Against the stream. Most who've embraced cloud-based streaming sold off their CD collections if they ever had any. Now it's easy to pontificate that streaming is superior all around so not just due to instant access to millions of tracks but sonics, too. My best solution for file-based playback is a simple SD card transport that outputs I²S over HDMI/RJ45. No moving parts. No servos. No complex OS. No noise from PC or Internet. No redundant computing threads. Thus far, optical CD playback has trailed my magnetic SD card path by just a whisker. Raw USB streaming meanwhile sat rather lower unless that stream was first spit-shined so buffered, reclocked and dejittered by an external USB bridge on battery or super-cap power. Now that feeds the DAC I²S or AES/EBU.
If said bridge can be clock-slaved to the DAC like our Denafrips Terminator+ does a Soundaware D100Pro, sound quality can finally match CD playback over a Denafrips Avatar. For USB, it just takes some doing; not that $5K for a CD transport isn't serious doing too. Now you have my status and MO for when this gig booked. As to the best CDP I ever reviewed? Easy: the €24'800 Gryphon Ethos. With its stiff ask, returning it was foregone conclusion regardless of how much I would like it. And did I ever; like it. Muchísimo!
One could get five of Jay's best for that coin; or actually three (transport + DAC) since the Gryphon is a full player. Context. It's everything. On said note, did you know that here "last remaining new Philips CD Pro 2 mechanisms on the world market" sell for $950 to $1'000? Yikes. Anyone thinking the CDT3-Mk3 steeply priced best recalibrate. For what's in it, 'surprisingly fair' seems rather more appropriate. This is higher not lower math. For a deep dive into various Philips transport mechanisms, there's this.
The filter selection of the DAC confirms by chameleon LED. Red means a linear-phase brickwall filter. Orange is a mix of linear and minimum-phase filter. Green is a minimum-phase Butterworth filter. LED off is a soft version thereof. Xfeed too uses its LED to show status. LED off disables the circuit so will be used for speaker listening. A green LED signifies a 12dB crossfeed, orange 8dB and red 5dB.
The volume knob is a digital encoder for 100 x 1dB steps. To fix a given level, hold the 'filter' button for 4 seconds. Now that volume setting is frozen. Unfreeze by pressing the 'filter' button again for four seconds. The included Apple remote controls volume and input selection.
As to how Soekris implement their volume control, Vincent replied that "there isn't much information. They call it a 'perfect digital volume control'." I'd not found more on the Danish website either. I could ask them but as Jay's main man, I now thought that Vincent's bailiwick. Know thy product. Let's see what else he can dig up.
Within my remit are names should you shop ne-plus-ultra disc spinners: Accuphase D900 [€17.6K CDT], Audionet Planck² [€14.5K CDP], CH Precision D1.5 [$41K SA/CDT], Esoteric P02 [$23.5K CDT], Kalista DreamPlay X [€59K SA/CDT], Luxman D10X [$16.5K CDP], TAD D1000TX [€18.8K SA/CDP]. There's plenty of scope well past where Jay Ho allows himself to push; where I'm comfortable. On the other end of this spectrum sit things like Pro-Ject's £949 CD Box RS. In-between there's a €2'000 Rega Saturn Mk3 or €3'990 Gold Note CD1000 Mk2. For another CD-Pro2 top loader from China, AliExpress just then had Shanling's T600 25th Anniversary Edition for £3'580. The UK's Audio Emotion listed it at £5'500 instead. It's all relative; unless one does like Jay to set up one exclusive global reseller. Now Vincent Ong eliminates pricing games, speaks fluent English and understands Western expectations for service support. It all takes potential sting out of dealing with offshore retail websites. The direct link with Vinshine Audio's sterling rep remains part of Jay's Audio's unique selling proposition.
Intro. Served. Onto the meat. As mini appetizer, the Polish review ends with "these components are built like the very best. Minor shortcomings related to buttons and remote controls remain to be sorted. Mechanical construction and chosen parts are fantastic. Together or separately, sonics were perfect, too. I was most impressed by the transport just because it's a dying species to attract more attention. These machines were incredibly smooth and full without closing down the upper midrange. Their sound could be slightly sweet, warm and round to give a lot of true inexhaustible joy. Against the best optical players like my Ayon CD35 HF reference, the Accuphase DC-1000/DP-1000 combo or Esoteric K-01XD, the Chinese duo had slightly lower resolution, a higher tonal balance and smaller images. These differences weren't huge but present. And that's what the High End is all about. On smoothness, fluidity and dynamics, Jay's kit was almost as good. And that's an amazing achievement… The Chinese tiger showed its claws."
Not having heard many recent flagship players myself, such comparative context was invaluable. On said score I'd fly blind. My primary focus would be on comparing Jay's twosome to my best resident file-streaming threesome of iMac/Audirvana 3.5 ⇒ USB ⇒ Soundaware D300Ref ⇒ AES/EBU ⇒ Sonnet Pasithea. This wouldn't be cloud streaming but locally hosted/owned files. To isolate the CDT3-Mk3 as optical reader I had Denafrips' Avatar, to isolate the DAC2-Mk3, the Dutch R2R DAC with variable reference voltage. The Polish review contains another illuminating morsel. According to Wojciech Pacula, all SA/CD transports/players he's tested prioritized SACD playback. To truly perfect CD meant, at least for Ayon, to disable SACD mode from their chosen multi-format transport and author a true reference Redbook machine. According to that perspective, CD listeners are best served by a transport that can't even play SACD. Multi-tasking gets beat by laser focus on a single task? I wouldn't know. I don't own a single SACD. Or MQA. Or 24/192 file. My library tops out at 24/96. A few 'hi-rez' files are actually 24/44.1. But 99% is standard Redbook. I call that full resolution. It distinguishes CD from compressed formats which only contain partial information. When premium discs like Tony Minassian's Drums & Bells deliver 50dB of recorded dynamic range, what more do we need? It's not Redbook's fault when studios pros don't tap its true potential. What does 'hi-rez' even mean for music with just 6dB of dynamic range? Bolting on chromed hub caps and painting on speed stripes? No car ever went faster with those.
I²S over HDMI connection, 176.4kHz upsampling in transport engaged which the DAC confirms with its x 4 LED.
In use, both decks felt combat ready given evident vault construction. Fit'n'finish were commensurate with Pass Labs not Boulder/Jeff Rowland. To get the latter, pay up. Less sensible was the big remote's ± volume buttons not controlling the DAC. Neither did its multi-stage display dimmer. Buyers of just the converter of course get the Apple wand. But why should owners of both need two remotes particularly when in preamp use, remote volume is super necessary? For a second helping of lesser nits, the two display colors diverged. Face on, the DAC's was royal blue, the transport's a bit more cyan. My side-on photo tones down the difference. The transport chassis was a bit wider. Two up, cheeks don't go flush. Whilst the DAC's analog RCA/XLR max out at a virtually standard 1.9/3.8Vrms, the volume display goes to +10 so beyond 00. Naturally sonics don't care about any of it. But some buyers do. Small print. Covered. With appetizer and bread served, onto the main dish. Digging in, the DAC's volume lock proved extra clever because the Apple remote of my icOn 4Pro preamp no longer saw the DAC. It can be a pain when one remote triggers the same function in competing components. I appreciated Jay's foresight on that. His chassis volume knob had another trick down its barrel. Push it in for an instant -30dB cut. That's practical when the door bell or phone rings and you can't find the small Cupertino remote to hit 'mute'.
