Audio Research Ref: CD8

To say that I had to pry their jaws off of the carpet is an understatement.

How many times have I heard "jaw dropping" hype like this before? ARC churns out upgrades as fast as anybody.

AFAIK CD-8 uses the same DAC chip as CD-5.

This is like having an entirely new CD collection. Now I'm thinking ... Do I dare sell this player and get the CD-8? I'm kind of thinking, if, as my contact at ARC says, the modded CD-7 gets you 25% of the way to the CD-8, and I get the CD-8, will I ever leave the house again? Will I sell all of my thousands of records, dump the turntable and phono-stage ... and just be done with the whole vinyl thing?

Save me! I'm lost!
Oregonpapa

To me, CD8 is one of the best sounding one-box digital players, remarkably better than already very good CD7. I used to write my views for CD8 under this forum topic. I also wrote as "it reduced the gap between my analog and digital sources, it is that good." But I would not sell my analog equipment and my records for CD8. My analog source is still my reference in terms of getting maximum satistaction. In terms of soundstage, seperation of instruments, inner texture and timbre, air and definition of high frequencies, a good analog is still superior, but it is nice to hear newcomer digital sources are closing the gap.

CD8 is a CD7 with different chip and a fixed Power Supply. As ARC does not use the opition of upsampling this chipsets offer all you hear is a Brand difference when convertion occurs. I don't belive in great superiory.

Although it is still too early to have a definitive opinion - my CD8 has only around 250 hours continuous playing time with same breaks - it is now very different sounding from the CD7. The sound balance is different, the CD8 bass has better definition and resolution. During the last days the CD8 has become somewhat bright, sibilants seem enhanced. I hope that after burn in the tonal balance becomes fuller again!