I purchased the Pro-Ject RS2T and am waiting for it to be shipped. If I don’t like it vs. streamed music for the Rossini, it’ll definitely stay for the Lina where I use Apple Music from my laptop.
I think you will probably find it slightly better than streaming. As you cannot control what the stream quality is and how much compression might have been added.
But if you have ripped them cd’s then you may find it a complete waste of money. This is what i have found, plus once you add a nice aes cable, this has suddenly now doubled in price, plus not forgetting the power supply you will also want.
I feel a nice nas is a better way to go for most.
But i feel the little pro-ject could be even better if they just went that extra bit.
As the control system isn’t great, the remote is a joke, and the overall enjoyment of just using it isn’t as good as nice as it could be.
Plus for me having to mess about with clock settings was really the final nail for it.
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I haven’t ripped my CDs, yet, as I really liked the Apple Music lossless format (not Dolby Atmos) and the selection of music there. I’ve had a Phoenix switch, a Roon Nucleus, and a Rossini for less than a week. Apple Music is no match for streaming on the Rossini (tried my laptop via USB, again, today, and it sounded abysmal), it is a match for streaming on the Lina, though.
I have the Shunyata Venom-X EF power cable (880 €) and the Cardas Clear AES cable (990 €) and will report my experience in this thread hopefully within the next couple of weeks.
I would certainly give qobuz a go as you can normally get it free for 30 days.
Massively better than what you have been using
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I have one year Qobuz and Tidal subscriptions and will decide after one year which one to keep.
If the dCS transports weren’t that humongous, I would get me one of them instead. There are no good alternatives out there except the Pro-Ject RS2T, but it comes with single AES.
I know there’s really not much that works correctly, well only dCS if you want to play SACD as well.
But as i found out the difference between it all is close and once you have them cd’s ripped then the difference is either so small or nothing to worry about.
I can see why even dCS themselves don’t use their own cd transports on demo’s and even at the factory just streaming.
But as said it was nice to try it, but just didn’t bring me anything other than extra cost, and a pain to have to keep switching settings over between cd and when i want to stream or play my stored music.
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For CD players there is no point in having more than a single AES port. All CDs have a resolution of 44.1 KS/s. Single AES inputs to dCS support <96k KS/s. For CD, even if you own a dCS transport, only a single AES is ever in use.
BTW where non-dCS units such as SACD players or streamers are used it is dual AES support that is required, not simply two ports ( not the same thing).
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Except of course that dCS transports contain an Upsampler, so will always be upsampling CD to DXD, DSD or DSDx2 (depending on the setting of Upsampling Mode) and presenting that on its dual AES outputs.
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Indeed but that’s why I mentioned CD only . Upsampled CD is something else.
On what i found, if you are not going to upsample it to a higher level then its certainly not worth having a cd player
The sound stage just disappeared when switching to 44.1 by comparison.
The ideal transport for me would be single aes and having a clock input that will work withvthe vivaldi clock
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The Rossini player is 15.1cm high, the Rossini transport, on the other hand, is 17.8cm high and the former comes with a Ring DAC and a streamer. It should be possible to make a CD transport that is less than 15.1cm in height, one would think.
I was notified today that my Pro-Ject RS2T has been shipped.
Hope you get on with it
It’s no contest. I listened to the CD of the Oscar Peterson album The Trio, Live from Chicago (Doxy Collection) (Remastered Version) with the Pro-Ject RS2T. It doesn’t even come close to the streamed version on the Rossini. The difference is day and night.
I don’t mean to tout my own system. It has been discussed in another thread that my setup has limitation. For example, at 6V “Living Proof” by the War on Drugs and “Private Investigations” on the Money For Nothing (2022 Remaster) album are unlistenable after a certain point. The bass gets too boomy and the guitar too bright. At 2V both songs are fine but 2V sucks the life out of my system.
But man, at 6V those Oscar Peterson performances streamed just rock. The other night I listened to Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert (Live). A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t even know who Keith Jarrett is, and I never really cared much about this type of music. Now, his performance in Part I on that album after 5:15 gives me chills. Another example of great sounding streamed music is Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, the 24bit/192kHz version. I used to think that she was a bit overrated and kind of boring when I listened to her with Apple Music on my mobile phone. Now, her voice is jaw dropping, just absolutely stunning. There are five tracks on that album that I could listen to all day long and it has become one of my favorites.
I cannot image any CD even coming close to what I hearing with streamed music on the Rossini. To me, I have the best streamed music system in the world: a fiber optic connection, a cheap €26 15m ethernet cable from the fiber optic router to the Innuos PhoenixNet (I’m not even tempted to try a $5K Shunyata cable), a Roon Nucleus attached, a cheap unshielded cable from the switch to the Rossini, then the cables get really expensive but not outrageously expensive, and I do use an LPS for the router. I don’t care that a couple of songs don’t work at 6V.
I will try the Pro-Ject RS2T in the next few days with the LINA where it should serve its purpose, I think, but it’s no match for streamed music on the Rossini.
As said get the streaming side done right and really that’s all you need.
Cd’s and even a nas like a melco just isn’t needed for sound quality.
The only really problem you in counter with streaming is the artist or track not available or disappearing.
But i do think you would find say the shunyata omega ethernet cable between your PhoenixNet and rossini a surprise
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Well how about this, the SMSL PL200T
Transport only, has an aes out put, has a clock input that you can set to different frequency, more importantly it will work with a dcs dac or clock.
Can upgrade the power supply and bypass the built in one if you want.
Plus it’s cheap.
So who is going to try one then ?