Cary 306 Pro opinions

I love Cary gear, obviously, but I would suggest buying a turntable for half the price of the Cary 306 Pro and spend the rest of the cash on new vinyl. It will sound MUCH better.

Considered Cary 306, Audio Aero Capitole, and Emm Labs EMM Labs CDSA SE CD/SACD.

I could have gone with the Cary 306 but at the end I just like the Emm Labs for details, clarity, and more vinyl like sound. The 306 has more slam with a better transport and sounds great but sounded a bit bright in my system. I did like the different levels of upsampling and digital inputs (AES/EBU, Coaxial, Toslink) which unfortunately EMM Labs did not have.

If purchased Cary 306 you shall enjoy the music experience for a longtime.

You should reconsider including SACD. It truly sounds spectacular with the right system/room/recording. I recently played a Mozart SACD (Midori) and must say, I was blown away (and I'm a vinyl guy).

Cerrot - the Cary 306 Pro DOES play SACD's.

I haven't heard Cary 306 Pro so I can't comment on how it sounds. I've heard good 45 RPM single sided special reissues that sound exceptional. The best sounding vinyls are probably better sounding than the best sounding digital. But on average I wouldn't say vinyls sound MUCH better than the digital. On contrary, the average sound quality from my Sony sounds better than average vinyls I've heard elsewhere. If you have a good CD collection, it pays to have a decent sounding digital player than write it off and go entirely vinyl. IMHO, YMMV.

Hi, thanks for your answers but I have more than 5000 Cds, and no vinyl. So please I will apreciate your recomendations about CD players.

FWIW, I owned the original Cary 306 player and found it to be a wonderful sounding RBCD and SACD player. I sold it because the original had an issue with the transport and I didn't want to risk mine going bad over time. I am pretty sure that Cary has eliminated that issue with the latter version of the 306 and with the 306 Pro. If that is the case, it would make an excellent addition to your setup. For me, I switched to a Marantz SA11S2 which I like almost as much as the Cary 306 (and for a lot less coin).

has anyone listened to their cary 306 sacd (i don't have the pro version) with and without the heavy top cover on. i did this the other night and the music sounded better with the cover off. i tried it a few times and things definitely sounded better cover off.

maybe a vibration issue? not sure. but would be curious if anyone else has done this or could experiment.

thanks

Vcoheda, The Cary sounds better played witout the cover??
Waht way does it sound better?
Very interesting , I will have to give it a try.

By the way, while you have the cover off replace the 2 fuses with the silver HIFI Tuning fuses.

the sound is more open - less congested.

where are the fuses? i will look into that. thanks.