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I bought this CD transport a few years ago. I was not impressed so I put it in storage. Today I took it out to gave it another chance. But I got the same disappointment. This thing is bright in lower treble. It lacks frequency extension in both ends. It also lacks resolution. My Sony X229ES with my DIY coax SPDIF is much better. Even Rotel RCD-855 is better. I would rate these CD transports in the following order.
Sony X229ES DIY coax SPDIF > Rotel RCD-855 > Cambridge CXC V2 > TASCAM CD-200
As both Cambridge and TASCAM have a good mechanical transport and no CD reading issues, I will put a DIY coax SPDIF circuit in them when I get time.
Could you please tell us what you found lacking in the Tascam CD 200, and how you will improve its SPDIF output.
Are there any measurements that can illustrate the improvement, or is this
mainly an aural impression?
Not that an aural impression is any less meaningful than measurements, just wondering what in specific gets improved to make it sound better.
There is no isolation transformer in Tascam. I will add an isolation transformer. I will also increase the driving capability of the output circuit.
I have ordered the parts from Mouser and Digikey. I will publish what I do to the CD player in this forum when I am done.
Thank you - I'll watch for your update.
Edits: 04/16/25
the CA CXC CD transport sounded really good to me. Lots of low end and the top end wasn't overly bright.
I wasn't using any fancy cable just a BJC S/PDIF with a verified 75Ohms rating.
I've had a CXC for 3 years and hear none the issues you mention. That said, I'm sure we have completely different systems. When it's time to move on to a new transport, I might consider a top loader. My one beef with "my" CXC is that it doesn't recognize/play FLAC copies friends have made me. My Teac PD-H600 plays the FLAC copies with no issue. So that would be the main reason for me to move away from the CXC on a future purchase. This aside from being curious on what a top loader brings to the table.
The one-half is in agreement that I don't hear the issues with my Cambridge CXC v2 that the original poster mentioned either, but I can't comment on your issues with FLAC.
I was expecting more from a dedicated transport in general, meaning that I'm not targeting the CXC specifically, and chose the CXC based mostly on Asylum comments. I noticed no changes to my system, either plus or minus, with the CXC over a Marantz CD6006 CD player I had been using as a transport.
But a friend was interested in the Marantz as a CD player, and it saved me the trouble of returning the Cambridge CXC v2, so I kept it and enjoy it.
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