EMM Labs DAC6

"I would long ago had much to say except for the fact that the Phillips crashed. It is not covered under warranty by EMM and I an not certain that Phillips knows how to repair them"

Have you seen the marathon of threads on Audio Asylum's Hi Rez Highway about the problems with the SACD 1000? Apparently someone has figured out what the problem is and how to fix it, as the SACD 1000 posts simply litter that forum to no end.

Could Meitner have possibly picked a worse transport?

I can not attest to its sonics as I have never heard it. And I will not take your last sentence as an affront to my tastes. However I would be hesitant to drop 10k on a digital playback system that has so many widely known problems.

Is it that difficult to modify another transport that is more reliable to work with the Meitner DAC? I really have no idea.

Even if the modified transport is only 3750, the dac only works with this transport, or am I mistaken about that? Therefore, if the dac is rendered useless by a flawed transport, you are effectively out 10k.

Your analogy isnt necessarily proper, because they could have used a Corolla engine in their Ferrari that gives fewer problems, with not so dissimilar results.

I can't say that for sure, I have not heard the SACD 1000. However there is not a consensus saying that the Phillips is the ultimate tranpsort for SACD.

It is good to know they are developing their own transport, and I don't know that reliablility was an issue when they chose the Phillips originally. However it does not change the fact that it was a poor choice, whether it was knowingly poor or just shitty luck.