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Audio Research CD6 vs CD9 original and SE versions

I recently had an ARC CD6 in for a demo.  The system is:

Intel NUC --> MSB Analog (USB) --> Krell FBI --> Thiel CS2.7

With the ARC installed it went straight to the Krell.

What I heard was a fabulous top to midbass.  Where it did not sound right was in the bass.  For lack of a better term the bass sound was "rounded".  I tried a few different cables with varying degrees of success however I could not live with the bass.

My question is does anyone have experience with side-by-side listening of the CD6 vs CD9 and or the SE versions?  If so what differences did you hear?  I listen to mostly classical on this system and having poor bass drum, tympani, and double bass performance won't cut it.
solobone22
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 


To me if both well implemented, it comes down to the type of conversion used, Delta Sigma or R2R Ladder 

The AR 9 uses PCM1792 dac chips which are Delta Sigma, not my favourite, my fav being the R2R ladder dacs PCM1702 and the even better last made PCM1704.

The AR6 I can’t find what dac chips it uses, I looked but there is hundreds to look through, Search "Audio Reseach CD6’ and look for dac chip, dac’s, or D/A converter. If you find it let me know, as it "seems" to be a bit of a secrete.

Cheers George
solobone22 OP
82 posts
 
From another post:

"The Ref CD-8 used Burr Brown PCM 1792 chips configured in stereo mode. By contrast, the CD-6 and Ref CD-9 use the BB PCM 1792A, but configured in quad mono mode."

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/arc-ref-cd-8-compared-to-cd-6-and-or-ref-cd-9

Does this - in your experience - lead to issues with low frequency issues?
solobone22 OP
82 posts
 
@georgehifi ^^
jond's avatar
jond
5,752 posts
 
Just curious if you're just wanting to play CD’s why don’t you run a transport into your MSB Dac? Or do you not like the sound of the MSB?
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