My brother tried purchasing a new DMP direct from PS audio a few weeks ago and was told it’s no longer being produced. He was told the remaining transports they had left where needed for existing units if they needed repair.
Just for the record I jumped ship a few months after I heard Oppo was no longer making the dmp transport.
Maybe I got paranoid but the horror stories I’ve read about transports not being available for replacement with other manufacturers units made me feel very insecure with dmp. It was the same story the transport used was manufactured by someone else who no longer manufacturers it, we are very sorry for your loss maybe you can use it as a boat anchor.
So what did i do? I purchased a player from a manufacturer that builds their own transports.
As good as the DMP DSP combo is or I should say was my new Luxman Do8u CD player sonically is clearly superior in every way!
So what’s next for PS audio I heard a new transport mid 2019? I would expect it will be built around a transport built in house?
Also just for the record I love my BHK 300’s,BHK pre and P20 and have no plans on jumping ship with these components, unless maybe, PS audio builds something superior.
hiendmmoe.
CD players are in my opinion museum pieces, but I do have a CD transport (unused). The specification was that it should be robust, proprietary and have a digital output. I chose the TASCAM CD-200, that cost about $250. It uses the TEAC 5020-A drive unit (costs about $50 trade), probably the most popular unit in the world. They were the largest drive manufacturer in the world and made most of the drives when computers had such things.
https://teac.eu/en/product-overview/data-storage
If you want to throw money at an optical drive, you can get an Esoteric unit, they start at around $5,000. Esoteric is owned by TEAC. (What a surprise.) I emailed them and asked them, if I’m only using the device for the digital output, what’s the advantage of the Esoteric over the TEAC optical drive. They basically said it was only about build quality.
The TEAC drives used in TASCAM units are thrown around by mobile DJs, so I really wouldn’t worry about it breaking. I’m told they also make excellent A/D converters, so a Tascam DA-3000 would replace the now expired PS Audio NPC.
Absolutely no chance of them building an optical drive to put in their next CD transport.
A minor clarification: Esoteric is not owned by Teac; Esoteric is merely a Teac brand name/division. Tascam is the same.
Esoteric was created as a brand to market to audiophiles who cannot stand the idea of buying a product from a company known for pro audio.
The Tascam DA-3000 is excellent (I own one) as is its predecessor, the DV-RA1000 (I have one of these also, although I should find it a home as I am no longer using it).
I couldn’t agree more. I used it solely as a DAC prior to getting my DirectStream DAC. I was never unhappy with it, just always had my ears set on the DSD. It is actually surprising to me how well this appliance satisfies the role of audiophile DAC. It just sounds so right in so many ways.
+1, though not sure if you meant ADC, Jeff.
While it operates as both an ADC and DAC, I only used it for its DAC function.
PS Audio bought up the remaining Oppo drives in order to adhere to their philosophy of supporting their customers’ products for 20+ years. So if my drive dies, I trust there will be a replacement.
They are making a new transport that will not play SACDs/DSD, but otherwise aspires to be better in other ways than the DMP. Those of us who have lots of SACDs, and love the sound of the DMP are standing pat.
One of the primary reasons I bought it was that it was a DSD-capable ADC. That way, if I wanted to master in DSD from any analog source, I was good to go. The unit I had (still have) before that was the Korg MR-1000 portable (battery or AC power-able) unit, but its ADCs and mic pres suck.
Agreed. The Korg had nice features but that was it.
Brodric
Do you have any idea what PSA may use instead of the Oppo or Asus drives in their new SooperDooper Redbook only CD player?
Since this topic also addresses the survival of the CD, can you or anyone else address the topic of CD recording? I have an hhb Dual Burn double CD tray unit that was distributed by Sennheiser and allows me to make CDRs of favorite tracks - a CD mixtape if you like. This was discontinued a couple of years back and there appears nothing like it in the 2019 marketplace. As there is a lot of talk of CDRs - how do people make these? Copy a CD or a CD track onto a hard drive that leaves the file at least in the CD Redbook format and then copy them back onto a new disc? I know I can copy a CD to iTunes but bang goes the sound quality - any pointers?
I wonder if they could get something very close to the oppo drive in design and construction but made for them?. Or is the OPPO drive most likely copyright protected in some way. It seems silly for OPPO to not make drives for PS Audio to sell. Some sales is always better than no sales I think.
It will be a DVD ROM drive that we have yet to select but we know it’ll be a slot load device similar to the Apple product.
Paul,any new info on the new and improved transport? Do you still feel the sound quality increase for redbook over the DMP is doable? Better overall performance too?
Paul
I would not buy a high end CD player with a slot load. Bad enough that the CD companies pack these far from scratch proof discs in cardboard - sometimes very tightly - instead of using trays without the player adding the additional potential for damage like the Apple product.
Glad I have my DMP fully operational but its replacement will have to be an Esoteric-like drawer or a top loader.
Slot-load conceptually bothered me as well until I used a quality example. It worked superbly with no potential of damage as long as you are reasonably careful - just like a drawer.
BB, did they give any hints as to the price? North or south from the DMP’s US$ 6k?
Cheers
I too am not a fan of slot loading. A top loading slide drawer would be cool. My formerly owned Electrocompaniet EMC 1 UP used one and it was a delight to use and operate…
I can never figure out which is what but $6K to $7K is the projected price.
Elk
What was the quality example - the Apple DVD player is too close to throwaway for my liking.