Not wasting my time on new Digital


Well guys, I have disappointing news:

Getting all hyped being a tech guy, tried out a new $9000 top flying Integrated CD player, with the apparently best design and parts including Anagram algorithms and ……..

I don’t know boys, this is my second disappointing experience with new digital gear.
I am not going to mention any manufactures that I have been disappointed with.
I have a very nice system to my ears to name a few products including Sonus Faber (Electa Amator mk1 to be exact) Apogee’s, Audio research and more…….

Decided to try some new sources of course and I was told all sort of things and parts and man oh man, the reviews and well to my ears other than my original Oracle turntable and my newer VPI table, my older DAC’s sound much more musical. WHY? WHY? WHY?

New technology, new ideas, new designs, new engineering and we see to be going behind rather that forward. I still like my original Theta Gen V and even my Bel Canto DAC for a fraction of the cost, even my Micromega DAC hands down.

Anyway are there any other people experience the same thing, by the way I have tried some very serious stuff and out of the pricy gear…meridian and Spectral (Spectral SDR-2000 with no upgrades and still sounds amazing) stays on top of my listing.

Appreciate any input.

Cheers - rapogee
rapogee
I have listened to a wide sample of over sampling CDPs, and DACs. None do service to the material imbedded on the CD. Even the cheapest AN or Consonance sound far more natural to me.
I think my Counterpoint Dac 10-A and Kinergetics Research transport sound every bit as good as the two $3,000 retail cd players I've owned....circa 1992, a very good year.

Dave
Sorry to hear that. I love my cd player though it's not exactly new. It's a Tube Technology Fusion CD64. It pairs the same dac as the Chord Dac 64 with a discrete tubed analog output stage. It is super analog and I love it, check either it or the Chord Blu/Dac64 combo out for amazing sound. Happy listening!
You are right, Drubin. With this particular player, some material sounds first rate, like electronic music, and piano to a lesser degree. The highs have that same edginess that all over/sampling players have. The mids are cardboardy as well. It's these two areas the likes of AN excels. I had to try the CD120. It is a cheap thrill.