Upgrade CD transport/player vs. Sacd transport/player

@kjl1065 

I thought the transport does the decoding

No, that is the big difference between a player and a transport.  Players decode, transports just extract the digital information.

I cannot believe how badly North Americans have screwed up SACD.  If you can handle HDMI, then all you really need is a universal disk transport, which can be as inexpensive as a couple of hundred bucks, new.  See: I own this 4K Blu-ray player, and I think it’s a better and cheaper option than Netflix Premium this Black Friday | What Hi-Fi?

That transport handles SACD, CD and Pure Audio Blu-ray as well as video formats. It has two HDMI outlets, one dedicated to audio.  With hybrid SACDs, you can choose whether to output the CD layer, or either 2-channel or multi-channel DSD.  Pure Audio opens up multi-channel high resolution PCM, as well as Dolby Atmos.

It is dead-simple plug-and-play into HDMI-equipped pre-amps.  Remember HDMI currently supports 48-Gbps so why not get seriously simple?

Looking to purchase the Meitner MA3i dac while using their network.  Will the Meitner network be user friendly without the necessity of purchasing Roon? I did research on Roon, and discovered that they do not offer telephone support. Lack of telephone support is a deal breaker for me.    

@kjl1065  -    

@hjdca gets to the heart of the matter.  If you go the transport & DAC separates route -  to make it all work out nice and neatly - you will need to go with I2S (HDMI like) connections.  So your choices in equipment may be limited.

I went with the PS Audio PerfectWave SACD transport and PS Audio PerfectWave DAC (Mk I).  With special purchases, I am all in for about $6K.  Big money to me, bigger now with how prices have skyrocketed in the last 3 or so years.

If I didn't go this route, I would have looked at Luxman's cd player offerings more closely.

Prior to purchasing the PSA equipment, I had one of the original SACD changers, the SONY 555 SCD from 25 years ago.  It was/ is still working fine, but I became nervous about getting it repaired or having a laser replaced, since SONY's Laredo repair facility (the ones who performed repairs) had mixed reviews.

With the PSA transport, Redbook CDs sound much better - fuller sounding, more detailed.  So much so, that I felt redbook approached how SACDs were sounding.  

Rich   

@kjl1065 Roon is very solid if you get their Nucleus One. I wouldn’t worry about phone support. They provide support via their forums and you can post your questions here and get answers quickly. This should not be a deal breaker. Most roon issues are with roon core installed on DIY servers as well as Mac and Windows computers. Stick with Roon Nucleus…pretty much plug and play. 

@rar1 

you will need to go with I2S (HDMI like)

Not at all!  You can use HDMI the way it is intended.  I2S is not HDMI-like, but it can use 4 wires of the 19 in most HDMI cables.

I guess small North American manufacturers are loath to pay HDMI licence fees and have conned everybody into I2S, which was never designed for transmission over any cable, is only designed for PCM, and only two-channels at that.  No error detection or recovery.

HDMI is purpose designed for high resolution multi-channel audio as well as video.  Buy transports with HDMI output and your choice of downstream equipment with HDMI inputs.  Simple really.