[joegiz]

I have been in search of a CD Transport to use with my WA2 and HD800's.  In the meantime I decided to connect an old Brennan JB7 to the WA2 to use as a transport.
 
I'm not to thrilled as I can hear the CD mechanism, transport noise in-between tracks...Is this normal?   I haven't come across any reviews + or - about the JB7.
 
Is this a good transport or is there something better you can suggest in the $1000 range? SACD not required...
 
Thanks

 

[billybob_jcv]

This is probably a question better asked in the Summit-Fi or Dedicated Source forums. We don't get too many requests for Kilobuck CD players in this forum.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
I'm not to thrilled as I can hear the CD mechanism, transport noise in-between tracks...Is this normal?   I haven't come across any reviews + or - about the JB7.
 
Is this a good transport or is there something better you can suggest in the $1000 range? SACD not required...

 
As expensive as that thing is, isn't it built more for convenience than absolute performance? (How much one actually needs depends on a lot of things) I mean, if it's a really serious transport, chances are it would have been built more like a TT to fight vibration and mechanical noise.
 

 

 

That said, for up to $1,000 practically any fullsize CDP and quite a few midi/mini-sized CDPs have reasonable isolation. To be perfectly honest I never actually encountered a CDP with audible mechanical noise - my laptops and desktop computers, sure, also some cheap DVD players, but not actual CDPs with huge feet on the chassis and on the transport itself. I even had one of those old Sonys where the transport is built into the tray, and a friend is still using his Pioneer Stable Platter CDP (CDs go in upside down, supposedly helps stabilize everything, but servicing it involves a bit more work).

 

That said, why not consider a network music server, since the JB7 is technically a local storage server? With a network server, especially if you'll only use losslesss 16/44.1 audio, the hardest part (if you haven't already done it for your mobile devices anyway) is ripping all your CDs and tagging them properly, followed by setting it up to use an NAS in your home (personally the harder part is connecting the LAN cable, if it doesn't work or not smoothly in wireless). 

 

The best part though is that since your NAS is in another room, then you can technically use any kind of server - like any enclosure with a bunch of $50 drives instead of WD Red drives for example, or solid state drives - and noise won't be a problem (I'd still just use a desktop, pre-built NAS from WD or Seagate though). Navigating the contents will be through an Android or iOS app, so the interface will be similar to the media player on those devices, but don't expect the library to load as smoothly as with local memory.