Time for the apocalypse and stocking up zombie potion? Consider the ongoing influx of CD spinners from the Chinese contingent of Eversolo, FiiO, Dunu, Gustard, Jay's, Moondrop, Shanling/YBA, smls, Tonewinner & Co to their offshore camp of Accuphase, Ancient, Arcam, Atoll, Audio Analogue, Audiolab, Audionet, Audio Note, Boulder, Burmester, Cambridge, CEC, Chord, CH Precision, Cyrus, dcs, Denon/Marantz, Esoteric/Teac, Gold Note, Gryphon, Hegel, Linn, Luxman, mbl, Métronome/Kalista, Michi/Rotel, Mission, NAD, Pro-Ject, Quad, Roksan, Simon Audio Lab, Soulution, T+A, Technics, Wadax & Yamaha. That's a far from complete list. Just so, it certainly seems that the demise of the format and its hardware has spawned quite the undead horde already. I thought of this as my long nose got wind of yet another top-quality CD transport release just 'round the bend. What does this trend say about the undying appeal of all the dematerialized conveniences of 24/7 wireless cloud streaming? Clearly there's a growing audience with a real hunger for physical discs and the usage protocol surrounding them. Vinyl's renaissance proceeds at a good clip, too. What was passé returns like the wheel of karma? The cyclical nature of things isn't surprising. This flip-flop's speed could be. This wasn't a generational ¼-century change. It's happened in half that time; or less. What's more, the current renaissance of disc spinners may include USB and I²S out, clock inputs, battery power, upsamplers in pure transports, tubes, reconversion to DSD, headfi and analog volume. This unexpectedly active field is played from a few hundred banal bob up to mid 5-figure precious pop. Never trust an obituary?
Here's a trick question for which I don't have a definitive answer. Since Esoteric have discontinued OEM licenses for their transports as did Denon/Marantz for their production at Shirakawa Audio Works whilst Sony abandoned audio optics, are Stream Unlimited of Austria the only supplier left that specializes in transport mechanisms dedicated to upscale audio rather than to video or computers? If so, what transports do all the more affordable CD players of today use? They're clearly not zombies so drive something other than a virus. My best bet would be Sanyo/Panasonic but perhaps there are mainland China factories too which still produce unbranded mechanics for OEM clients? Given the veritable renaissance in this sector, supply of the necessary spinners, lasers and servos is clearly ongoing. I'm simply hard-pressed to say where it originates…
