CDT8 needs new transport. I will not buy another product with a 1 year warranty. This rules out Jays which would be my first choice if it had a 3 year warranty. Should I get an Audiolab 6000 or 9000?
If I were getting a CD transport and didn’t want or need SACD, I’d look seriously at the Audiolab 9000. I’ve never heard one myself, but it’s been getting good reviews and has a CD tray (rather than a slot like the 6000) that minimizes chances for scratches during loading CDs. Most importantly, it is reported to sound great.
They planned that pretty well didn’t they.
FWIW, I have my Jay running hard for over 3 years w/o a glitch and invariably delivering pure audiophile joy. Built like a tank and arguably one of my best audio investments. The only downside I can think of is that it pushed me to spend perhaps twice the money on CDs over the period …
No experience with Audiolab, so can’t compare …
Makes me glad I traded my CDT8-Pro to TMR last year.
I had the Audiolab 6000CDT for a few years, in my headphone only system. Never scratched a disc with the slotted entry to the drive, and the sound was quite good into the then used Stellar DAC pre. I sold it a while after I bought the PWT SACD transport and moved my DMP into that system.