[ScubaMan2017]

CD trasport could be called Arachne, the mortal weaver, or "spinner" who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was transformed into a spider, or "spinner".

Just a wild guess.

... Interesting. Arachne, eh. This came to mind.

 

[yonson]

Analog? That would be nice if it has a dac option. I'm hoping for AES, Coax etc digital outs.

I'm curious if they're going to do a slot loading drive, tray loader or god forbid top loader .

Yeah, if it has DAC modules, I'd want a balanced option, otherwise AES or Coax would work...

 

[muziq]

I'm curious if they're going to do a slot loading drive, tray loader or god forbid top loader .

I'd pray for a tray or top-loader. I have a couple dozen 3-in CDs as well as a few strangely-shaped CDs (collectors items), and even with adapters I ran into problems with slot-loading. I don't have a strong preference for tray or top-loading, but from a long-term mechanical POV a top-loading worries me a bit less...just a couple hinges and release mechanism to worry about failing instead of the tray mechanism.

BTW, loving the idea of a transport.

 

[DoubleIPA]

I have a slot loader in my iMac and in my car. I don't have any data, but my assumption is that they would get less dust inside. That being said they would obviously be harder to clean. Top loaders are ok, but then you need lots of space above or at least a fair amount. If they go with a tray loader I hope it's stout because I've had various problems with my Oppo tray loaders over the years. If they made an all aluminum tray loader, that would stellar looking.

 

[jrflanne]

Digital preamp is exactly what I use my oppo 105 for. I run music server and tv stuff through it.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Chateau Moffat pronounced Moh-fah

Not in French...
Better stick to English.

 

[wink]

... Interesting. Arachne, eh. This came to mind.

 

[Ableza]

That is called a CD Player.

I think the CD transport should have a built in DAC.

.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

That is called a CD Player.

Or you could use some fancy fraudiophile terminology and call it a "CD Transcription System."
It's been done before:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/sota-vanguard-ii-cd-player

 

[mysticstryk]

So it has been a bit of time since I have posted as I have been very distracted with the Sol, which now seems to be finally ready to order parts for production. Jason and I keep slowing each other down out of an abundance of caution with this, our first mechanical product. Done with that, at least the Engineering.

Next I will tease (Myself as well as the reader) with a variety of possible products that I am currently trying out. So for the moment allow me to emulate Jason in the sense that the following are products that are either ideas, built as prototypes, either plywood (alpha) or in chassis (beta). All of the caveats apply, which specifically are: They could never happen. They may happen in a very combined or modified form, or they may even be built as they are.

Product candidate number 1 is a CD transport. It has been built as an alpha. It works and sounds fine - I feel content with respect to its performance. It should be a $300 to $500 product. The dependencies of a workable production product are our ability to source a transport assembly in the thousands of units, and our ability to design packing and ship production quantities of fragile items, which we have not yet done. I am convinced that CDs (many/most of which can yet be easily found at a dollar and under) will become popular and enjoy a resurgence of popularity once most realize that streaming is seldom, if ever, the best possible digital source. The original Solti Ring cycle on CD (not the remaster) is by far and away the best sounding. (I know, Bosie, you hate the Solti Ring – the fact remains that is a sonic miracle and one of the two or three best recordings of the last century.) I maintain now is the time to acquire CDs before they suffer the price inflation of California coastal real estate or vinyl records.

The next candidate is a Floorsweep product which is partially built of recycled parts (think, for example, the recycled parts from old Yggy analog board). Now this would not be a current or old Yggy or Gungnir killer at all, but a scaled down product that would punch way above its price point. Much physically smaller, shorter warranty, ugly in a quaint sense. Jason suggested a hammertone finish, which I love. Gibson in the pre-WW2 days made Floorsweep banjos and mandolins, which are hugely expensive collector’s items today. One has been built, but may be integrated further before production. Or not, or may not be built at all – just a notion of how to utilize old parts that we hate to throw away.

Oh yeah, the Gadget. Already built as a digital beta product, in fact a production ready coax to coax product. The problem is how do we interface it? What inputs? USB? Coax? AES? TOS? What outputs? If we put something in production do people really want another box in the chain? Really? Probably won’t be built for that reason. Leads to the next contemplated product.

So my next wet dream is (how do you describe it??) a digital preamp or a “Swiss Army Knife”. This would have every common socket at the input, such as USB, coax, etc. Maybe BitWordData (BWD) to hook up with a transport. It would have at least coax and maybe BWD out as well. It would be mandatory that we have De-Jitter/re-clocking as well. It could also have slots for an optional Gadget and maybe for my other idea music processor as well. More on that in a future post. We already have such a device with a reduced feature set on the market, Eitr. Think of it as an expanded, upgradable Eitr.

Then we have the new USB board, which we would roll our own implementation into a generic Microchip Pic Part. Up to now, the best choices are XMOS or C-Media (which we now use). The reason we want our own USB2 algorithm living in a microprocessor is that it greatly increases our options for instrumentation DAC selections, many of which require configuration to set them up as straight audio DACs. This gives rise to opportunities for even lower priced Multibit DACs. Also helpful as many “audio” multibit DACs have bend over and spread ‘em pricing. This is in process, but very buggy and needs a lot of work, again if we implement it at all. Call it pre-alpha.

The above is a description of much of the work here at Chateau Moffat that lies somewhere between mental masturbation and could be production. I could well have forgotten something. Feedback is encouraged. Thanks for all of your support!

As someone who has been spinning discs more and more these days, I would love to see Schiit enter that arena.

Good CD transports that are actually still in production today are stupid expensive. The best options for reasonably priced transports or players is to buy old units from the 90s-early 00s. Of course this has it's own problems such as rarity and reliability (a lot of these may have lasers going out soon without readily available replacements).

 

[45longcolt]

My nomination for CD transport name: Mimir (mEE-mir), "The Rememberer. A being providing the divine animating force behind the wisdom of past tradition and its indispensable value as a guide for present actions."

Is that where "meme" comes from? (insert rimshot here.)

Seriously, I dig the idea of a Schiit transport. And I suspect it would turn out to be a top loader, for reasons of simplicity and stability. I enjoyed my Rega Apollo - putting in a cd was kinda like putting an LP on the platter. Hey, if you don't enjoy small rituals, go streaming. In my ideal world the transport would support SACD, but knowing Mike's opinion of DSD, I suspect that's one area where we will have to agree to disagree.

 

[Ableza]

Is that where "meme" comes from? (insert rimshot here.)
.

That may very well be true!

 

[Oveja Negra]

Why do some of you dislike a top loader CD transport? Is just a matter of preference (harder to manipulate) or it's due to a real technical disadvantage over the other two solutions?

 

[Ableza]

I’ve used a top loader for years. It’s great. But showing it’s age and may need to be replaced soon.

 

[r2muchstuff]

Why do some of you dislike a top loader CD transport? Is just a matter of preference (harder to manipulate) or it's due to a real technical disadvantage over the other two solutions?

Simple.
Competition for the top of the stack (or rack) real estate.