Nobody has requested me to stop anything except your mentor who you keep in contact with.
It seems Rudolf gets enormous pleasure to react positive or negative on every issue on this forum, even if he already made his -debatable- points on every aspect. I think he is just a sucker for attention. And probably spends hours on the forum, while he could enjoy listening to his favourite music better. Would be better for him (and us).
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I think Paul and PSA deserve a big pat on the back for making a new SACD transport at all. Very few people use SACD and it would have been easier and a lot cheaper to make a Stellar level CD transport. Oppo screwed things up for their OEM customers, but you canāt blame Oppo for closing a business making physical media players when everyone streams or downloads and they make all their money from phones.
PSA may make a bit of money and recover their costs with a $5,000 SACD transport, but not with a cheaper one even in physically possible.
Marantz only have incremental R&D costs as they have been making their own SACD transports for 15 years. Their SA/PM systems are very attractive at $5,000 for a complete system and the transport/DAC is very attractive for $2,500. It probably equals the PST/DSD DAC combination for SACD playback. Part of the reason for being cheaper will be their larger size and economies of scale. The Marantz also plays discs with burned data files, including DSD.
SACD requires a high resolution DAC, which the GCD is probably not (by the two sets of measurements Iāve seen). So the options seem pretty clear:
- PST + DSD DAC.
- Marantz + SGCD or Stata integrated
- Esoteric or T+A for those who consider PSA too cheap for their taste.
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If PS Audioās current product range doesnāt meet your requirements then buy from another manufacturer. Problem solved.
āI get your frustrationā, youāve made it known ad nauseam, how you own a PS Audio product and you are disappointed there isnāt/wonāt be a matching Transport. But there are plenty options out there so just buy a Transport from another manufacturer who make a quality product in your price rangeā¦ Going on relentlessly, and just being a monumental pain in the arse, you arenāt achieving anything that will ever conciliate and/or make āyouā happy.
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Since there seems to be a lot of speculation about whether and how a transport mechanism can be fit into the Stellar form factor as it exists today, I thought I should express my own opinion, since I havenāt seen it represented by anyone else here yet, and so the company knows there are people out here like me. 
Iām the first to agree that the Stellar components look great when put together in a system. Itās a sleek, modern design that projects an image of quality, and it saves space to boot. BUT, for me, the āStellarā designation is every bit about the value the components represent. I have no doubt that Paul & Co can design an enclosure that fits a drive and still harmonizes/complements the rest of the Stellar line. If it needs to be an inch taller, I donāt care. As a design professional myself, I can say there are plenty of other visual design cues in the Stellar line that can be picked up other than the outside dimensions of the box.
I will admit that my opinion is informed by a past that never included a set of āmatchingā components in my life until yesterday, when I took delivery of a pair of M700s, and the idea of the sight of those, along with my SGCD (and maybe someday a P3) is appealing. But itās never been a deal breaker for me. The closest Iād come before now was in 1978 when I had a GAS Son of Ampzilla and a GAS Thalia preamp, and the only things in common between those were a black faceplace and the iconic GAS typeface.
Iām confident when the time comes for a Stellar transport, the team will come up with a design that makes sense in the context of the rest of the line. I would think it would be a fun design challenge.
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I continue to find fascinating how a good designer can translate cues from historical objects and plce them in a modern context. For example, the Ford Mustang always looks like a Mustang even though the modern iteration is very different. There is a special talent some have to know how to evoke something else while creating something new. Often it is subtle and not something one notices explicitly.
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The last time I had PS Audio in the open I had Linn components and they were a perfect match.
My son works with a team who have designed several iconic audio brands and products. He is designing audio next door as I type. I have no doubt substantial effort goes into every aspect of audio products, taking account of who will use them and whether or not they will be on display, and a million other factors. But you canāt please everyone.
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p.s. You may remember this. I had one. Designed by the first guy my son worked for, a designer best known for clocks (that go tick tock), this dates back to 1985. 20w Class A S/S, perhaps the first product to integrate heat sinks into the design - the whole of the top plate. Got very hot so could not be stacked, which probably upset at least one person. They had a habit of catching fire, but were very successful products.
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Thanks, Steven. To the group I have deleted a few of Rudolphās posts as they are increasingly angry and somehow not worth the time of this group.
I apologize if this is making it hard to follow but this forum is not about supporting angry viewpoints.
Indeed, letās enjoy some music!
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Iām enjoying Zappa/Roxy box set!
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The famous Frying Pan! My friend had one, it ran hot but very sweet sounding.
The Frying Pan was designed by Pentagram, still a leading design consultancy. Looked and sounded good and doubled up for cooking.
I think I may have fried it and replaced it with a similar slightly more powerful hottie, the Lynx Nebula. The design statement were the touch buttons instead of switches. I remember this being very heavy.
Looks like I will be enjoying the DMP for the foreseeable futureā¦hopefully the drive lasts a good bit! I am sure the new unit is nice but canāt spend that much to listen to the handful of discs I have, considering most of my time is in the digital worldā¦
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I am very interested in it, but I am not sure if it can connect to my DAC. The spec is saying it has coax, BNC and XLR output but not the protocol. Is it meaning the coax and BNC can connect to the SPDIF input and the XLR is to AES ?
Any other limitation I should aware of?
Thanks
Yes, all of the outputs are standard spec. The only output that is uncommon to other manufacturers is the I2S, which is the best connection.
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Got an e-mail from Joey yesterday and called her up. Very nice rep and my order is in. Now for the waiting!!
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Me too. Disappointed not to make the list for beta testing this time. Glad to have my order in.
Agree Joey very pleasant to talk with to place the order.
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I too just ordered from Joey yesterday (although the SGCD / M700 stackā¦ Iām just getting started 
) and it was a pleasant experience!
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Jamesh, has anyone gotten a Beta unit yet? Will the beta reports/comments be public? Certainly interested in what people think.
Should be soon. Weāre still waiting on a few software fixes form the team. Yes, their impressions will absolutely be public.
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