PROCEED CDD TRANSPORT

[luvrockin]

Hello Gang,
 
I am a newbie to this forum and would like to bounce a couple questions off some of the experts out there. Your help will be greatly appreciated. I posted a question a while ago on another forum and didn't get much of a response in regards to having my Proceed CDD repaired. I'm kind of undecided in which direction to go and thats why I am here now. Anyway, my Proceed CDD quit working several years back and after having it tucked away in a closet all this time, I decided to bring it in for service. I was having my Levinson amp repaired and thought it would be a good time to at least get an estimate. I had no idea the place I bought my equipment from could also repair the CDD duh!!!! So today I was quoted $350 to repair it. The laser is bad, it needs a belt and some lubrication. I am 1 week away from purchasing the Bluesound Vault 2 Hi Res Music Streamer and Storage Device. The questions I have are since the Vault 2 has a built in cd transport to rip cd's to it's hard drive, is it worth putting a dime into the Proceed? Also, how does the CDD stack up to todays transports. My unit dates back to 2001/02? I thought $350 sounded fair, what you guys think? Any and all info is greatly appreciated.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Hello Gang,
 
I am a newbie to this forum and would like to bounce a couple questions off some of the experts out there. Your help will be greatly appreciated. I posted a question a while ago on another forum and didn't get much of a response in regards to having my Proceed CDD repaired. I'm kind of undecided in which direction to go and thats why I am here now. Anyway, my Proceed CDD quit working several years back and after having it tucked away in a closet all this time, I decided to bring it in for service. I was having my Levinson amp repaired and thought it would be a good time to at least get an estimate. I had no idea the place I bought my equipment from could also repair the CDD duh!!!! So today I was quoted $350 to repair it. The laser is bad, it needs a belt and some lubrication. I am 1 week away from purchasing the Bluesound Vault 2 Hi Res Music Streamer and Storage Device. The questions I have are since the Vault 2 has a built in cd transport to rip cd's to it's hard drive, is it worth putting a dime into the Proceed? Also, how does the CDD stack up to todays transports. My unit dates back to 2001/02? I thought $350 sounded fair, what you guys think? Any and all info is greatly appreciated.

 

Personally, that's half of why I stopped using any source units with moving parts. The other half is how, during the C520 fiasco that eventually ended in a recall, the local dealers and distributor's response to all of us (and even after NAD issued the recall) was along the lines of Jim Carrey yelling into a phone with "STOP USING BOOTLEG CD'S, A-HOLE!!!" Turned out to be a bad batch of Sanyo transports. 

 

That of course wasn't the only incident, but I had my SCD-595 stop reading SACDs (which is what I got it for), my Marantz' CDM4 transport kept breaking its tray then at some point all my newer CDs had PC content in the inner ring and it wouldn't look past that content and assume it isn't an audio disc, my Sony transport stopped reading CDs, my Alpine receiver ate my CD, my Pioneer receiver then ate my CD...

 

[luvrockin]

So then ProtgeManiac, are you going total digital? It kills me to have spent $2500 (albeit many years ago) and now it's not worth the cost of it's cord. I'm a working man in a professional man's hobby lol. I was just advised by my dealer against putting the money into it for repair. Kind breaks my heart a bit. At least for now, think I'm going to take their advice??

 

[Monsterzero]

Couple things leap out at me here,

First...BlueSound Vault.

Dont!

Run the other way as fast as humanly possible. I had their Node and that damn thing was so buggy.I was constantly getting error messages,saying no hard drive within range.The user interface requires a PhD.I had to contact tech support,using a program that allowed them to remotely access my desktop just to get the damn thing working,only to have it fail again a few hours later.I got to the point where I didnt even listen to music because it was such a royal pain in the ass. It also refused to play 24bit files,even though their website said otherwise.

A tech from my HiFi dealer confided in me that the profit margin on the Node was huge ,hence why my dealer pushed this product on me as hard as he did. I eventually complained enough that my dealer begrudgingly swapped it out for a Sony HAP S1,which works nearly flawlessly.

I realize the Node and Vault are different products,but my experience with this company was truly the stuff nightmares are made of.
Perhaps they have designed software in the past two years that overcomes the myriad of issues they had before.I dunno.

Proceed with caution.


Secondly,get a second opinion on repairing the item for price.

 

 

[luvrockin]

Monsterzero, I will proceed with caution. Its always good to know this stuff ahead of the game. I do think there were some bugs a while back with those pieces and I would hope they would have worked them out. Definitely worth looking into tho. Funny thing, I was at my dealer a few weeks ago and haven't been there in a long time, in fact many years. Anyway, seems like they really went down hill. It's hard to explain. They still had the high end stuff ie B&W, Ayre Acoustics etc, but something was different. Hard to pinpoint but almost seems like the net put a huge hurt on them. Well they're big on the Node and Vault 2. Hopefully not for the reaons you suggested from our place. Going to research this thoroughly the next week prior to any purchase. Perhaps a few more may chime in. Thanks again

 

[ProtegeManiac]

So then ProtgeManiac, are you going total digital?

