[CAPT Deadpool]

Schiit has updated the B-Stock Listing.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Where did they say they are planning to make a CD transport?
.

In his last chapter he even wrote it was already playing as protoype.

 

[Ableza]

In his last chapter he even wrote it was already playing as protoype.

Last September, Mike posted the following on his thread:

"In product news, we have a working proto transport running. The remaining development work is an arm based processor to run the various traffic cop aspects of the transport, the operational buttons and display. Our current proto uses a Raspberry Pi zero which, of course is an arm based processor. It would be unfitting of us to include an overly complicated Raspberry Pi so we have begun our slimmed down Schiit Pie which Ivana will be baking. "

 

[RCBinTN]

Here's an article about their bankruptcy exit. No information on what will happen to the electronics brands.

https://www.industryweek.com/leadership/gibson-guitar-fans-kkr-lead-rock-icon-out-bankruptcy

Thanks for the article link @Ableza. Good they will continue making guitars, and that a majority of the BOD are guitar players.
Seems relevant to the core business

 

[shultzee]

Ah yes I recall reading that they planned to sell off their electronics divisions and emerge from bankruptcy going back to only guitars. I will have to see if I can find a current status article...

In any case I do not think there are any USA CD-transport manufacturers, and most CD players these days use universal DVD/CD drives built in Asia. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you.

Emotiva? Maybe the drive mechanism is made overseas.

 

[Ableza]

Emotiva? Maybe the drive mechanism is made overseas.

Emotiva's CD players are designed in the US and built in China.

 

[shapeshifter44]

Serious question for you: why are you looking for a Schiit transport? Don't get me wrong, I love Schiit and the way they expand the market and create new (or modernize) categories (a nice $99 DAC, affordable multi-watt class A HP amp, Multibit DACs, Continuity, etc.), but what more could they bring to a transport? Isn't that a solved problem, with many quality products at a range of prices? Again, I'm not a schiiting on your desire, I only want to understand better. Maybe I'm just out of the loop because the only time I ever spin a CD is to rip to FLAC for my NAS and Squeezebox/RPi players.

The reason I want a CD transport is the same reason that Schiit is designing Sol: there are vinyl collectors and there are CD collectors. Schiit has produced Vidar, which shows their ambition into the home audio area. Then a turntable/CD transport will be a good companion. There are CD transports ranged from less than $100 to several thousands in the market. I trust the performance price ratio that a Schiit product would give me. Another reason is that even if you want to use other brands' CD transports, Bifrost and Gungnir would click when the song changes due to the muting relay, which is kind of annoying to some people. (Yggy doesn't have this issue.)

 

[scclimber]

Regarding the transport, could they really compete with the Cambridge for under 500 that someone mentioned earlier ? I can see a 700-800 dollar sol that will compete with turntables 3-4 times their price. Seems like the transport market will be limited, especially factoring price, quantity Schiit needs to produce to go along with their business model, and features not available in 100 dollar cd/dvd players. Aren’t most of the cool kids spinning discs on their game consoles now ?

 

[Robert Wortman]

Regarding the transport, could they really compete with the Cambridge for under 500 that someone mentioned earlier ? I can see a 700-800 dollar sol that will compete with turntables 3-4 times their price. Seems like the transport market will be limited, especially factoring price, quantity Schiit needs to produce to go along with their business model, and features not available in 100 dollar cd/dvd players. Aren’t most of the cool kids spinning discs on their game consoles now ?

The job of a transport is to send bits to the DAC. If the DAC buffers the data, I don't see how anything in a transport can make it sound different. You can spend money to make them look really cool (like a high end turntable) but they're not going to do anything a cheap used CD player with a digital output won't do. Maybe the reason to come out with a cheap transport is because the low end of the CD player market is going to disappear soon. I have a Yamaha BD A1060 that plays everything that fits in the tray other than UHD and has a pretty good DAC and analog out section built in and has SPDIF outs. I got it as a refurb for around $350. When I got a 4K tv I bought a Sony UBP-X800 that plays everything that fits in the tray and more with a decent onboard DAC and SPDIF outputs. I can't see a transport being better unless it's just built tougher to last longer. That might be a selling point for many. For me.. I have all my CD's ripped and backed up in the cloud. If disk players go away, it won't be a big deal.

