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Top of the line old technology VS Newer technology

Hello everyone , the purpose of this thread is to have your general opinion regarding what you would consider better regarding updating a digital front end.

As a background history, let me start by telling you all that I am Mexican and live in Mexico, I do have the means to go to USA like 2 or 3 times a year and could easily get my hands on used or new equipment, what I don´t have is too much money to spend on Hi-Fi these days, for one the Dollar vs Pesos currency is much higher than 2 or 3 years ago, I had 2 twin boys in 2005 as well and had to move to biigger house . So that resumes that I am a Family man trying to get the best for them, but once in a while I need to indulge myself on this hobby...

So this is my question......

I own "top of the line" technology of 1990´s , regarding digital front end:

-Goldmund Mimesis 12 DAC
-PS Audio Lambda Transport
-Madrigal Audio Labs MDC-1 Pro AES/EBU Coaxial Cable

This set up draw me back about $7,000 USD around 1995, I purchased all new, full retail price.

Since then , I have had a few CD Players as a secondary line up or back up, that I later sold them amongst them:

-California Audio Labs Aria MK III
-Rega Planet 2000
-Metronome CDV1

And to be honest NONE could match my current set up of Separate Transport and DAC.

So I stopped trying for a while to replace the Goldmund/PS Audio for a few years...

But along came new technology such HDCD, SACD, DVD -A, 24-bit 128 times oversampling, and all that kHz configurations.

So I am tempted again to try a new CD Player (Not ready for a Music Server) so my concern here is what dou you think is a better option these days

1-Stay with my "old school-top of the line" but obsolete technology in a separate configuration such as the DAC and Transport.

or

2-Trying a "modest" newer Cd Player with perhaps 20, 24 Bits 128 Oversampling o HDCD, that even could be used on the $2,000 or less range.
Such as:

Burmester Rondo 992
Gamut CD1-R
CEC TL51XR

In other words:

What do you think is better , Newer technology even if it is not a separate DAC/Transport, and even if its not "top of the line" or stick with my current set up of "top of the line" DAC/Transport of the 1990´s???

Any Comments?
kapa11
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
The 'best' for you is what sounds best, as J said. Forget the 'new/old' thing. However, to me 'old' is tubes, I always lean that way, no matter what the vintage. Yes, I am still stuck in the analogue era, which to me always sounds much better then digital. Will blu-ray audio change this? Maybe. I am waiting for Miles/Blue to be released this year. Never forgotten is that the source is analogue, so maybe the can never be improved on.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
Leaving aside the mega expensive dCS,Meridian 808, and Zanden type ones I belong to the school that the older ones were better. The Zanden is in fact built with old technology. Many newer ones are built with parts that were designed for other purposes and measure well but lack sound quality. This topic has been covered in HIFICRITIC, they take no ads so have no need to praise the latest things. I use Meridian transports and an Audio Synthesis DAX from the early 90s. The big companies lost what interest they had in CD years ago and so the usual trickle down benefits of new technology has not occurred, they have been devoting their efforts to products that have never become successful, like the various DVD audio formats. IF you want to try a contemporary player get a V-DAC from Audio Advisor for $299 [refundable if you don't like it] It is amazing and even better with an upgraded power supply. I would experiment with a new digital cable, I think there has been progress there. Currently I am using a Transparent Reference [$1700 new] with my $299 V-DAC and $200 Little Pinkie PS. I am getting new caps in my DAX to see if it improves the performance.
mlauner
250 posts
 
Goldmund equipment is top quality and you would have to spend more than 2k to better it today. imo.
lostbears's avatar
lostbears
538 posts
 


That is hard to say. I still have an old California Audio Labs Delta and Sigma II that I bought in the early 1990s. some years ago I replace the Delta transport with a Theta Jade and that made a big difference. Eventually the Jade stopped working and I started looking for a replacement. I auditioned quite a few players as I used my old Delta again. Finally I bought an Audio Research CD7 which I have been very happy with. Recently I heard an old California Audio Labs Tempest II SE that had been modded. I owned one of these in the late 1980s. It was in a lot of ways similar to my CD7. I have found that both the transport and DAC can make a big difference in the sound and that new is not always better. Though in general transports mechanisms in both the "top of the line" players and stand alone transports have improved quite a bit in the last few years.

Do you have many SACDs or DVD audios? I did not so I chose to go with a dedicated CD player. Thanks to Microsoft HDCD is pretty much dead. SACD and DVD Audio never really caught on. The number of SACDs available is very limited.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,587 posts
 
I would check out players/dacs with a significant new technology, Minimum Phase or apodising filters. Meridian, Ayre, PS Audio and a few others have players/dacs out with this technology.

These filters eliminate or reduce the pre-ringing or pre-echo that is an artifact of the cd recording process. Pre-ringing is the reverse of echo, you have echoes of sounds before the sound itself.

Pre-ringing is measured in microseconds, so you don't actually hear echoes, but to my ears sound quality is greatly improved when they are removed. If you are trying to avoid harshness, glare or listener fatigue you would be especially interested in this technology.
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