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Audio Note digital

Kind of odd in that Audio Note digital gear gets rave reviews in many circles but when state of the art digital gets talked about its all reimyo, or dcs, or esoteric, etc.

For three years I have used a Modwright Sony player with tube power supply as my cd / sacd player (my main source). Last winter I had Response Audio build me a tricked out Audio Note Dac 2.1 to use with a squeezebox and thought I would give computer audio a go. The reality is that the Modwright and cds still blow the computer digital away (mostly streaming audio or ITune downloads) and find myself wondering why I have $3500+ invested in my second and less used source.

So I have been thinking:

1. do I sell the Modwright and buy an Audio Note transport or some other transport (which transport?) and do my Dac justice
2. do I stick with the Modwright and sell the Audio Note Dac and really streaming audio is fine through the squeezebox especially at low volume when I usually listen in the morning
3. sell everything and take a step up from my modwright - maybe something like the ayon cd1 or wadia

Are there Audio Note digital fans out there or is there forte set amps and hieff speakers.
ladavid
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i own an audio note cd2. it is my favorite cd player. it never offended me. i don't see anything out there that i would prefer.

note, this player is 18 or 20 bit and was current around 1992. i don't care for the current audio note gear, or much else that is in production.
drubin
3,285 posts
 
If you are using the AN just with streaming audio and iTunes downloads, then it's no wonder CD's beat it. You are comparing Redbook digital to lossy MP3. On top of that, you are probably getting a lot more jitter coming off the computer (how are you doing that, by the way?).

How does the Sony/Modwright sound going into the Audio Note -- have you tried that?
glide3
402 posts
 
IMO, I think you are going in the wrong direction if you go back to conventional cd replay.

I would contact someone like Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio, Stephen Balliet at Reflection Audio or Vincent Sanders at VRS (I'm sure there are many others) who seem to have a pretty good grip on how to do computer/server based digital properly.

After owning many very expensive digital set-ups (including AN cdt-2/Dac 3.1x balanced) I will never go back for a multitude of reasons...sonics being one.
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