I’ve been very tempted by this. From reading about it it plays everything, super audio cds too. I have a few from years back and I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced one to play them and this is coming up as the best option. Not badly priced in the sub-£500 mark.
I would check out Darko audio’s review of the Shanling ET3 CD transport. Which ended up being one of his three most recommended products of 2023.
I think there is a lot of demand for a half size CD transport.
It looks stylish, and if it performs something like an Audiolab 6000, all will be good.
I can’t see it being used as anything other than an occasional piece of kit
Considering there are shoe box transports on the market already, but aren’t cheap, you mean the excitement here is because it is cheap and cheerful or that it is the very specific longways shoebox whereas others are sideways shoebox (30cm wide, 22cm deep)? Or both?
From my very limited knowledge about this , it is that it will go into my rack , sit next to my Nait 50 and meet my requirement for an occasional CD use.
I would say it is very much cheaper than Cyrus, Leema, Exposure, or ProJect
If I were to get one of these, I can reduce the size of the system .
Yes size is important
I posted about this imminent arrival for the information of many people who have enquired about small form CD players to allow them to play their CDsv as a 2nd or 3rd source option.
I didn’t mean to suggest it was a contender against the likes of Rega, Teac or Cyrus etc.
I may well get one when available to try out against by Cambridge CXC.
If it is comparable it can sit next to my Rega Neo .
When I bought my CD transport, I looked for manual loading, no motorized tray. Just another thing to go wrong. NAIM CD players were all manual loading, I think they were on to something…
I think trays tend to be pretty reliable. The reason Naim didn’t go in that direction was more to do with the clamping mechanism compromise when a tray is used. The puck provided just the right amount of pressure, no more no less, to keep the disc in-situ which (apparently) result in less wobble and vibrational noise from an overly clamped spindle on a disc.
The only thing I avoid is slot loading anything. The foam apron perishes over time and depending on the composition degrades dry and flakey or hard and sticky. And a stray bit of grit stuck to the apron as you insert a disc can ruin your day.
The Star of course has that. I wonder if Naim use a different material than others, or perhaps replace it as part of servicing?
And also the Core of course. With the latter, perhaps you are only expected to use the CD once .
ATB, J
Well I’ve pulled the trigger / pushed the audiophonics buy button on one of these.
It seems a decent price from a company with a track record in this area.
I find I miss the ability to spin a CD without ripping it when I buy a new (to me) one and this seems a decent enough product to connect to my m-scaler directly and it also has the capability to act as a CD drive and so connect to my Auralic Aeries which rips in real time to RAM.
Then it can also be my general ripping drive as one of my Windows PC drives has died.
Apparently on back order so should have mid-November.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
.sjb
Well a very cold unit arrived this morning around 10 so I let it come up to something resembling room temp whilst we had a nice walk on the beach before storm Bert raises its head.
It certainly has a nice sturdy feel from the unit. The tray is a bit “computerish” but solid enough.
It comes with a USB A → Type C cable which I am powering with an old iPhone plug, optical to Chord M-Scaler into Hugo TT2.
There is a decent enough remote and a printed manual. It comes in a nice white material bag. All in all for €279 it’s quite an impressive package.
I’ll try out some of the options mentioned above and over (settling in) time will see how the sound compares to streaming.
.sjb
Did you get it through Otic?
Talk about looking gaudy…
Audiophonics.
.sjb
Remember this being really well reviewed back in the day.
Looking forward to your comments , it looks a competent bit of kit
Yep, add it to the collection.