An SACD question

I have an Ayon CD5S and it's an amazing CDP and Pre and DAC all built into one and it's got an excellent tube output stage.

That said, I still find my EMM Labs XDS1 does a better job with both RBCD and SACDs partnered with an Audio Research Reference 5SE tube preamp.

I buy SACDs whenever I can.. often blind, from cdjapan.co.jp

The SHM SACDs are pricey but I am generally well pleased with the quality.

Thanks Mr. T. for turning this thread into a, ( tubes are always better than solid state thread ). Personally I've weaved my way away from tubes and all there sonic issues.

Mrtennis, I had the original Zanden and liked it, but long ago I moved on. I don't remember why I sold it. My favorite dac right now is the Exemplar Crystal chip dac, which uses tubes.

All that I can say from my experiences is that sacd played in dsd from a hard drive is far superior to that played off the optical disc in any player, I have heard.

I've found the reverse to be true. My Carpenters SACD sounded better on my XDS1 than on a Playback MPD3

But that might be subject to change now I've gotten an MPS5 which can use the same DAC for disc and computer..

hi tbg:

do you recall the "sound" of the original zanden??

if so, why do you prefer the exemplar ??

i have heard some of the earlier exemplar dacs. i would agree that they are high quality components, but as a matter of taste, i don't recall hearing a "classic" tube sound.

i think some of the early wavelength dacs are worthy competition for exemplar.

with regard to bringing up the "old" issue of tubes vs solid state, i thought that the context of the sonic superiority of sacd over pcm, could be overcome by a properly selected tubed dac with a nos tube.