Quad's retro-modern CD transport promises to play your discs with “uncompromised fidelity”

Quad has unveiled a CD transport to pair with its Quad 3 integrated amplifier, which itself launched earlier this year, in June.

The Quad 3CDT follows the same 1960s-inspired retro aesthetics as the Quad 3 integrated amp, which in turn is inspired by the revived 33 / 303 pre/power amplifier duo. It has the same 30cm compact footprint as the amp, along with a minimalist front panel with the eye-catching orange-backlit LCD display.

It's a transport rather than a CD player, meaning it focuses solely on the disc transport mechanism and data-reading elements, and leaves the digital-to-analogue conversion process to the connected amplifier's internal DAC.

The 3CDT features an optical and coaxial output apiece and can be used with any amplifier with an internal DAC, but is naturally designed to pair with the Quad 3 and its ES9038Q2M Sabre DAC.

The 3CDT is designed for “high durability, quiet operation and uncompromised fidelity”, with care taken throughout its construction to reduce the effects of vibrations and interference.

Inside the transport is a high-precision CD mechanism and custom-designed servo control, which aims to deliver “excellent disc-reading accuracy and stability”. It has been optimised to minimise any read errors, jitter and other forms of distortion, ensuring that “a pristine signal” is sent to the connected DAC.

The internal architecture is engineered to “maximise the sonic potential of every disc you play”, with critical pathways isolated from each other to ensure a clean and stable data stream, while an independently powered, ultra-precise crystal oscillator serves as the master clock and offers a “rock-solid” timing reference.

Ultimately, the Quad 3CDT aims to deliver CD performance that is “free of timing errors, delivering audibly cleaner transients, tighter imaging and greater musical coherence.”

The CD transport supports the Red Book standard for CD playback, CD-R, CD-RW and data CDs, as well as discs containing FLAC, WAV, WMA, MP3 and APE encoded files.

Quad says the 3CDT is flexible enough to play “moderately damaged or dirty CDs that are often rejected by other CD players and transports.”

It will be interesting to see if it’s one of the CD players/transports able to play the controversial Lorde transparent CD without any fuss.

The Quad 3CDT transport is available from mid-December and will cost £599 / $1099 / AU$1399.

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