A stand-alone CD transport, Paul Rigby wonders if it measures up to other integrated players, its immediate competition and most of all, how it stands up to the mighty 6000CDT
VIDEO CONTENTS
00:00 - Introduction
2:56 - Closer Look
9:25 - Sound Quality
10:07 - vs Leema Elements Integrated CD Player
14:40 - vs Heed CD Transport
1 7:39 - vs Audiolab 6000CDT
22:08 - USB Play
23:09 - Final Thoughts, Pros & Cons and Rating
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LEEMA ELEMENTS WEBSITE REVIEW: https://theaudiophileman.com/leema-cd-player/
JAN ERTNER INTERVIEW
I managed to steal away the lead engineer for the 9000CDT CD Transport project, Jan Ertner, for a brief chat. Here's what he offered in the few minutes he had free...you can see a more in depth version of this interview on my Patreon page (link above)
Paul Rigby: During the comparison between the 6000 and the 9000 I did notice a distinct extra richness and weight to the 9000’s mids and, associated with that, a stronger depth to the bass. In design terms, where do those enhancements come from? What’s actually causing that?
Jan Ertner: Aside from the visible external enhancements, there are various significant improvements under the hood. The most obvious is the new tray-loading mechanism – the mech in the 6000CDT is great, but the 9000CDT’s mech offers a number of improvements from an ‘audiophile’ perspective. There’s new servo decoder too – this performs various functions, including controlling the speed of the motor and the movement of the laser, as well as processing the raw data that the laser reads from the CD.
The power supply and output circuitry have been improved, and we’re using a higher quality toroidal transformer. We’ve also taken great care over the circuit layout to protect and shield the most noise-sensitive elements, thereby keeping jitter as low as possible.
It’s not just about specifying more expensive, higher quality components – it’s all too possible to create a great design on paper that simply doesn’t deliver as you’d hoped once you start listening. We conduct exhaustive listening tests to find the right combination of circuit design and components to deliver our sonic aims – it’s this extensive work that ensures the enhancements we’ve made to the 9000CDT deliver the corresponding sound quality improvements you describe. The 6000CDT remains a fantastic CD transport at its price point; and the 9000CDT delivers the upgraded build, facilities and performance you’d expect from a more expensive flagship product.
OTHER CREDITS
Old Bossa by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/