I've had my Transporter for almost a couple of weeks now and thought it appropriate to summarise my experiences so far. Brickbats first:
The purchasing process was tortuous. I've been a fan of SD and their products for some time now (owning a SB1 and SB2) so I had no qualms about ordering a $2000 piece of kit unseen and placed an order with the UK Distributor (Progressive) on 8th August. A few weeks after launch there was no news of delivery so I started chasing. As Progressive seemed to be in the dark, I emailed and PM'd various people at SD and started a thread here. I received no response at all from the PMs and emails and attracted criticism on my thread for suggesting that SD might be using available stock to fulfil local US and international direct orders at the expense of international distributors. (This did seem to prove to be the case). A last plea to SD for information in late November did receive a remarkably frank (if somewhat belated) response and apology which accepted that full blame for the delays lay with SD. My Transporter arrived shortly after on 8th December, four months to the day from ordering. Thanks to Paul at Progressive for ringing me the day he received it and getting it shipped to me next day. I do know how difficult it is to launch a new product where demand outstrips the most optimistic forecasts and when suppliers struggle to keep pace (I've been there more than once), but there is little excuse for not communicating with customers nor for prioritising one group of customers over another for any reason other than date of order. Now the bouquet. The Transporter is a fantastic product. It looks great, it is very nicely manufactured and exudes a feeling of nothing but complete quality. The dual displays are wonderful and really do add to the user experience. The sound quality compared with the SB2 involves a more subtle distinction. With my amp and speaker system, I initially found it hard to distinguish between the SB2 and the Transporter (although I do have a cold, I'm using $800 speakers and a $1000 amp with a $2000 source so my system possibly doesn't do the TP justice and the speakers are still burning in). This does tend to suggest that the SB2/3 is a stunning audio bargain and that a really good system is probably needed to justify the Transporter on sonic grounds alone. Using my main system however (a WNA MK2 Class 'A' headphone amp and Sennheiser HD650 headphones, the differences are very apparent. The soundstage is bigger and more explicit with space around the different instruments and vocalists. There is more precision and detail to individual sounds (and ‘new’ sounds too) and everything sounds much 'tighter' and more integrated. I’m pleased. To summarise, I’m delighted with my Transporter and I’m only just getting to know it and its capabilities. It’s a stunning entry to the high-end market and deserves to become both a commercial success and a classic. I think that the difficulties of the launch of a new product into a new sector in a new market coinciding with the sale of the company probably overstretched and overloaded key individuals which resulted in the poor delivery and communication problems, as I am aware of and have previously benefited from SD’s excellent previous performance in this area. I seriously hope it was a one of and is not indicative of any change in the company’s approach. -- Fifer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fifer's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=639 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30747 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