 

[EricDH]

It’s less about us and more the fact Mike knows a lot of people have vast CD collections. Mike has stated in several interviews CD is making a come back. It’s actually pretty smart to be releasing a quality transport. The transports available new on the market right now are either ridiculously expensive (Esoteric) or very bad quality like Cambridge Audio or even Marantz, which will just stick an OEM Chinese DVD drive instead of a Philips Pro2 mechanism.

I believe Mike has said this is the mech they would be using.

Would be cool if Mike would use the Esoteric transport (VDRS in whatever version they are now), but that would most certainly push the Schiit transport out of the affordable price range.....

 

[Zojokkeli]

It’s less about us and more the fact Mike knows a lot of people have vast CD collections. Mike has stated in several interviews CD is making a come back. It’s actually pretty smart to be releasing a quality transport. The transports available new on the market right now are either ridiculously expensive (Esoteric) or very bad quality like Cambridge Audio or even Marantz, which will just stick an OEM Chinese DVD drive instead of a Philips Pro2 mechanism.

I believe Mike has said this is the mech they would be using.

What is your source on the very bad quality of Cambridge Audio? I'm thinking about getting the CXUHD at some point as a blu-ray player, and it can double duty as a CD-player as well.

 

[dieslemat]

The job of a transport is to send bits to the DAC. If the DAC buffers the data, I don't see how anything in a transport can make it sound different. You can spend money to make them look really cool (like a high end turntable) but they're not going to do anything a cheap used CD player with a digital output won't do. Maybe the reason to come out with a cheap transport is because the low end of the CD player market is going to disappear soon. I have a Yamaha BD A1060 that plays everything that fits in the tray other than UHD and has a pretty good DAC and analog out section built in and has SPDIF outs. I got it as a refurb for around $350. When I got a 4K tv I bought a Sony UBP-X800 that plays everything that fits in the tray and more with a decent onboard DAC and SPDIF outputs. I can't see a transport being better unless it's just built tougher to last longer. That might be a selling point for many. For me.. I have all my CD's ripped and backed up in the cloud. If disk players go away, it won't be a big deal.

Does anyone know if the Yggy buffers data?

 

[winders]

The job of a transport is to send bits to the DAC. If the DAC buffers the data, I don't see how anything in a transport can make it sound different.

The transport doesn’t send just bits to the DAC. It sends a series of electrical signals to the DAC. How “proper” those signals are makes a difference in the analog output of the DAC.

 

[Licht]

I am looking forward for CD Transport from Schiit.

There are not many affordable CD Transport out in the market.
Cambridge Audio, CEC, Cyrus, Sound Warrior, Olasonic,
and any others?
Transport from Schiit would be definitely promising.

I have only compared 3 players as transport but it had huge difference in sound.
And it's funny but had some similarity to their sound out of their built-in DAC.

My impressions
(Transport -> Yggdrasil A2 -> Freya (TungSol) -> 2 Vidars -> Magnepan MMG)

1. DENON DCD-1500AE SACD player using COAX (audioquest Carbon) circa 2005, approx. $600?
   Apparently the best of the three. Using this now in 2ch system.
   More focused sound and better staging (positioning) than Gen5 USB, but narrower width.
   Can’t decide which is better Gen5 USB or not in standard CD, but better than Gen5 USB when playing Jazz on UHQCD.
2. Pioneer TD-T06 turntable CD player using COAX (audioquest Carbon) circa 1993, approx. $800?
   Broad pyramid type sound similar to that of sound out of built-in DAC, but to my surprise, it apparently lacked detail.
3. Pioneer DV-410V DVD player forgot the cable (coax or TosLink, but not Carbon) made in 2009, approx. $200?
   Completely cheap sound. (light, weak, no body) unlistenable to me.
4. iMac Late 2009 (Audirvana) -> audioquest Carbon USB cable -> Gen5 USB (Yggdrasil)
   Very open wide sound but staging not well focused as DCD-1500AE. In general, I slightly prefer this over DCD-1500AE coax, but depends.

Furthermore, putting weight on the top of the DCD-1500AE changes sound as well. (even position and material of the weight matters)

I know it might depend on system, but to me, I felt like above.

 

[jimmers]

... When I got a 4K tv I bought a Sony UBP-X800 that plays everything that fits in the tray and more with a decent onboard DAC and SPDIF outputs...

I don't think the Sony UBP-X800 has a DAC, it has no analog output; at least that's true of the one I have.
That makes it a universal transport, although I have read the audio quality is good ...