Good ol’ honest engineering - the world best cd transport from years ago

[Sangbro]

While I was researching about CD transport, (I just want one.)
I happen to find interesting article in unpextected place - Lampizator’s old website. (Not the new one)
I just got here by random google search.

Little back ground story is - I was looking for CD transport for fun, so I find things from
Pro-ject, Audiolab, Cambridge and Primare.

Audiolab 6000cdt is the closest one that I want, but I want to check if there’s better one.
Primare DD35 looks cool too, then I find that this model description mentions good ol’ TEAC unit - 5020a-at to be precise.
(I think since Philips discontinues its cdt unit sector, Teac is the second best bet.)

Side story - ChiFi company called DENAFRIPS has a model named AVARTAR with Philips’s cdt unit.
Somehow they secure(?) 3000 NOS (yes, now there is NOS for Cdp) Philips’ units. Used to be $1200 now too many demand so they plan to increase to $1700.
I don’t know how come they find more NOS Philips stock after the first sold out.

Get back to the story line, I remember Teac 5020a in somewhere.
Yes, TASCAM CD series. Tascam used to specifically mention they use Teac 5020 for TASCAM 200 CD 200SB (discontinued).
Now they have CD200BT. The site doesn’t say it uses Teac 5020, but vaguely states all TASCAM CD uses the same Teac part. (So maybe same)

Long story short, I want to know more about Teac... then my google search brings me to old lampizator site.

VRDS-T1

VRDS Teac, Transport, Lampizator

lampizator.eu

CD_transport_DIY

CD transport, SP/DIF, DAC, digital cable, SAA7220p/B

lampizator.eu

I didn’t know lampizator has this much technology driven image. (Pleasant surprise)

The writer mentions couple very interesting points about Esoteric/Teac/Sony and some other brands.


According to the writer, THE WORLD BEST TRANSPORT was Spectral SDR-3000.


Honestly, I didn’t expect this name to come out. What a surprise.

This article is written decade ago, so many things are changed.

I miss good ol’ honest engineering that seems becoming more rare in today’s world.


PS. It’s old, but there are some interesting writings that might jog your memory lane.
I happen to like the name Lampizator more. Maybe next DAC?

 

[rando]

Lukasz DIY speakers and wealth of other ideas still hosted provide good insights toward his design criteria. In this case a coming to terms with the abilities of a small shop compared to large international companies.

I think you'll find there is a conundrum afoot. Very good and capable of being repaired rarely meet in the legacy CDT category. If the heartaches are too much to bear you might try further searching here for modern still in production transports. Alternately mention of top loaders with CD weights might prove to have utility in refining your search.

P.P.S. Original Golden Gate

 

[microstrip]

There is not such thing as the best CD transport. Being mostly bit exact a transport has however a characteristic sound signature due in part to the noise induced by the particular reading mechanism that must be evaluated with the matching DAC and system.

BTW, the most famous CD transports had strong sound signatures - we could either love or hate them! At that time I mostly owned transports having the Philips CD Pro type mechanism - they had typically a warm sound balance.

Although this sound characteristic was traced to the jitter of the SPDIF signal, it was not possible to correlate it with attributes of sound quality.

 

[sbnx]

Estoteric has some of the most over engineered transports on the market. A lot of people also like the CEC transports.

I once owned a spectral CD player (circa 2008). Although the sound was nice the build quality is no where near some of the other brands.

 

[Sangbro]

There is not such thing as the best CD transport. Being mostly bit exact a transport has however a characteristic sound signature due in part to the noise induced by the particular reading mechanism that must be evaluated with the matching DAC and system.

BTW, the most famous CD transports had strong sound signatures - we could either love or hate them! At that time I mostly owned transports having the Philips CD Pro type mechanism - they had typically a warm sound balance.

Although this sound characteristic was traced to the jitter of the SPDIF signal, it was not possible to correlate it with attributes of sound quality.

Did you read the writer’s idea about that sonic character? (How interpolation plays out bits - to - bits world?)
I think it’s interesting. I didn’t know Lampi brand was runned by a person like him.

 

[jeromelang]

The most enjoyable sounding cd transports are those that arm themselves at track 1, instead of at track 0.

Very rare they are.

Yamaha cd-s2000.
Jadis J1

 

[Hear Here]

Sangbro asked - Long story short, I want to know more about Teac..

I used to own the Teac VRDS 10 CDP - a great player. While owning this unit I investigated other Teac option, in particular their VRDS drive mechanisms.

There were basically 4 versions of VRDS from relatively cheap to very costly.

You mention the VRDS-T1 transport. This used the bottom the range as did the VRDS-7 CDP. The VRDS 10 used the next one above that, so its transport mechanism is better than the T1 despite popular misconceptions. The VRDS-20 and 25 used the next one up again, and I believe the only Teac-labelled unit that had the top VRDS transport was the P30 although maybe the P2 used that top mechanism too.

The VRDS drives were also used as an EOM devise in other brands of player, including the top VRDS that was found in exotic players or transports.

