WAIT! Maybe THIS is the FUTURE of CD PLAYERS? (Schiit Urd overview)

This episode is brought to you by Bluesound:

🎥 Camera: Olaf von Voss / John Darko
🎬 Editor: John Darko
🌈 Colour: Olaf von Voss
🕺🏻 Motion GFX: John Darko
💰 Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan

0:00 Intro
1:03 Three recent CD purchases
3:52 Coffee break
7:21 USB inputs & outputs

Schiit Urd

Podcast: Jason Stoddard talks Urd / Syn

Cambridge Audio EVO CD

Rotel CD 11 Tribute

FiiO KA2

iFi 4.4mm to XLR cable

The Future Sound of London - Mind Maps

Pale Saints - In Ribbons (2023 Remaster)

Spiritualized - Let It Flow

Streaming platform by Roon

Cables and power products by AudioQuest

Hi-fi furniture and speaker stands by Solid Steel

Room treatment by Vicoustic

Darko.Audio may earn a small commission from items purchased via affiliate links, which are indicated with a '🛒'.

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[edwardwood]

For $1, 300 it should make coffee as well. Maybe the kind folks at Ninja will make a 20 in 1 Cd/dac/headphone amp/coffee maker, etc. all for $999. Love your vids and the British Audiophile’s as well.

[RobertJessing]

Perfectly sensible with a CD transport and using a better DAC. That said, why do I need to pay 1299 for a data reader?

[roll-man]

Audiolab 6000cdt transport. Half the price...sounds great

[currykevuk]

Sorry but I'll stick with my recently purchased used £30 Panasonic dvd player to transport the digital numbers to the excellent dac in my amp.

[suzysharpe]

The Rotel has a 5 level dimming function, personally i prefer the larger remote too. And the Rotel is a great sounding player, i know, i bought one last week. So schit can keep their schit. I'm staying old school. Sometimes i think progress is just made for the sake of saying look what i can make new, in reality is worse than the old.

[alwilliams]

I bought a Cambridge Audio AXC35 a couple years ago just because I have a lot of CDs. Since then, I buy. CD's all the time. The Sony drawer they use for it seems quite solid to me. Love the Wolfson dac.

[mrglasses]

Looks schiit.

Honestly I might just hunt down a second hand Sony QS or ES stable platter mechanism CD player and use the digital outs.

[DavidHamby-ORF-]

Jason Stoddard admits that Urd is a niche product. The tray loading drive is one of the few straight-ahead red book transports on the market. Jason/Mike wanted a constant bit rate track following mechanism that was well documented, well behaved, and reliably sourced. A lot of R&B went into the custom USB Audio 2 out stack. And Urd has the longest assembly of any Schiit product.

[Cpt.Zer]

Still use my Rotel RCD-970BX i bought 25 years ago. Use it as transport, but the old dac do not sound bad. Got a very warm sound for a dac from 1995.

[dobieprime]

sounds like a schiiturd to me....:) John, I love your videos and I love your enthusiasm for new things. I have that some ooh and ahh joy about things also. But, look....this is something to play CDs. As you said, just get the Rotel, or the Cambridge or whatever else. Maybe I am just old fashioned. I just want the best audio I can afford. I don't think everything needs to have the capability to hook up to a computer. But, companies have to make products for EVERY consumer...I get that. Anyway...thank you again!

[andrehb]

if I recall correctly, Darko had trouble loading 1 out of 10 CDs into the $5K Hegel Viking, which seems to me an unacceptable failure rate, even for a player priced at at $500. Glad to see Schiit has released a player that, mechanically, functions as intended.

[bumerangsydney]

1299 and they couldnt put the eject button & you need a DAC 😂😂😂😂

[harryburnett]

Schitt is usually good at pricing and products but this is pure schitt at that price

[midmodaudio]

I did not get the impression from your presentation that the CD transport you reviewed is an example of the "Future of CD Players"

[AG-]

I'm a big CD fan, been so since they started making them with concern for quality, those early years were a bit rough but still better than those ticky, poppy, scratchy vinyl things! Love how you point out that streaming services are not the end all to end all. I think, like vinyl, there will be a big resurgence in CDs once the vinyl craze in over. And it will be over. And all my CDs will be worth a fortune, just like my old vinyl was a few years ago when I got rid of it all! Hail CD!!!

[AnirudhNatekar]

Very happy with my Audiolab 6000CDT CD transport (half the price of this Schiit) connected to PS Audio Sprout amp.

[Winterfell]

On reason to get an URD is if you have other Schiit components and you want to stack it with them. There is some value in that aesthetic. So Schiit URD on bottom, Loki Max, Freya + Noval for tube rolling. Bifrost 2 on the side. Later an. Yggdrasil + maybe. All developed and made in the USA.

[christophergaus]

I love the look and form factor, but I just can't see the $1300. Maybe $700-800 with the USB features. It is cool tho, I'd get one if $800 and silver 😎

[alfredallram]

Have a look at the new TEAC CD-Transport VRDS-701T, please.

[christophedecavalla]

A SONY BDP-S6700, which plays everything, including SACD is only $250. And the draw mechanism is far smoother.