Panic! At the disc-o: Quad's retro CD transport makes me want to spend all my money on CDs

Date:
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:31:47 +0000

Description:
The Quad 3CDT is "dedicated to discs" and looks stunning

FULL STORY ======================================================================Designed
to perfectly match the Quad 3 integrated amp CD, CD-R, CD-RW and data discs with the key digital formats 599 (about $797 / 685 / AU$1,199)

If there's one thing I love more than great-sounding audio kit, it's great-sounding audio kit that also looks gorgeous. Quad's 3 series of hi-fi products fit firmly in that second category, and now there's a new retro-inspired CD transport that's just as beautiful as its siblings.

The new transport is called the Quad 3CDT, and it's designed to match the
Quad 3 integrated DAC and amp although of course you can use it with any
DAC. It has the same white, silver and orange colors of the Quad 3 and has
the same compact footprint too.

In addition to the 16-bit/44.1kHz CD format, the Quad 3CDT also works with CD-R, CD-RW and data CDs containing FLAC, WAV, WMA, MP3 and APE files. (Image credit: Quad) Quad 3CDT: key features and pricing

This is a transport, so there's no built-in DAC; keeping that hardware separate and external eliminates potential sources of distortion and noise.

As you'd expect from Quad it's a high-quality affair with precision engineering and a shielded transport mechanism. The custom-designed CD servo control has been optimized to minimise read errors, jitter and other forms of distortion, Quad tells us, and the result is a "pristine" signal for your
DAC.

The power supply is an ultra-low noise toroidal transformer with an internal power architecture that isolates critical pathways. The laser servo circuit and the motor circuit are kept apart from the decoder stage that does the digital audio processing, while a temperature-controlled crystal oscillator provides the master clock for the servo and decoder. That's powered by its
own ultra-low-noise linear regulator and grounding scheme that Quad says eliminates power supply-induced jitter and delivers a "rock-solid" timing reference.

The Quad 3CDT will be available from mid-December with a recommended price of 599 (about $797 / 685 / AU$1,199).

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/panic-at-the-disc-o-quads-retro-cd-transport-m akes-me-want-to-spend-all-my-money-on-cds


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