Discontinued Classé and Current-Model Simaudio stuff

To Doug Schneider,

I’ve read your response to my question on SoundStage! Hi-Fi. Thank you so much for the information given.

Unfortunately, the Classé CDP-202 has already been discontinued by the manufacturer, so I have no choice but to buy another player. You mention Simaudio’s Moon Evolution 650D DAC/transport. I've visited their website, and they've launched a new product: the Moon 750D. What can you say about the Moon 750D or the Moon Andromeda? How is the Moon 750D DAC/transport different from the Moon Andromeda CD player? What is the difference between a DAC/transport and a CD player?

Thanks again,
Eman

I was kind of surprised when you told me that the CDP-202 was discontinued, so I looked at www.ClasseAudio.com and found that the CDP-202 is still there. However, I contacted the folks at Classé who told me that the CDP-202 has been discontinued in North America, but it’s still available for a time in other countries. Depending on how hard you want to look, and how much you want to potentially pay for shipping, that’s an option.

As for the Sim stuff, the 650D is actually newer than the 750D, and both are newer than the Andromeda. The Andromeda was their old top-of-the-line player, a distinction that the 750D now holds. I never heard the Andromeda, but I used to have their SuperNova, which was one step down at the time (but is discontinued now), and thought it was pretty much a state-of-the-art player. If the Andromeda was better than that, then wow! The 650D is subtly better than the SuperNova, but I’ve never heard the 750D so I can’t compare the two with any credibility.

As for the difference between a CD player and a DAC/transport, I can sum it up in two words: not much. CD players are on the way out, DACs are coming in, so I think the marketers are well aware that calling something a DAC/transport has an easier chance in the market than calling it a CD player. To Simaudio’s credit, the 650D and 750D have more digital inputs than most CD players, which is the sort of thing you expect in a DAC. . . . Doug Schneider