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Best CD Transport Award – EISA
The Ultimate High Performance Redbook CD Transport
Pro-Ject has always made products that aren't particularly mainstream. As everybody was jumping onto the CD bandwagon, Pro-Ject was just getting started with turntables. Now that everybody in moving into streaming, Pro-Ject has developed a new revolutionary CD player.
People like to have a physical musical medium in hand. That's one of the appeals of LPs and it is also true CDs. Actual Redbook CD players have gotten rare. Real high-end CD players barely exist anymore.
The drive mechanism of a CD player is essential for accurately reading CDs. But the mechanics in many drives struggle to correctly read CDs and rely on audio interpolation instead, which often negatively impacts the sound quality. As a result, the CD medium has gotten an unfavorable reputation, which is why it is time to create a perfect, top-class CD transport again. Why just a transport? Because most people already have a very good DAC, so to keep things very affordable, Pro-Ject concentrated on making the best CD transport it possibly could.
Being based in Vienna, Pro-Ject was lucky that Philips had its development department nearby. The gentlemen who were part of this epochal invention are still around and formed a company called StreamUnlimited. Pro-Ject is proud to announce that the 'Pope of the CD Player,' Mr. Michael Jirousek, was key to creating Pro-Ject's ultimate CD player.
Award-Winning Performance
The Expert Sound and Imaging Association (EISA) gave the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T its Best CD Transport Award for 2019-2020.
"Although best known for its turntables, Pro-Ject is building an enviable reputation in digital audio, too – and this two-box CD transport and DAC/preamp is its most impressive component yet. A real ground-up design, the CD Box RS2 T features a customised CD-Pro 8 transport mechanism supported by an alloy/carbon fibre chassis and state-of-the-art disc-reading electronics."
"The Very Best"
"If you still spin CDs and want the very best out of this format, you can see why I would highly recommend the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 transport," raves Terry London, Stereo Times, August 2023. "It uses the latest technology to get the most 'analog' sound out of the CD format. It is exceptionally well built, a pleasure to use, and will match any DAC you own."
"The Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T, most likely sounds much better than your old CD player," reports Lasse Svendsen, Tech Reviews, October 1, 2021. "The dynamics, including in the bass, on Al Jarreau’s Cold Duck, are outstanding. The bassline is superbly defined, it sounds right in the snare drum, and the saxophone solo appears uncolored, alive and the sound is simply bold… It will not disappoint."
"Jaw-Dropping" Performance
"The sheer precision of the performances is jaw-dropping, as is the way the engineers have captured them in the reverberant chapel acoustic, in which voices just hang with wonderful focus," marvels Andrew Everard in his Hi-Fi News & Record Review, for November 18, 2019.
"The Pro-Ject combo had me wanting to listen to CD after CD. This Pro-Ject combo brings the musicality and natural details I hear in the best analog," reports Francisco Licon, reviewing the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T and Pre Box RS2 for Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, November 18, 2019. "They allowed me to hear new details and re-experience old favorites in my music catalog. After all, isn’t that what the audiophile experience is all about?"
"Focus is there in abundance, along with that combination of mellifluous fluidity and weight, power and dynamics. By any standards this is a remarkable CD-playing package, and its arrival at this stage of the silver disc’s history will be a cause for celebration for many," notes gramophone.co.uk, November 18, 2019.
Taking Standard Red Book Audio CDs to Perfection
The CD Box RS2 T is the latest development in Pro-Ject's line of ultimate top-loading CD transports, built around the StreamUnlimited CD–Pro 8 CD drive mechanism and servo system CD-84. The CD Box RS2 T takes standard Red Book Audio CD playback as close to perfection as possible.
The CD Pro-8 drive has the servo system directly integrated in its aluminum body. The entire body is suspended on a proprietary anti-vibration system, which reduces the level of outside vibrations reaching the insides of the device. The CD mechanism is stabilized and secured, unaffected by external influences.
Vibration dampers are mounted on the very rigid carbon fiber chassis, which further contributes to isolating the CD loader from the outside. Additionally, the whole chassis is firmly connected to the body of the CD Box RS2 T itself. Such a construction brings excellent rigidity to the whole system and at the same time splendid isolation against the whole vibrational spectrum. The CD mechanism has an improved clamp made of a new aluminum alloy. It is perfectly balanced and assures perfect contact between the disc and the drive, achieving smooth rotation and perfect disc reading.
Ultimate Output Choices
Being a transport-only device, the CD Box RS2 T has optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs for connecting your favorite high-end DAC. The AES/EBU digital output over XLR goes one step beyond the quality of optical or coaxial signals and at the ultimate top, the CD Box RS2 T offers an I²S + Masterclock output over HDMI. This standard offers the perfect digital interconnect and is the ideal solution to bypass the limitations that inherently come with other forms of digital audio connections. This makes it the perfect companion to Pro-Ject's Pre Box RS2. The output options ensure that you can take maximum advantage of all the care and attention that has gone into the design of the CD drive.
A 'Clean' Build All the Way
The CD Box RS2 T provides a 'clean' build all the way. Foregoing any built in converter and preamp electronics ensures that those parts do not interfere with the perfect CD reading capabilities, and they enable the use of high-end DACs.
Pro-Ject is the first company to use the new high-tech CD-Pro 8 drive with the Blue Tiger CD-84 servo board. The drive, chassis, suspension and servo board are new designs and offer unprecedented CD performance at this price point.
Massive Milled Chassis
The CD Box RS2 T features sophisticated, super precise, new levels of mechanical technology to read out a bit-perfect data stream.
The massive chassis will never go out of alignment or deform under high temperatures. The cogwheels for the sledge run on precision steel axles. The chassis is milled to the highest accuracy from a solid block of aluminum and each turntable is lathed from steel and chrome plated. This is critical for transportation and ensures it will last a lifetime.
The suspension system consists of a rigid carbon fiber plate, carbon fiber tubes, springs, silicon dampers, and screws. The suspension, cover and turntable platter are made of 100% real carbon fiber.
The robust chassis and electronics around this drive, carry the perfect signal jitter-free to its high variety of outputs. Pro-Ject claims that it‘s the best CD transport ever made, and without any doubt it is certainly the perfect partner for a premium quality DAC.
Beautiful Silver or Black Color Options
The CD Box RS2 T is available in a precision machined, beautiful and elegant aluminum case in silver or black color options. A new remote control in a new entirely aluminum chassis is also included.
