Leak Audio do a CDT for around £500 . It has reviewed quite well but I have never listened to one. An unusual retro look to it that some like some don’t.
Leak are part of IAG parent company as are Audiolab so I am unsure if they share components/modules.
Regardless of the badge on the front, there probably aren’t that many manufacturers of mechanisms these days. Teac, Sanyo, Philips?
Maybe it’s the slot loading mechanism that isn’t robust.
Personally I’d just buy a marantz for £350 from richer sounds with 6 years of warranty. Or there’s a smarter looking one for £650.
(Actually what I did was buy a second hand Sony from eBay for under £100)
Yeah, the Leak contains many of the components of the Audiolab 6000 including slot load mech, which I definitely am not a fan of. It’s the primary reason I bought the 7000 robin.
I know at least one forum user has a TEAC CD transport and seems well pleased with it.
I wish that Naim made the CD5si with a digital out .
A ‘Digital Out’ on a CD5si would answer the prayers of so many Ian… 
Or a dedicated Naim CDT now that would be something
I recently sold my CD5si and went back to my CDx2 (digital output ) .
I know there is a limited shelf life to this machine , if it goes then it will be another non_Naim transport or a Denon with digital output plus SACD output. My first non- Naim CD player in thirty years
cheers
Ian
Yes I have the Roksan Attessa cd transport that I have been using with a Rega dac for just over 2 years now. As far as I am concerned it is reliable and only has the odd non disc reading moments, if this happens I just reseat the cd in the tray. The machine is solidly built. My only criticism is that the display is a bit small.
Well, I’m going to get the 7000 repaired and put it back in. If problems persist/recur then I’ll have a rethink.
Maybe get a Core next year, unless something else comes along in the meantime 
Hope you get it back quickly and you have no more issues
I bought a project cd e for £150 and it matched the Star’s cd
I bought an Audiolab 7000 CDT last year, thinking it would last me many years. Wrong! The unit I was supplied with made intermittent clicks/stutters when playing within the first couple of weeks of ownership. The issue wasn’t disc related - it would never recur in the same place/same disc again. I requested a refund from the retailer, which they were happy to provide me with, and bought a secondhand Arcam CD72 instead, which has been flawless as a transport using the digital optical out. The Arcam is unlikely to last forever, being 20 years old, but was approximately a sixth of the price of the Audiolab. Interesting to hear others having issues with the Audiolab transports - I went ahead on the strength of reviews and overwhelmingly positive comments from users on other forums, but clearly there are some less satisfied users out there!
In my experience Arcam are solid, in everything. Thinking I’ll be back there next year.
I suspected it might which means not a good bet as an alternative to the Audiolab if they are having build quality issues.
I like te look of them though.
My s/h CDS2 has been flawless for over 25 years. I know it will die one day but…
I never sold the CDI that it replaced. I got it out (remembering the transport bolt) and it plays perfectly. It isn’t as good as the CDS2, but it is pretty respectable.
I was thinking that the eventual demise of the CDS2 would see me get a good transport to plug into my NDX2. But…
Given how rarely I play CDs now and the likelihood that I will get a Core for Wimbledon one day (I already have one in Tasmania with hundreds of CDs on it), discussions like this make me think I’ll be using old Naim players and not buying a CDT for quite some time yet.
I bought a new 6000CDT. When I first hooked it up, I could not get a digital signal using the coax output. I mistakenly thought it was a broken coax cable, so I tried another one-and it worked.
But it didn’t really sound any better as a digital source than the Node130.
However, I found that if I moved the digital cable even a fraction, the digital signal would be lost. Three different cables showed the same problem. By the time I had figured this out, the warranty had expired.
Turned out it was a broken (cheap) RCA jack on the transport.
I took it to a local service guy who found the problem, and had it fixed in a couple days, and it came back sounding rather better than the electrically intermittent one that it was initially shipped with.
It was not a cheap fix though-almost $200, including the diagnostic charge.
So, in my very small sample size of one, the Audiolab CDTs have a high infant mortality rate.
Time for naim to realise there is a solid market for a naim transport and make one for the first time.
There is the steam unlimited mech to use and the product will complement their streamers beautifully.
Even people who down own naim know that they made the best cd players in the world.
Years ago, Naim modded the original CDS to make it a transport-only machine. This apparently was used during mastering of the Naim CD’s, and by all accounts was a very formidable digital source.
I was curious and went to see this companies history.
Like some other iconic British brands like Wharfdale, Quad, Leak and Castle, this brand is now part of a Chinese company IAG. So you are buying ChiFi, not good old solid British Engineering.
I have been exploring the world of HiFi as I revamp my system. Reading forum posts, a pattern emerges. Chinese firms make well specified and even good sounding gear, but reliability seems to be an issue.
