British hi-fi brand Quad Audio has launched a new CD transport called the 3CDT. The Quad 3CDT follows the same retro 1960s aesthetic as the Quad 3 integrated amplifier, which in turn is inspired by the revamped 33/303 preamp/power amplifier . The gray cabinet features orange accents, including a striking orange-backlit LCD screen.
Quad 3CDT: CD drive, so no DA converter on board
The Quad 3CDT is a CD transport equipped with digital outputs. It has both optical and coaxial outputs and can be used with any amplifier with a built-in DAC, but is naturally designed to be paired with the Quad 3 integrated amplifier and its ES9038Q2M Sabre DAC.
The 3CDT is designed for high durability, quiet operation and uncompromising sound quality, according to the designers, with careful attention paid to minimizing vibration and interference during the development process.
Under the hood is a CD drive and a specially designed servo controller, designed to deliver excellent accuracy and stability when reading the inserted CD. It’s optimized to minimize read errors, jitter, and other forms of distortion, ensuring a clean signal is sent to the connected digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
The internal architecture is designed to maximize the sonic potential of every CD played, isolating critical paths to ensure a clean and stable data stream, while an independently driven, high-precision crystal oscillator acts as the master clock, providing a rock-solid timing reference. Ultimately, the Quad 3CDT aims to deliver CD performance free from timing errors, with audibly cleaner transients, tighter stereo imaging, and greater musical coherence.
The CD drive supports the Red Book standard for CD playback, CD-Rs, CD-RWs and data CDs with music files written in FLAC, WAV, WMA, MP3 or APE formats.
Finally, Quad says the 3CDT is flexible enough to play slightly damaged or dirty CDs that are often rejected by other CD players and transport systems.
Deliveries are expected to begin sometime in December.
