In this review of the Audiolab 8000CDM CD transport, which produces only a digital signal from the digital data on a CD, the guy compares it to other transports and says:

High end Japanese designs such as the Esoteric P30 – admittedly three or four times the £850 price of the Audiolab – had a slightly more powerful bass and a whisker more detail and depth

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I stopped reading at that point :-)