 
Well, for a start, CD is digital. I went solid state.

 
 

I'm a working man in a professional man's hobby lol.

 

I would not have the dedication to a single hobby as to give up all my others to completely put all my money in one. Like, food being more than some way to fuel myself and prevent ulcers, I am never going to eat instant noodles just to save up for audio equipment. For one, I have to eat good food as a hobby, as well as cook it...that means proper cookware (and sometimes, plain redundant - I have too many carbon steel and cast iron around).

 

One reason I won't eat packaged instant noodles: not taking weekend prep time, which includes 12hrs making the broth, I can whip this up on a weeknight in about 10mins.

 

And one reason to eat cheap pork with a lot of broth and wheat noodles as filler is so I can spend on expensive beef. especially the kind I can eat raw, like this yukhoe made with Japanese sirloin.

 
 

It kills me to have spent $2500 (albeit many years ago) and now it's not worth the cost of it's cord.

 

If active electronics with actual performance differences can lose their value like that it's hard for me to spend on cables. And I don't, beyond "solid connectors and good shielded copper."

 

Hell, I don't even buy flagship graphics cards since midrange graphics cards in about three years will probably start matching it. I barely even play more than a few games when they come out, considering I also have to wait out bugs and such.

 

[Monsterzero]

I dunno your situation,but you can get the Sony HAP S1 for 200.00 less than the Vault.
I use a simple stand alone CD player connected to my computer.On the rare occasion i feel the need to purchase a CD,i rip it using EAC and then send the files to my HAP S1,where they live fulltime,like what the Vault 2 supposedly does.

Theres def some pro and cons for both products,2TB for the Vault vs. 500gb for S1,not to mention the S1 doesnt have a ripping system built in. If you really need 2TB(I have over 11,000 files,mostly FLAC,and I still havent filled up my HAP) and cant rip CDs elsewhere then I guess you need to consider the Vault,but the Sony has been much more reliable,easy to use,plays all the files I throw at it(except for SACD 5.1) and I can expand the storage if need be.The Vault supports up to 24/192(never worked for me)The Sony goes up to 384.The Vault supposedly supports MQA,which the Sony currently doesnt.  

If cash isnt an issue the Sony HAP Z1 is even better,with one of the most impressive built in DACs Ive ever heard. Mike from Woo Audio,HiFiGuy528 here on Head-Fi, pays big $ to fly several of them to all the CanJams and other events around the world,where they showcase their equipment and make it sound as good as possible.The Z1 is their choice of source.Its 1TB,can be expanded internally or externally,its 2000.00 usd...and worth it IMO.

 Funny thing, I was at my dealer a few weeks ago and haven't been there in a long time, in fact many years. Anyway, seems like they really went down hill. It's hard to explain. They still had the high end stuff ie B&W, Ayre Acoustics etc, but something was different. Hard to pinpoint but almost seems like the net put a huge hurt on them. Well they're big on the Node and Vault 2. Hopefully not for the reaons you suggested from our place.

"Dont underestimate the other guys greed."
Frank Lopez~Scarface.

Yeah my shop is/was too...for profit margin. At the end of the day the number of people capable and/or willing to shell out big money for high end gear is shrinking.Lots of hi end shops have gone belly up here in NY,home of Wall Street. Hifi dealers are like anyone else...why sell product a. for a 60.00 profit when I can sell product b. for a 200.00 profit. So in a time when most folks are happy listening to Beats out of their Iphone the shops selling big dollar items are struggling,they will and do take advantage of our ignorance when possible.I do know for a fact that is the case with my guy,cant speak for your guy,but based upon my experiences,dont be shocked.

Again i havent tried a Bluesound product in 2+ years,and nor will I ever again. I will admit they did have very willing customer support,however to get in touch with one there was literally a several day wait!An appointment needed to be set when I could be home and in front of my computer,uninterrupted for at least an hour,and then Id have to allow them to take control of my computer,to check logs,look for errors,etc...just so I could listen to some music!

 And then once it was fixed,it would fail again shortly thereafter. It is literally the worst piece of audio equipment Ive ever owned.

Might they have changed? Possibly.
Would I take a chance and buy another of their products?Never.

Just my .02. YMMV.

 

[luvrockin]

Very interesting. I'm still tossing it around. I may look into the Sony product. This hobby is too much work lol!!