Primare DD15 CD Transport

One job, and the power supply to do it

The Primare DD15 is a CD transport rather than a CD player: it reads the disc and outputs a digital signal, leaving conversion to whatever DAC you already own. The drive is a Philips CDM-M10 slot loader, chosen for low resonance, and it runs from a custom linear power supply. There are no analogue outputs at all, so it cannot connect directly to an amplifier's line input.

Why You'll Love It

• The supply is switched, not shared. A custom linear supply runs the transport, and the switch mode standby supply is shut off during playback so it contributes nothing to the noise floor.
• A drive built for the job. The Philips CDM-M10 slot mechanism was developed for transport applications, so it is inherently low resonance and does not need a heavy isolation platform to behave.
• Your converter, your choice. Feeding an external DAC means you can upgrade the conversion later without replacing the disc mechanism, which usually outlives everything else.

Under the Hood

• Philips CDM-M10 slot loading drive with surface mount construction and short signal paths on double sided multilayer boards.
• Coaxial RCA and optical digital outputs, with no converter and no analogue output stage in the chassis.
• Custom linear power supply for playback, with a separate switch mode standby supply that is switched off when the transport is in use.

CHT Insider Verdict

This only makes sense if you already have a converter you rate, because on its own it makes no sound at all. Where it earns its place is in a system built around a good DAC or a streaming preamplifier with a spare digital input, and there it is a genuinely well built disc source. If you want one box that plays CDs into an amplifier, the CD15 Prisma is what you actually want.

Pro Tip: Use the coaxial output rather than optical if your converter offers both. Optical is galvanically isolated, which is occasionally useful, but coaxial carries better timing accuracy on most implementations and that is what a transport is judged on.