TEAC's new CD deck promises a "pristine" signal – just don't look at the price

TEAC has launched a reassuringly expensive CD transport as part of its acclaimed Reference 500 series.

The TEAC PD-507T features a high-quality CD mechanism and extensive isolation, and like other transports it doesn't have its own digital analogue converter (DAC). The brand helpfully recommends its own UD-507 DAC, although of course you can use whatever alternative you like.

The PD-507T is purely for audio CDs – supporting CD-R and CD-RW, but not SACD.

The key word here is "uncompromising". Its focus is on delivering the purest possible signal to your DAC, and while the PD-507T isn't quite as expensive as TEAC's highest-end CD players, it's still a significant investment. But if you have a premium Hi-Fi system, it's likely to be a worthwhile one given the brand's pedigree.

TEAC PD-507T CD transport: key features and pricing

With a choice of black or silver finishes, the PD-507T is designed to blend with the other Reference 500 series hardware, and it's a fuss-free design with an amber-coloured OLED below the disc tray.

The core of the PD-507T is TEAC's own proprietary transport mechanism, which is based on the long-standing CD-5020A that's used in broadcast applications due to its reliability. TEAC says it's fine-tuned the transport with custom parts and newly designed circuitry to deliver a more refined sound than previous transports deliver.

There are two digital outputs – one coaxial and one optical. And TEAC has given each one its own power supply, enabling the PD-507T to turn off the unused output to ensure the purity of the signal being sent to the output that's in use. You can also add an external 10MHz master clock generator to improve the sound quality further.

The TEAC PD-570T has a recommended retail price of £1,299 / $1,699.99 / €1,299 (about AU$2,659) and will be available in the fourth quarter of 2025.