Yeah, mine played everything without issue. I've got a couple of fairly scuffed up discs that I've salvaged out of used bins over the years and it handled them no problem. It would be nice to think Audiolab are somehow made aware of these random loading issues, and any future designs might include a re-think about the benefits of the humble tray loader.
Yep, they match what I was getting, a line of scuff marks ...... just a bummer. Here's Mulder checking for scratches after retrieving a CD from his 6000CDT ......
FYI, they're working on a new X-files but can't decide on a soft or a hard re-boot. I wish they'd talk to me, I know exactly what they should do.
I have a small form factor tray load Luxman CD player that has scratched more discs than any player I’ve owned. Shallow tray with an enthusiastic mechanism. Disc slides and then gets stuck as the drawer closes. Ain’t no such thing as perfect. My Audiolab has given me the most trouble free playback of any player I’ve owned…including my Line Magnetic’s and Rega’s. I also had a disc get stuck in a drawer load Cambridge…wouldn’t open. Sent it to Plurison for service and never got the disc back.
It's hard to actually get putting it in wrong in terms of doing it at the wrong angle, so it's foolproof in that sense, sure. Unfortunately, that works against the notion that it might be user error causing the scratching issues, because it's hard to feed it in wrong, so it's the machine doing it in these instances. Although when it tries to take the disc and you haven't quite put it in far enough, that friction certainly causes marks. But perfectly normal, correct load-ins did too. It's unfortunate, but hopefully Audiolab are keeping an eye on this sort of thread, even if they aren't acknowledging the scale of the issues to customers that contact them.
Audiolab is part of IAG. Pretty sure they look primarily at sales, not threads like these. Last I saw, these transports are selling like hotcakes. We’ll see.
It is a CD transport, it just reads what is on the CD disc. CD players and transports do not introduce any extra gaps unless they are written to the CD. If the CD disc is gapless, then it plays gapless.
Draws are a pain for failures. Worst I had were Teac VRDS. Have two in a cupboard but can't find time to open them up and attempt a fix. Places that can service these things are thin on the ground. Also note the CXC has gone up in price and is almost double I paid 5 years ago. Everyone is jacking prices up with a UK badge on it even if Chinese made.
Just in case it helps anyone, I recently had a demo of this player, with the A6000 amp at the same time as the Arcam CDS50, with the SA10. All were played in the same room with Monitor Audio Silver 200 speakers and the same selection of music was played on each. These included Suzanne Vega, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Dogs D’amour, Springsteen, Leonard Cohen - a track from each, all of which I’m fairly familiar with. I thought the sounds from the Audiolab was very good, amazing clarity and separation of instruments but lacking something, perhaps just slightly thin and a little abrasive at high levels (the sales chap set the level VERY loud initially and I didn’t enjoy it at those kind of levels, which is odd because I usually have to turn the music down at home!) One of the CDs (Born to Run) was scratched by the Audiolab, a set an of light scratches a little over a cm wide running from the centre to the edge of the disc were clearly evident as well as some very light scratches all across that side of the disc. This was the only one that had this problem but for me that’s put it out of the running. If it’s of interest I tried the Arcam next and was greatly impressed by the sound, it had the same detail, if not more but had a fuller sound, more body and more enjoyable to listen to. The salesman ran to get one of his favourite discs (Aerosmith) for a quick blast and we were both really enjoying this setup. (His initial advice had been to get the Audiolab rather than the Arcam but he changed his mind after the demo). Now obviously this isn’t totally fair because I changed both the amp and CD player - it could well be that the Audiolab CD player with the Arcam amp would be just as good or better than the Arcam CD player, it’s also £300 cheaper… but did I mention, my cd got scratched? I’m going to see if I can get a demo of the Roksan Attessa and the new Marantz CD 60 before making a final choice.
My same experience. I'm not using mine now as I replaced it with a PS Audio DMP, but it never scratched any of my discs.
The front panel of the 6000CDT is injection molded. If not carefully dressed before anodizing, it will have "flashing" in the slot. I wonder if that's what all of this finally comes down to. A little flashing in the slot (or a mechanism screwed on a smidge too low) and you'll get scratches for sure. If anyone has a unit that scratches discs, I would love to see close-up photos of the slot.
Sent my Audiolab 6000cdt in to the Audiolab repair place here in the USA as my unit is scratching discs, this is what the technician found: The technician’s notes: “Customer states: Unit is scratching disks. Repair: Immediately apparent that the CD mechanism is faulty, not properly tightened to handle insertion properly. Replacing CD mechanism from working SS unit.” Well, I got the unit back and it is still scratching discs, will contact them again and probably send it back in.
Might be worth having a look at these two as well............ CD Box RS2 T – Pro-Ject Audio Systems https://www.jays-audio.com/cdt3-mk3
They look very interesting but sadly a little more expensive, the first looks to be about £2k and the second £5k. The ones I’m looking at are between £400-£750. I’m just awaiting more news on the Marantz model but not much has come out so far. Thanks for your suggestions.
It's quite apparent that the disk scratching issue even if not universal makes the 6000CDT a risky purchase.
Quoting myself to say, after reading through the whole thread I've decided to avoid this product. It's such a shame that so many people have experienced damage to their CD's. Hopefully I can find a nice spinner that looks as good as the Audiolab and doesn't have this problem.
Let us know what you get. I'm one of the owners of an Audiolab that scratches discs, its going back to be repaired for the second time. I've looked around extensively for alternatives, the two on the top of my list at this price point are a used Oppo or a new Cambridge cxc. The Oppo is still in the running but I have read where someone keeps theirs for sacd and blueray use but uses a cxc for Redbook cd use as the cxc sounds better. I'd like to try the cxc, don't care for the limited remote tho. I've heard that the cxc has a lighter brighter sound than the Audiolab, that's a red flag for me. I went ahead and bought a Jay's Audio cdt2 mk3 for 4 times the cost of the Audiolab, it was the nearest in cost that I found that was at least as good as the Audiolab in my estimation, I value good bass, a warm or at least balanced tone, and no brightness. I prefer a warm sound and many cds need that to sound good to me. Owners of the Jays say that it needs an extensive break in period and they are right! Mine took 30 days of almost constant play, 500+ hours to open up the sound stage and not sound thin and cool. It now sounds great, best resolution and detail that I have heard, a neutral tonal balance without loss of bass, the best Soundstage I have heard and a delicate presentation. I have spent some time comparing the Audiolab to the Jay's and also comparing a Belles Aria integrated to a Rogue Sphynx integrated, trying out all 4 combinations. The Jay's bests the Audiolab in all areas, by quite a bit, except the Audiolab has a rolled off treble which works better with some cds. The Jay's has much more resolution and detail but not by being bright, sounds more refined, the Jays has a more neutral tonal balance, the Audiolab sounds dark, dull, and looses a lot of information in comparison. Of the four combinations some cds/songs/recordings sound best on each of them.
Continued from my previous post, There is a 30 minute edit limit. The Audiolab rolled of the treble, I did like that on certain recordings, but it came at the expense of lost resolution, I'm now considering getting an equalizer, maybe a Schiit Lokius to provide some treble roll off when wanted. I should mention my dac is a Denafrips Ares II, I'm hoping to get a Pontus II. Now to listen to the Aria and Sphynx with the Jay's... And enjoy the music
Ha........I found that out too........the hard way. Solution.........If you think you might be about to write a longish post just type it and save it as a text doc first. Then simply copy and paste at leisure.
