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Until I receive a turntable, my CDs still trump streaming. But unfortunately another company is pushing them by the wayside. Thankfully such companies as Aqua and also the Metronome AQWO Series are still producing some good units.
CD Transports: End of an era. - MSB Technology
They run out of drive mechanisms. Their transports have been Oppo based. Oppo has discontinued making their players 2 years ago or so.
Yes. But with the skills of MSB they could have planned and should have developed some new - even better - drive mechanisms. Admittedly, I'm disappointed as that was to be my end game SACD player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elberoth
A friend from the Audiophile Society up here in the FL Panhandle is dropping off 1,000 + free CDs tonight that he has collected from the 80s forward. Can't wait!!! I have a Luxman D-08u at present, but will want a better one soon.
They still have plenty of supply.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvin
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Ok. On another forum someone said MSB has sold their final Select transport - i.e. no more to be had …Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
I’ll call you later this week.
Not true. Just talked to MSB to confirm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvin
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Thanks. Source on other forummust have been wrong …Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
Those guys usually are.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvin
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CD players, CD Transports… take a hint guys… if leaders in the field are letting go of them, that should send everyone a signal! They are the new cassette players!!!
Yes, but they need to keep them for warranty purposes. Those Select transports will be probably in use for the next 20 years or more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
You cannot continue selling a product which contains a discontinued part indefinately. Especially, if the part happens to be a consumable.
MSB is too small of a company (like waaaaay to small) to even attempt making their own transport. Not to mention the fact, they would never break even selling them.
BTW - if I had a Select transport, I would look for and buy a new old stock Oppo player, to keep as spare.
Adam - We specifically talked about selling new transports, not how many drives do you have left for warranty - but selling new transports. They told me “we still have several to produce new transports - keep selling”. At some point yes, they will have to stop selling them for new transports. But FOR NOW, it’s full steam ahead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elberoth
I think the announcement is just to get some of those on the fence about the MSB transport to shit or get off the pot now because soon, it will be taken off the list. I could see them going away by the end of the year myself.
MSB is not a leader in the transport/player field. Their primary products are DACs. They do expensive transports to complement their DACs. The big boys are mostly Japanese (e.g., Esoteric, Luxman, Accuphase, Denon, etc) where CDs/SACDs are still a big deal. However, worth noting that Gryphon just recently brought a high end $40K CD player to market. There are still a lot of us left who enjoy CDs and SACDs on transports/players with competitive SQ and less technical complexity than competing alternatives.Quote:
Originally Posted by nicoff
Yes good point Adam but risky--I'd bet a dollar MSB would modify the OPPO drive to their exacting standards before installation ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Elberoth
If so the standard drive would be possibly superfluous to full performance structure?
Its just I was warned against such a similar move by a Naim factory Tech on my intention to cover myself and purchase a CDM Pro-2 Drive backup off-site for my Player.
Evidently Factory modifications over the stock Phillips drives were mandatory to bring the unit up to specs maintained for performance required.
Anyway food for thought.
Bruce
Agree that there are SOME people (not necessarily a LOT) who still want that.Quote:
Originally Posted by GSOphile
Sounds like the Cadillac car dilemma that GM faced when they realized that they had to do an overhaul of the product since most Cadillac buyers were old and had already bought their last Cadillac.
The leader in the field is Esoteric, and they have no intention of discontinuing disc transports. That is the signal you should be tuned in to.Quote:
Originally Posted by nicoff
So, what will the main music source/s be, say 10 years, from now? If CDs and CD transports disappear what does that leave? Heck, even streaming seems tenuous right now. Maybe it's just growing pains. Vinyl is a very small niche market. What else is there?
CD's and CD transports are not disappearing.
I haven't bought a CD in the last 2-3 years. However, I buy (download) two new albums every week from HDTracks.Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegrassphile
Buying high def downloads… that is another method that saw its peak a few years ago and that now has become less appealing. I personally have not bought a high def download in several years.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueFox
Esoteric is not a healthy company right now so who knows what the future holds.Quote:
Originally Posted by brodricj
Do you have any evidence? They can barely keep stock right now. As soon as it comes in, it’s gone and sold.Quote:
Originally Posted by dznutz
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Yep , Recent Haul ....!Quote:
Originally Posted by nicoff
I do not stream yet. When I find music I like I purchase the CD and load it onto my two dedicated music servers. I am having an increasingly hard time finding CDs on Amazon. Too often music I might be interested in is only available via MP3 or not at all. And I see some outrageous prices (>$100) on used CDs that have not been reissued.
If you haven't you might want to check out bullmoose.com, a independent dealer in the NE with multiple locations. They have a pretty good selection of used CD's most times as well as a good new inventory. I've bought a lot from them over the years both Vinyl and CD's.
The death of the compact disc is greatly exaggerated.
It may not be the "choice" of many and especially younger generation who never saw a compact disc on a store shelf or owned a car with a CD player installed.
But , in the US, at least, new music is still released on CD.
As long as CDs are still being manufactured , they are still relevant to many.
MSB is definitely not a market leader in the manufacturing of transports like Esoteric. This is why they sourced Oppo’s Blu-Ray transports. However, in my opinion, their proprietary asynchronous optical connection to their DAC’s, even using a modified Oppo transport, places the sound quality well above any Esoteric model I’ve listened to. I also owned K-01, K-01X and Grandioso K1.
I believe the reason MSB is planning to discontinue manufacturing transports is quite simply sales. With Select transports at $60K and Reference transports at over $30K, these customers are opting for Taiko Extreme audiophile servers instead. I think MSB’s mistake was not offering a less expensive transport in a less extravagant case for under $20K. I think this offering would have continued to sell. I certainly would have purchased one, instead of opting for a previously owned MSB UMT-V Signature transport.
Ken
$60K for their SOTA transport with plastic Oppo bits is hard to swallow compared to the Esoteric offerings. And it was the same Oppo transport mechanism in that junk not-fit-for purpose PS Audio Directstream Memory Player that they started selling knowing it didn't work properly and ended up pushing them out the door for $3K a pop. Yes, pricing is what caused the soft demand for the MSB transport offerings. But at least MSB got theirs to work properly, unlike the previously mentioned brand. An Esoteric transport connected by a Shunyata Sigma AES/EBU for existing MSB DAC owners would be a mighty appealing disc spinning configuration.
Hi Brodric,Quote:
Originally Posted by brodricj
Not in my opinion. The MSB proprietary asynchronous optical connection (Pro ISL) is far superior to AES/EBU in terms of jitter and noise. Data packets are pulled to the DAC using the MSB DAC’s Femto 33 clock and noise is eliminated via the optical connection. The superior connection more than offsets any improvement provided by the build quality of the Esoteric transport.
Ken
Alas my experience with the MSB Transport/Select DAC/ProISL was but a brief fleeting hour or so in somebody else's home. It didn't give me the slightest urge to depart from my Esoteric stuff. In any event I can't see myself buying another SACD/CD Transport should my Esoteric spinner go kaput in the future, the streaming offerings are getting good enough for me now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpinist
Exactly. You already bought your last Cadillac!Quote:
Originally Posted by brodricj
I still have my EMM XDS1 that I now use as a transport for the EMM DV2 I purchased last year. I have lots of CDs and SACDs (and they're still available), so I don't see me parting with either anytime soon.