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To upgrade cd player?? The slippery slope?

Hi, I got sucked in to this audio game quite by mistake while looking through the public library for info on setting up a car stereo. Sidetracked by "Good Sound" by Dearborn?.
Bought some components over E-bay, and had a pre-amp given to me, and my music listening is changed dramatically. I think the real culpret is the Magnum-dynalab ft-11 tuner. Whereas I used to listen mostly to tapes and a few cd's, now its all about the radio. My limited taste in music has been stretched. I'm listening to a jazz, blues, classical, rock-- virtually anything played on the 3 good non-comercial stations in my area. Even the musical interludes on "All Things Considered" on NPR is fun for the ears, wheras it used to just make me mad and impatient. I've had the system about a year, and I've started to collect a few more cds.

But to get to the point.

This is a budjet system to be sure, and some will want me to upgrade in more directions, but I'd like my cd's to sound at least as good as the radio, and that is not the case. At least, not as engaging and fun. To spend $800 on a Jolida jd100 (for instance) would be more than twice what I have invested in my costliest component.

So here is the list:

pre= dyna pas 3
amp= carver tfm-6cb (65w@8ohms, 100w@4ohms)
speakers= spica tc-50
tuner= magnum-dynalab ft-11
**cdp= onkyo integra dx-7500 (1989, 18-bit, 8xsample)
**tape= nakamichi cr2a
interconnects= kimber pbj w/radio-shack gold plate term.
sp cables= kimber 4tcx5'

** components left over from previous system

So ??? buy the Jolida? Or a used dac? Or live with what I have? Or other sugestions?

Thanks, Aloha

Miser lee
windsup03a8
miser_lee
7 posts
 
Hi all.

Just an update on how all the advice was utilized.

Digital: I ended up with the Audio Note dac kit 1.1, used, and keeping the Onkyo as the transport. Result? Much better. I can say it acclomplished my stated goal of bringing the digital up to speed with the tuner- and then some, maybe.(Though the Jolida player may have given similar results, I'll probably never know)

Amp: repaired on of the Dynaco st-70s, and that was another huge improvement.

Cables: Added some 12-guage twisted power cords (improvement) and tried some diy interconnects (so far the kimber pbj remains on top).

A few tweaky tweaks: The music just keeps getting better.

Cheers.
dandreescu
12 posts
 
I'll try the Philips 963SA. Has excellent cd sound with upsample, multichannel SACD and top DVD performance for just $360. Look for reviews at Head-fi, Audio-asylum, as are plenty of folks beliveing its the best deal in digital now.
steuspeed's avatar
steuspeed
501 posts
 
Great move on the Audio Note Dac! How would you discribe the improvement over the Onkyo DA?

I am sure the Dynaco is a big change from the Carver.

It's pretty tough to beat Kimber pbj for budget cables. I finally moved mine out for some TMC Yellow's on my pre-amp to Amp. They are made out of a copper tube, so they essentially need to be bent into shape. They gave me a blacker back ground so more detail can be heard everywhere. Bass weight and ease was also improved.
miser_lee
7 posts
 
Steu,

One of the first things I noticed with the AN-dac was a mental time warp. The music seemed to be slowed down, ( though of course it wasn't, same transport). The feeling I got was that my mind was slowing down to pick up on the additional music.

With the AN-dac, I can listen to cd's as long as I please, but with the Onkyo's da, 2 or 3 songs was enough.

I just tried the Onkyo's da again, and it sounds like it should sound good, but doesn't, if that makes sense.
Accuracy?, timing? The difference is huge but strangely subliminal at the same time.
sstark
63 posts
 
Your ears are telling you but you're not listening. The stupendous Magnum tuner and the uncompressed public radio stations mean you've heard the magic of analog. You need a cheap used turntable and a trip to your local Goodwiil store for the best sounding and least expensive media --75 cent LP's-classical, rock, blues, folk....
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