PC-Audio vs. High-end CD Player-GAME OVER

Aplhifi-

I did A/B, many times. For example my Cosecant against an $8k Meridian G08 at a dealer. A room full of people were shocked that the Cosecant killed it, including the owner. The 808 (which is an upsampling player)was another story. You could hear a little deeper in with the 808, but didn't have the pretty sound the Cosecant has. I would have loved to see Crimson against the 808. But either way, these are $8k and $12k respectively. Worth the money after what heard? No freakin way!

NONE of my buying decisions were based on Convenience first, trust me. That is just the gravy of computer-based system like mine. I listened extensively before throwing down one penney for Cosencant. Don Better let me have it and Brick (another amazing DAC for the $$) for two full weeks, and you can bet I did my comparisons before making a final decision, each time I was shocked.

I think it would be silly for anyone to pay $3500 for a DAC if all they were shooting for was convenience. I have very nice equipment from VTL and my DAC. Wavelength is tops, and there is no sonic compromise (from an audiophile standard) with ANY of Gordon's DACs. Give one a listen first, then come talk to me.

Jc51373 - When the comparisons were made, were levels matched?

I did A/B, many times. For example my Cosecant against an $8k Meridian G08 at a dealer. A room full of people were shocked that the Cosecant killed it, including the owner. The 808 (which is an upsampling player)was another story. You could hear a little deeper in with the 808, but didn't have the pretty sound the Cosecant has. I would have loved to see Crimson against the 808. But either way, these are $8k and $12k respectively. Worth the money after what heard? No freakin way!

Even the single box dSC 8pi player at $15K outperforms the Meridian 808 Signature. Of course, the EMM Labs Signature betters the dCS. This is reported somewhere here on Audiogon - "Blind Shootout in San Diego". So that's why I asked you what your reference is. Now I know!

I have very nice equipment from VTL and my DAC. Wavelength is tops, and there is no sonic compromise (from an audiophile standard) with ANY of Gordon's DACs. Give one a listen first, then come talk to me.

Oh, I am sure!

Regards,
Alex

I think we should also take price into consideration. Now I have not had the pleasure to own or listen to Alex's NWO CD transports, and have no doubut that they are excellent.

However, many people are hearing no comparable differences between, say a Meridian 808 ($13000) vs. Wavelength Cosecant ($3500) + existing iMac (new ones can be had for around $1500). Even with external hard drives, we're talking less than $6,000 for a system that is indistinguishable (or better) than a $13,000 cdp.

Another thing to consider is that many many people simply are not able to spend over 10 grand for a CD player, but pretty much all of them have PCs or Macs - and have the option of spending a couple grand on a very good DAC + external HDD to get a performance unthinkable by spending similar amount of money on a single box CDP.

And all of this is *before* considering the enormous advantage of ease of having thousands of songs at your fingertips.

So, again, I agree that APL NWO, or other cost-no-object CDPs may still be better than the PC-audio setups, but how much difference are we really talking about here? It's not like teenagers listening to mp3's just because they are super convenient at the huge expense of audio quality. People listening to uncompressed wav or lossless files are not merely sacrificing fidelity for convenience.

Also, only audiophiles say vinyl is not dead. Look around and see how many new music (including classical and jazz) are being issued in LP format. Vinyl is not dead only in the sense that there are niche producers re-issuing classics and producing excellent LP players.

Pschoi, the NWO is not a transport; it is a stand alone universal digital player. No need for DAC or preamp.

So, again, I agree that APL NWO, or other cost-no-object CDPs may still be better than the PC-audio setups,

That's it! Thank you!

but how much difference are we really talking about here?

Here is an experiment for you when time permits;

Get a $30K+ vinyl rig with the new AirTight PC-1 cartridge, buy the Bassface Swing Trio "Plays Gershwin" on vinyl that was recorded direct-to-disc. This LP comes as a bundle with an SACD inside that was recorded direct-to-DSD. So setup the vinyl rig and ANY PC-Audio/DAC combination of your choice, then A-B the two. Let me know if the PC-Audio/DAC surpasses the vinyl rig.

Oh sorry, I forgot, you can't even play SACD on the PC-Audio/DAC combo. :-)

Regards,
Alex