2. digital
  3. 1034359984

transport/dac combo beats any one-box player...

yah, I know I'm askin' for it here- but I don't care! It's Friday afternoon, Thanksgiving is almost here, and it's pretty much deadsville at the office, so here we go:

I'm inviting comments on the title of the thread. I recently sold my AA Capitole- initally enraptured by the midrange, later realized all musical information was not being retrieved (confirmed by Audiophile friends whom I respect when tested in their system as well), and bass lacking. Also- don't even get me started on how disappointing the Gamut CD-1 was- talk about NO BASS!!!! Ironically, the best one-box player I've owned I now wish I hadn't sold- The Sim Audio Eclipse- phenomenal detail retrieval and air, and best bass I have ever heard from a one-box, but I sold it due to the 'upsampling' craze going on, and the fact that the Cap could drive my modded Altec 'battleship' (165wpc in triode using only a pair of 811 output tubes) tube monoblocks direct. Also, was able to get rid of a DCS Purcell upsampler at the same time- and the mids on the Cap did seem more alluring at the time, as well as being able to move from three boxes (Eclipse; Purcell; and an ARC preamp) down to one.

SO- after selling EVERYTHING off, I am looking to ramp up in digital again (considered analog- but have no records, and don't have space for a TT). Just picked up a cool old transport- Esoteric P1- get this- tested this transport in to the digital 'in' on the Capitole, and the result KILLED the Capitole running full range- WAYYYY better PRAT. So I am now convinced- a transport/dac combo IS the best way to go. Believe it or not, I heard another transport/dac combo last weekend that was great- Vecteur transport and Audiomat Tempo dac- DAMN they were good- in fact, we did a blind a/b test b/w that combo and a Nottingham TT analog setup using the SAME record/disc- the latest Tom Waits offering. We cued both up and simply switched back and forth b/w inputs on the integrated amp, and wow- the digital combo was very close to the analog- yes, the record had a bit more air and slightly more dynamics, but after hearing how close the trans/dac combo was, I am now rejuvenated, after almost giving up on digital. The build quality on the French transport and Audiomat dac was impressive to say the least, and it translated to the sound as well- and the Dac is SS, which surprised me as well.

I am extremely interested in how the Audio Note Dacs sound- apparently they are incredible and everyone I have spoken to says the new 3.1x balanced version is the way to go- THIS will probably be the next acquisition, followed by, or in tandem with, a GNS (Steve Huntley) superclock/cap/power supply upgrade to the Esoteric P1 transport that he feels puts it in the league of, or above, CEC.

So- that's it- unless someone convinces me otherwise, for under $10k total cost, transport/dac combos are the way to go over one-box players. Bring on the comments...
sutts
tok20000's avatar
tok20000
608 posts
 
I am kinda up in the air on the issue of CDP vs. separates. My theory is... the CD is 16bit sabples at 44khz or so. There is a limit to how good it can sound. Only so many actual data points that can be pulled from it, upsampling, oversampling, or a future method of sampling. People are always saying that the best digital sounds so analogue like. My theory is if you want analogue, get a nice turntable that will blow the socks off any redbook CD digital known. Especially in the area of great analogue sound.

The problem with CDs is they have their limits in the sound that can be pulled off them, and I THINK WE ARE RAPIDLY APPROACHING THOSE LIMITS. Are new genearations of CDP's/DAC's really sounding staggeringly better than the generation before them??? There may be some differences, but the differences seem to be dimminishing every year we progress in technology.

Sad to say (because I think Sony is a money grubbing company), SACD is probably the digital of the future, if only because Sony has so much influence and is as persistant as Microsoft in dominating competition. Heck Sony, only this year STOPPED making BETAMAX VCR's. This fact in itself I find truly amazing. Sony still supports the minidisk in the US; however,I have heard the minidisk is big in Europe and Asia.

SACD gives us A LOT more data to work with than a redbook CD does. It is inevitable that SACD will sound better than CDs. I see SACD's becoming more available by the day. the whole Rolling Stone repitoire of albums was recently released on SACD. Sony and other companies are just going to crank out SACD Players that are backwardly compatible with redbook CDs. Pretty soon you will not be able to be able to buy a strickly Redbook CD Player on the mass market. I give it maybe 5 years, SACD players will be very prevalent.

What about DVDa? Many companies will make their players also compatible with DVDa; however, DVDa has some serious disadvantages against SACD. No really large companies are supporting DVDa like Sony is supporting SACD. This is sort of like the competition Windows operating system faces with Linux. Microsoft dominates the home operating system market because there really is no one company that is supporting Linux like Microsoft supports Windows.

Well time for bed.

Oh btw I have a Cary 306/200 CDP. It is better than any DAC/transport I have ever tried. At the moment I do not have enogh shelving for a DAC/transport combo.

KF
khaki8
206 posts
 
I've never really liked listening to CD's and spent most of my time listening to my MR 71 tuner and vinyl. I got the Audio Note 3.1 balanced. I love listening to CD's now. Very open sound and no digital GLARE.
natalie
404 posts
 
Rcrump Nice to see you around. Your Assylum cord is a giant killer. Thanks Its made a huge difference in my system and has left money in my pockets to buy more Music.

Spend less on gear more on music.

If your not DIY inclined. go to

www.diycable.com

No more a decent human than Kevin. Who builds these to high Spec and at great price's.
rcrump
427 posts
 
Thanks Natalie....That old cord is a great place to start and likely better than 80% of the current commerical cords out there....Funny how not many in this thread are talking about comparisons with good analog, the real test of a CD system.....Am I the only one to still use analog as a reference? Guess I'm getting old! The CD system I mentioned above is awfully close to my Rockport/Blowtorch analog....The Audio Note might be better than the Cruncher as have a friend who has spent a bit of time with each albeit in different systems, but pricing is awfully high for the Audio Note at almost 20K I thought.....Heard from a reviewer the other day and they were going on about the Ayre CDP....I sure would rather than everything in one box for a change, but think the DVD player was about 8K or so, more than I will pay for a digital system that has resale of maybe 30% of retail in a few years....
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Hi Bob, nice to see you here. In answer to your observation, the Forsell/Purcell/Audio Logic is the one digital combo I've been able to listen to in the same session as my turntable. That was the acid test for me. Even without the Purcell that was true as well. I imagine Audio Note owners feel the same way.
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