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Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Hi

I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
while.

My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.

I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
something that would compare with the rest of the system.

I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
$1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.

I would appreciate advice.

Pete.

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Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 10/19/04 7:39 PM, in article cl48jg0dpe@news1.newsguy.com, "Pete"
<mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
> I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
> while.
>
> My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
> amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>
> I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
> system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
> something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>
> I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
> $1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
> difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.

CAN$800-1200 should be able to get you a really good CD player new. A high
end dealer should be able to let you take one home and listen to it in your
system for a few days to a week to see how it sounds - your system is pretty
revealing - so the better players will be rewarding for your system, I
think.

Some ideas:

Musical Fidelity X-Ray V3 [this is the one I would lean towards as a stand
alone player as it sounds very nice and smooth as well as being able to play
complex passages without munging it up]
Arcam 73 [this could be a good match for the NAD]
NAD 542 [this one is US$500 and will have a similar tonal balance to your
old CD player though it will sound more detailed and includes HDCD decoding
- should be able to fit seamlessly in your system without changing your
systems basic character]
Music Hall CD25 [this one is about US$500 and punches way above its weight -
I *think* the guts are like the Shanling sans tubes and really popular
amongst the modders, includes HDCD]
Eastern Electric Minimax CD Player (tubed) [Jolida makes a competitor that
is popular, though I think this one is a better tube output implementation
and again I *think* HDCD. I like tubes run way backed off - and a change in
tubes may be able to alter the character of any player from clean and
transparent to "tubey" and warm]
Ah! Njoe Tjoeb (tubed) is about US$700 and you can buy little circuit mods
for it and replace tubes.

If you don't mind using an external DAC:

Benchmark DAC1 [this is the DAC I would lean towards, and in fact if you
were willing to buy it at US$975 would give you possibly the best sound -
you would have to use your CD as a transport and take the SPDIF output - and
it can even be used as a preamp if all you were interested in is CD
playing!]

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi
>
>I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>while.
>
>My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>
>I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>
>I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>$1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>
>I would appreciate advice.

No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
art CD replay for a very reasonable price.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

"Pete" <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cl48jg0dpe@news1.newsguy.com...
> Hi
>
> I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for
a
> while.
>
> My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
> amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>
> I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
> system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
> something that would compare with the rest of the system.

Don't do it--unless you need some feature not present on the 512.
There will be no improvement in sound quality. My player is
considerably older than yours, and I can't find a decent excuse to
replace it!

Norm Strong

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 10/20/04 7:32 PM, in article cl6sip02lq5@news2.newsguy.com, "Stewart
Pinkerton" <patent3@dircon.co.uk> wrote:

> On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>> while.
>>
>> My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>> amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>>
>> I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>> system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>> something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>>
>> I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>> $1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>> difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>>
>> I would appreciate advice.
>
> No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
> output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
> art CD replay for a very reasonable price.

They raised the price - it is now US$975. I concur, though, you can get
nearly as good as it gets right now for that. The nearest equivalent would
be Mark Levinson's CD player at nearly US$6000.

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:
> On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi
>>
>>I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>>while.
>>
>>My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>>amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>>
>>I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>>system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>>something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>>
>>I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>>$1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>>difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>>
>>I would appreciate advice.
>
>
> No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
> output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
> art CD replay for a very reasonable price.

a "well crafted digital output"? In terms of performance or build quality?

So all S/PDIF and TOSLINK outputs are not created equal?

Reply to Anonymous

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

B&D wrote:
> On 10/20/04 7:32 PM, in article cl6sip02lq5@news2.newsguy.com, "Stewart
> Pinkerton" <patent3@dircon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>>> while.
>>>
>>> My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>>> amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>>>
>>> I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>>> system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>>> something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>>>
>>> I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>>> $1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>>> difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>>>
>>> I would appreciate advice.
>>
>> No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
>> output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
>> art CD replay for a very reasonable price.
>
> They raised the price - it is now US$975. I concur, though, you can get
> nearly as good as it gets right now for that. The nearest equivalent would
> be Mark Levinson's CD player at nearly US$6000.

How do you come to the conclusion that the nearest equivalent is the $6K
M-L CD player? Did you make measurements to compare the outputs? Did
you listen to both and conclude that they sound the same, while other
players sound different? Or did you just read the reviews/brochures?

Reply to chung

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Tat Chan <le_king_num_7@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:cl79vp030m7@news1.newsguy.com:

> Stewart Pinkerton wrote:
>> On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>>>while.
>>>
>>>My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>>>amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>>>
>>>I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>>>system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>>>something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>>>
>>>I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>>>$1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>>>difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>>>
>>>I would appreciate advice.
>>
>>
>> No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
>> output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
>> art CD replay for a very reasonable price.
>
> a "well crafted digital output"? In terms of performance or build
> quality?
>
> So all S/PDIF and TOSLINK outputs are not created equal?

I've got another question - what's wrong with the 512's analog output that
compels you to throw another $900 gadget into the system? Wouldn't it be
'well crafted' too?

-js

Reply to Jim

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 21 Oct 2004 23:46:08 GMT, Jim <jdstrickler@comcast.net> wrote:

>Tat Chan <le_king_num_7@hotmail.com> wrote in
>news:cl79vp030m7@news1.newsguy.com:
>
>> Stewart Pinkerton wrote:
>>> On 19 Oct 2004 23:39:28 GMT, Pete <mukhp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hi
>>>>
>>>>I am new to the group for posting, although I have been lurking for a
>>>>while.
>>>>
>>>>My current system consists of B&W 603 S3 speakers, a NAD C370
>>>>amplifier and a NAD 512 CD Player.
>>>>
>>>>I want to upgrade the CD player as it is the oldest part of the
>>>>system. I am looking for advice in replacing this player with
>>>>something that would compare with the rest of the system.
>>>>
>>>>I am in Vancouver, Canada. I was looking at spending between $800 and
>>>>$1200 Canadian. I have listened to a few players, but it is so
>>>>difficult, as the speakers and ampifier are never the same in stores.
>>>>
>>>>I would appreciate advice.
>>>
>>>
>>> No-brainer, since the 512 happens to have a well-crafted digital
>>> output. Add a Benchmark DAC-1 at USD $895, and you have state of the
>>> art CD replay for a very reasonable price.
>>
>> a "well crafted digital output"? In terms of performance or build
>> quality?

Both. It has a 'proper' 75 ohm output impedance, and is built with
good wideband parts.

>> So all S/PDIF and TOSLINK outputs are not created equal?

Absolutely not, in practice!

>I've got another question - what's wrong with the 512's analog output that
>compels you to throw another $900 gadget into the system? Wouldn't it be
>'well crafted' too?

There may well be nothing audiby wrong with the analogue output of the
512. If however he gets a Benchmark DAC-1 on a 'sale or return' basis,
as any good dealer should offer, it's pretty easy to set up a
level-matched DBT to prove the point. It will remain the case that the
DAC-1 is in 2004 something of a technical benchmark, so to speak.....
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

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