Trouble is there were lots of Teac players with these VRDS drives and I'm not familiar with most of them. Just remember that the highly regarded VRDS drive was made in 4 (and maybe more with minor improvements) versions, so beware of the lowest spec based ones as there's far more plastic used in these.

I guess there are better informed people here but hopefully this is a relatively accurate summary.

 

[Sangbro]

Sangbro asked - Long story short, I want to know more about Teac..

I used to own the Teac VRDS 10 CDP - a great player. While owning this unit I investigated other Teac option, in particular their VRDS drive mechanisms.

There were basically 4 versions of VRDS from relatively cheap to very costly.

You mention the VRDS-T1 transport. This used the bottom the range as did the VRDS-7 CDP. The VRDS 10 used the next one above that, so its transport mechanism is better than the T1 despite popular misconceptions. The VRDS-20 and 25 used the next one up again, and I believe the only Teac-labelled unit that had the top VRDS transport was the P30 although maybe the P2 used that top mechanism too.

The VRDS drives were also used as an EOM devise in other brands of player, including the top VRDS that was found in exotic players or transports.

Trouble is there were lots of Teac players with these VRDS drives and I'm not familiar with most of them. Just remember that the highly regarded VRDS drive was made in 4 (and maybe more with minor improvements) versions, so beware of the lowest spec based ones as there's far more plastic used in these.

I guess there are better informed people here but hopefully this is a relatively accurate summary.

Thank you for the good summary.

I was trying to learn details like what you mentioned.

I thought that those articles from lampizator is interesting because his perspective on what’ real quality and what’s just disguised.

Also he writes about how some devices can make better sound when they are basically deal with bit-to-bit technology.
(At least these are most convincing articles backed up by engineering perspective.)

 

[Audio Union]

I suggest you consider a belt drive transport like CEC products; TL5, TL2N, TL0 3.0. Belt drive transport such as CEC products solve many of the problems associated with direct drive transports.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I suggest you consider a belt drive transport like CEC products; TL5, TL2N, TL0 3.0. Belt drive transport such as CEC products solve many of the problems associated with direct drive transports.

Thank you for this suggestion.

Are there material differences among these CEC belt drive models?

Which CEC model would you suggest today?

 

[LL21]

One of the most legendary transports in the redbook universe ever...only sold in Japan at 100V. Apparently the best Esoteric redbook transport for many, many years after it stopped production, and was (by legend) owned by a number of the senior leadership of Estoreric.

 

[DasguteOhr]

I wouldn't buy a cd transport that works with the Sony Laser KSS 151a; getting a replacement for older Teac, Wadia etc. is difficult and expensive.
New Laser 500-600€
My Tip is a Micromega Trio 3 ,it have a real good digital output with a Tube Dac amazing good resolution not too warm tone.
Or take the risk then Wadia 7 the best i ever heard with the matching dac

 

[microstrip]

Thank you for this suggestion.

Are there material differences among these CEC belt drive models?

Which CEC model would you suggest today?

The CEC TL 0 -3.0, surely. But currently I would not buy such an expensive CD transport - my only excuses for owning two such beasts (Metronome Calypso Reference and the Vivaldi CD/SACD drive) are the many long years of excellent sound I have got from them and the fact no one wants to buy them used nowadays.

 

[Audio Union]

Thank you for this suggestion.

Are there material differences among these CEC belt drive models?

Which CEC model would you suggest today?

You can read the reviews and the specifications on the Audio Union web pages or CEC web pages. Which is the best is a budge question. My personal system has a DA5 and a TL5, these are the entry level components which would be the heart of digital system. You can find current pricing on Audiogon at the Audio Union estore.

 

[Audio Union]

You can read the reviews and the specifications on the Audio Union web pages or CEC web pages. Which is the best is a budge question. My personal system has a DA5 and a TL5, these are the entry level components which would be the heart of a digital system. The TL5 has a single belt while both the TL2N and the TL0 3.0 have 2 belts. You can find current pricing on Audiogon at the Audio Union estore for the US and Canada only.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you.

 

[thedudeabides]

I had an Esoteric K01 and now own a Luxman D06-u. Regarding transport quality, operation and audible noise, they aren't even close.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

I had an Esoteric K01 and now own a Luxman D06-u. Regarding transport quality, operation and audible noise, they aren't even close.

Agree with you. I’m a very happy owner of the d10x.

 

[Hear Here]

Long story short, I want to know more about Teac... then my google search brings me to old lampizator site.

You mention the VRDS-1 transport from Teac. In fact Teac built 4 versions of their excellent VRDS CD reader with differing qualities of materials, but the VRDS-1 used the 3rd best, as did the VRDS-7 CDP. The better VRDS-10 used the second best but the top one was only used in the (correct me if I'm wrong) the VRDS-25. This top VRDS transport found its way into other top brands of CD players as it was the best reader on the market.

 

[Tabl10s]

I have two :

Oracle CD player

After two decades of motorcycling, I recently achieved a long-held goal by buying a bike built by Bimota, a tiny Italian manufacturer. Although Bimota engages in a wide range of activities, from two-stroke engine design to racing, they're best known for their exotic, hand-built street bikes...

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