought an Esoteric K-05X on the used market over a year ago and have been very happy. I don't plan on upgrading and this unit has many features, 4 dacs onboard, one of the best transport mechanism out there.

Great info on this thread.... would appreciate any insight for a transport to pair with my DAC.

I have a McIntosh MCD 600, rarely used other then to contrast & compare sources in my system. It has a built in DAC; I was expecting more with CD/SACDs? In the past year upgraded and "finalized" my digital stream path = Aurender N20 streamer & Berkley Audio Series 3 DAC; now looking at selling/trading the MCD600 for a transport without DAC to take advantage of the Berkley DAC when playing SACDs/CDs. Connections are minimal in the Berkley (they are not fans of USB).  The streamer is connected via the only AES input, it would be cumbersome to have to disconnect/connect streamer & transport each time.  Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome for a transport to take compliment my DAC? 

My Dac: Input sampling rate: 32kHz to 192kHz, Input word length: 24-bit, Ultra-low phase noise Precision Clocking at 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz and 192kHz sampling rates ± 100 ppm, Digital Inputs: AES - XLR, 110Ω; SPDIF1 - BNC, 75Ω; SPDIF2 - BNC, 75Ω; TOSLINK - Toslink optical connector, MQA rendering automatically detects MQA Core decoded signals and performs MQA rendering to 384kHz and above, HDCD decoding detects 16-bit flag at 44.1kHz or 24-bit flag at all sampling rates, Multiple digital filter options.