Has anybody heard the new Nagra CD Player?

Good question Kamil....I have not heard the Crimson, yet....It is just beginning to trickle out there to people now. There is a guy, Splaskin I believe who has one, loves it. I have heard the Nagra though, and I have heard more than one of the Wavelength pieces, and without making a direct a/b comparison I would say the Crimson would sound much better. The reason I say this is because the pieces I have owned Brick and Cosecant, sounded better to me. Especially Cosecant. But beauty is in the ear of the beholder. : )

The price of a Crimson is $7500, plus $1100 (Maximum) for a PC, preferably a MAC. I say a MAC because I fiddled with a Windows PC first and once I went to the MAC the difference was night and day. Mac's have MUCH better control over thier drivers in sound better. So you are still at a considerably lower priced then the Nagra, with a convenience factor that you can't put a number on. And a new MAC computer to toy with as well!

Alex,

There are many reasons why #3 did not sound as good but I’d rather not discuss them here.

Unfortunately, that leaves us information-seekers in the cold.

If the reason is because of less-than-adequate implementation of the test, then the results of the test are dubious (and personally, I do not understand how the audio signal in #2 gets to listeners' ears and therefore do not understand the "NOT the S/PDIF" bit). If the reason for the problem with #3 is indeed structural and cannot be addressed using known technology, then surely given your prior comments in the thread, you can say that. If you'd rather not discuss it here because you have reached technological epiphany and wish to patent it and license it to the audiophile world for a gazillion bajillion dollars before discussing (and if this is the case, more power to you), then you probably should have said nothing in the first place.

I personally have not done the tests. I would very much like to participate in such a test. I have no reason to believe that with competing 'cost-is-no-object' implementations that one or the other will provide an obviously better solution TODAY, though I admit to tending to the idea that a high quality implementation of data transfer through transistors and software-embedded chips will in the near future, if not now, likely get a result of Quality Level X with less expense than a transport physically spinning a reflective disc. That said, I am completely open to being convinced of the opposite. While I have no reason to disbelieve someone of your obvious expertise and passion in the digital domain, I am perplexed by the thrust of your commentary, and the fact we are left hanging after such a detailed buildup.

Because I use NAGRA PL-P and NAGRA VPA, I am interested in NAGRA's new player.

If a CD player is what you want, then this player is it. Nicest I have seen or heard, although I think the Rega players are the best value for the $$, and they sound incredible...The Nagra stuff is totally overpriced. I say that or course because I can't afford it, and also because I think there are much better values out there.

If you want a CD player, and have the scratch to pay for it, by all means this player should be on your short list. The transport is insane. I would be willing to bet $$ though that the Crimson sounds better in spades.