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Anyone compared Droplet to the Raysonic CD168?

Once owned a Droplet and am looking for something with similar positive attributes, plus a little more in terms of better stage definition, etc.
denf
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 
To the author of this thread.
If you liked Droplet and want a better soundstage and imaging try Rew Wine Audo Isabellina NOS, non-upsamling DAC with good quality transport. It is amazing. Vinnie Rossi of RWA visited my home last week to present his new Isabella preamp with Isabellina DAC build in. I thought that Droplet was good for the money......but Isabellina took it to another level. It is pricey at 2K as the stand alone product (it runs on batteries and has usb to be use with Mac or PC) but it must be heard to fully grasp what it does. On the cheap, you can use your PC or Wadia iTransporter as a transport. Vinnie used his Mac for better half of the evening and it sounded great. (RWA offers 30days money back guarantee).

Good luck
Mariusz
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Wow, the Ray 128 uses a Sony transport too. Imagine. But then I've never heard anything that was both edgy and veiled. Including the Ray 128.
newbee
4,798 posts
 
Dopogue, FWIW, you will note that the very affluent Mrjstark is probably nothing more than a (too) proud owner of a Droplet.

Re the Sony transport, it was interesting to note (in this forum) a distributor of a Chinese CDP complaining about the Sony Transport which I assume was used in a Consonance CDP as he was their distributor. I also noted a complete absence of context in Mrjstark's summary of the Raysonic CDP's. I don't pay much attention to this type of product denegration.

BTW, thanks for the recommendation. If I come accross some I'll give them a try. I'm presently using old EI 6DJ8's in my 128 and find them very neutral and clear. Poor mans version of NOS Tele's.
trelja
3,226 posts
 
Mariusz, thank you for chiming in here with your thoughts. While I also have enough experience to comment on the sonic merits of the Droplet versus the Raysonic players, I feel it appropriate for me to stay out of that discussion.

Just one correction, the Droplet 5.0 used to use a Sony transport, and has switched to the long discontinued Philips. The Philips is FAR more reliable than the Sony, which is prone to failure at quite an alarming rate. Luckily Consonance was able to corner a special lot of the Philips transports a while back, and reserves them for exclusive use in the Droplet - all other Consonance players, including the mini Droplet 3.1, use the Sony transport.

Hopefully, the one you recently purchased has the Philips, as there were some other improvements implemented at the time.

DISCLAIMER: I am the importer/distributor for all Opera Audio/Consonance components in the USA and Canada
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 
I was refering to new 228 4K Raysonic.
And when high resolution frequencies have exccesive brightness and coloration, gritty or harsh sounding if you will - veiled by defenition is smearing and or hazzing (not dull or dark). So when I said veiled, I meant that the acctual information or "detaile" is lost or inaccurat due to coloration.
Enjoy your Raysonic
with Sony transport and planty of " detail".
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