Audiolab 6000CDT CD Transport (Black)

OK, full disclosure time; I have a "proper" hifi system - turntable, pre amplifier, mono-blocks (that's one power amp for each speaker!), even a 78-speed turntable to play my shellac disks. My CD replay then had a disaster, my old Arcam transport finally gave up the ghost and I could only survive so long using a Marantz CD player as a transport only, pushing the signal into my Arcam DAC. After spending a host of time looking around at transports with prices from £300 up to £5,000, I ended up going for the Audiolab. I would have gone to listen to it before buying, but the only real way to assess a component would be to take my of my system with me and its just not worth the time, risk or effort. A day or so later, it arrived - quality packaging by Amazon - thanks. Remember this is a precision instrument, so having it dropped and bashed is not going to help things at all. It all fired up, a couple of cable connections and I was off. Wow! An immediate improvement over the Marantz and over the coming hours of playing things tightened up as the machine settled in. I have yet to try the digital feed, but the signs are that I will stick to the coaxial feed. The only slight niggle - the remote. It is cheap and plasticy - poles apart from the device itself. Many of the buttons don't appear to do anything. Would it really kill Audiolab to spend £20 on a suitable sleek remote to reflect the quality of the transport itself? OK, you generally only press "play" and listen to an entire CD, but still; it does gripe. That sound quality though - that is what I was looking for, and the CDT delivers in spades.

Excellent quality and good value for money

Bought on the recommendations of others, to replace an Audiolab 8000CDM, which had retired itself after 25 years of faithful service. For reference, my system is all Audiolab; 2x8000P, 8000Q pre-amp, 8000DAC. Paired with probably the finest DAC and pre-amp ever made, the 6000CDT sounds incredibly good. The only connection common to both is optical (one coax is analogue, the other digital), but, with a good-quality optical cable, nothing is lost. It sounds even better than my 8000CDM. The control and transparency are a revelation. I have even been able to dispense with my air table. There are obviously better transports on the market, but, for the price, the 6000CDT would be difficult to beat. Thoroughly recommended.

Having run several decent systems over the years there have been two constants. The lions share of the budget is normally attributed to the source component and generally when matching components you sometimes have to be careful and also keep within a general bracket of performance. The Audiolab 6000CDT blows this theory apart. It’s the front end in an 8-10k system and is superb! An absolute steal for the money. Articulate sounding, transparent and a big jump up in performance from a more expensive CD player ironically. Great to see a stand alone transport back and this proves theory behind isolating components. Audiolab have exceeded themselves here and possibly made their best product to date. I started off with an Audiolab system 21 years ago. They we’re a good starting point this however will happily sit in a high end system with ease. Absolutely Superb!

The Unit was very well packed and sealed from Audiolab, which was just as good as Amazon Delivery wasn't. It came in an oversize Amazon Box, loosely packed and the delivery man didn't realise there was an UP arrow as it was delivered on its side! However unboxing, installing it on my Naim based system and letting it run on disc repeat for 3 days has shown it is bulletproof. It plays my CD's and recorded CD's well and sound quality is beyond reproach, especially at the price. I suspect you will have to spend an awful lot more to better it. I play it through a Naim V2 DAC using a good Quality Atlas Hyper DD Digital cable connected to the DAC. A Fabulous machine, buy with confidence. 5 Stars

Seen all the good reviews for this transport so decided to order one to replace my 15yr old roksan caspian cd player. Build wise its just a plain black box heavy and built like a tank. I connected it to my Hegel H190 amplifier and popped a cd in I had been work all day so only intended to make sure everything was working OK anyway 2 cds later, it's a fabulous player worth every penny puts the roksan to shame, If your after a good transport to replace your old cd player you won't be dissapointed with the audiolab cdt 6000 highly recommended.

Have an oppo 203 used as transport Into a very high end DAC (>3k) Wanted to try better source as i found playing CD sounds better than streaming This arrived Christmas eve unexpectedly- but very nice surprise Plugged into system- straight out if box massive improvement Wife said it “sounds right” And i agree - timing is impeccable, instrument tonality credible, Dynamics have a sense of flow and life This is the bargain of my system If you’re considering a transport- just get this and you’re done

I have just received the Audiolab 6000CDT and the improvement in dynamics and presentation was immediately noticeable. But after only 4 hours of play I am returning the unit. Every CD there was a click and half a second pause. This occured 2 or 3 times per CD. It was definitley NOT the result of scratches of damaged CDs, that sounds totally different. I am returning the unit to Amazon (Sevenoaks HiFi) tomorrow and back to listening to my Marantz 6006 via Chord Mojo Dac. Definitly the Audiolab sounds much much better but can't handle the clicks and pauses. I'm going to stick with a CD transport because the results are immediately noticeable. Rather interesting though that the box did not contain batteries for the remote. Update: The CD transport was returned over two weeks ago and apparently 'lost' in transport by Hermes or 'misplaced' by Sevenoaks HiFi. Following a complaint to Amazon I am going to get my refund after 4 phone calls.

Présentation superbe et valorisante. Je I ai acheté pour pouvoir relire ma collection de CD, associée à mon Micromega M-100. Alors qu’il n’est pas encore rodé, le gain de musicalité me saute aux oreilles : présence, précision, rapidité, transparence, profondeur et largeur de scène. Un vrai régal. Si le gain de précision est marquant, les premières notes sont encore quelque peu pointues, mais je ne doute pas qu’après quelques heures de rodage, davantage de rondeur apparaîtra. Quelle musicalité d’ores et déjà. A adopter sans doute permis.