Cary 306 SACD Professional

Have had the new Cary 306 SACD Professional Version player in the system for a couple weeks now. It has several hundred hours break-in, allowing the sound to fully develop.

The new 306 Pro improves on the 306-SACD in several ways. The player has better playback of the low level sound on the disc. Instruments and singers convey more timbre and harmonic detail. The best words I have is that the music seems to have more energy imparted to each and every sound in the soundfield. Ambience is enhanced, the soundstage is very dimensional. With well recorded discs (Reference Recordings HDCDs) the reflections from the rear walls of the venue are easily discerned.

Bass is tighter, high frequencies are very smooth and extended. This player is all music, foot tapping and ear-ear grins.

SACD playback still sounds better to my ears than CD. The high frequencies are smoother yet, more liquid and natural. Ambient cues in the soundstage are more realistic. This player improves SACD playback in every way over the earlier version.

Disc access time is about 9 seconds for CD or SACD from pushing the close button until the player is ready to start playing.

The player has been flawless in performance. Even after continuous play for two or more days, the case remains lukewarm to the touch.
Enjoy the music.

Oldvinyl thanks for the feedback. I have the older Cary CD306 (maybe we should dub it the "amateur" version since the new one is "professional") :)

My biggest irritation with this otherwise fine player is the drawer mechanism and transport. The drawer keeps on getting stuck on disk eject and needs a bit of manual help. Since I performed the Cary sanctioned upgrade, transport problems have largely gone away but the player still turns itself off if I give it too many commands via the remote (e.g. press "skip" 5 times in a row). Any such issues with the new player?

No problems with the drawer. I must admit, it would not have occurred to me to press the skip or any other button numerous times. That's just not my listening style. I usually put on a disc on listen to either a couple tracks or the whole disc.

Does the 306 pro's drawer eject completely out?? Or like 306 sacd with a little part left inside? I think the design of 306's drawer causes some little trouble when inserting or taking out a cd.

Has anyone compared the Cary 306 Prof with any of the following - Marantz SA-7, EMM Labs CDSA, Esoteric X-03, Ayre C-5XE, Audio Aero Prestige, Symphonic Line CD Ref? These are all multi-format (accept the last one) players of similar price points.

Also, reading the above seems to indicate Cary have quality problems - is this the case?