CD Transports: End of an era

[Mike]

Esoteric is not a healthy company right now so who knows what the future holds.

Do you have any evidence? They can barely keep stock right now. As soon as it comes in, it’s gone and sold.


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[a.wayne]

Re: CD Transports: Still an era

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.

Yep , Recent Haul ....!

 

[Dizzie]

Re: CD Transports: Still an era

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.

 

[Jack]

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.

 

[mdp632]

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.

 

[Alpinist]

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

 

[brodricj]

$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.

 

[Alpinist]

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,

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

 

[brodricj]

Not in my opinion....

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.

 

[nicoff]

…
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.

Exactly. You already bought your last Cadillac!

 

[LenWhite]

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.