no excitement from my Cambridge 840 cd

I had a similar experience years ago. I had a Sony 707ES. It was getting old, I kept reading reviews about the latest digital leapfrogging last months best. I took the Sony into a shop that was selling the latest $1400 Rotel that got rave review in Stereophile. I asked to do an AB with my Sony, the salesman said I shouldn't even bother, theres's no competition. I said I'd like to try, so he hooked it up for me. He was right, the Sony annihilated the Rotel. To get comparable sound to the Sony, we had to go to a $5000 EAD.

I didn't like the six month old 840 I tried out myself. No disrespect to Cambridge Audio in general, I think they are an innovative business.

This thread is a perfect example of how people perceive sound differently.

Hey guys - everyone here is enormously helpful. I'm leaning towards a few other tryouts with power cords and i/c's.
But it seems if things don't change in a few weeks .....well, any one like to try a pristine cam 840 in black ?
............adios, dan

Hi all

I guess I can't resist commenting on this thread. I tend to be more of a lurker on this forum but I have owned 840C for 2 years now and bought a BDP-83 that I then had upgraded to the SE version.

What can I say. For me the 840C has been a STUNNING performer. In my system. (VAC Avatar Integrated amp and Dali Mentor 6 speakers.)

When I first got mine it too needed to break in. I had my dealer break it in for 2 weeks for me. He let me listen to the 740 and the 840. The 740 did nothing for me. but the 840 seem to combine the musicality of players like my Rega but with a much clearer window into the sound.

Still it took a month or 2 more playing time for the sound to stabilize and I then knew what all the hype was about.

Now system integration is everything. The cables made a big difference. I heard it with Analysis Plus oval 9's, Van Den Hul D102, Shunyata Aries and what else I had hanging around here. The Aries sounded great and brought the player to life but were too expensive. The analysis plus just held too much back and I loved that cable up until then. In my search for something better I found the D102. You can pick them up pretty cheap on ebay and it is a great cable for this player as it really opens up the sound.

This was the player that finally got me to listen to CD's as an alternative to vinyl. Up until then I always preferred vinyl.

Anyway, my player displays NO Digitatis. I know what that sounds like. Before I heard this play It seemed to me that you could get rid of the digitatis but at the price of transparency.

Now I will be the first to admit that this is not the MOST dynamic player. It is good. And using the balanced outs does make a sigificant difference. I bought some cardas rca to xlr adpators and was surprise by that difference.

One thing I need to say is that what I have found as you get a better player is the noise goes away. It is a noise that I didn't notice till it was gone. At first I thought I lost all the detail til I realized it is all there but what I thought was the venue it was recorded in was this noise.

So this player in my system is musically detailed, the texture of the instruments comes through, with a wide deep soundstage and imaging that is natural and solid. And the emotion of the player and singers, the real reason I love hi-fi, is clearly heard.

When I first got this player I thought it was on the bright side. Now it is clearly anything but bright. And my mentors are not rolled off speakers, though some of it maybe compensated for by the amp. But the Avatar is know to be a bright tube amp.

Compared to the OPPO, see my comments in the "has anyone heard the OPPO 83SE" thread but basically I like the OPPO alot and it maybe a shade more dynamic than the 840 but when comes to sounding like real people making music, no contest. I listen to my 840c for all cd's. On DVD's (sent to the 840 dac vs OPPO analog out) it is a toss up. If the Dvd lets it be sent out the digital at full resolution (24/96) the 840 will usually sound better. And with SACD's the OPPO SE sounds better on hybrid's than the cd side on the 840.

I am listening the cowboy junkies live album right now. I wish the OP could come hear it in my system. It sounds natural, dynamic (well as dynamic as Margo gets) and natural. and emotion? On a less quality player or system Margo sounds like cardboard. Not here.