Abbingdon music research AMR cd-77 is how good?

I own the AMR CDP-77.1. It is an outstanding player. My points of comparison were the Wadia CD-302, which was a Wadia entry player at 4500 USD, but considered the more organic of the Wadia players because it had a more holistic presentation without the extreme detail of the higher end Wadia players. That said, it is all about system synergy. The Wadia players are excellent, but that do not sound organic. Organic in this definition means that harmonic signiture of triodes that in the very best set ups imparts both tone and drive.

I have talked to other owners of the AMR CD-77 and they consider the CDP-77.1 a mind boggling upgrade in sonics.

I also had a 2400 USD Musical Fidelity TriVista DAC, which at the time in my system was more organic than the Wadia, but had underlying noise and lack of resolution. The AMR has so much internal power conditioning to stabilize it that the differenced between this and these two sources made me want to get a second one.

Around the same time I invested in about 5 k of Furman Flagship Power Conditioning and this completely changed my system. It took the lesser sources that had noise or grain and eliminated them.

The AMR CDP 77.1 is an outstanding component and is my Reference source. The discussion between Analog vs. Digital really comes down to getting the most out of a medium and presenting a restoration through tubes that imparts a recreation near to life and believabe for that very reason.

Is it over priced? Well I have heard Esoteric players and they sounded harsh to me...but, they were also playing though Musical Fidelity KW equipment and that stuff sounded nail driving to me. Again, all this equipment could sound amazing in other set ups. That part is about system synergy.

If you are looking at the AMR, it is because you are fascinated. If you are buying it, it is because you have made a decision to afford it and it should be combined with only the very best equipment to deliver what it can do.

One last thing. I have played with the various five settings for long periods of times depending on moods, but have come full circle to the Manufacturer's "Digital II" setting as the most natural and organic and best of them all in my system. That said, given system differences, the other processing options may be of assistance and are nice to know they are there if one makes changes.

No. I do not work for the Manufacturer or a dealer. I am simply a hobbiest. Good Luck to you and those of you that find this thread. The player is recommended for those, who choose to afford it. I cannot speak to its comparison to other Hi End players out there...other than to say...this is not for those on a budget. That said, I think you can do "well" also by spending a lot less money. Will it be equivalent? I doubt it. The main thing is that you slow down smell the roses and enjoy the music...whatever audio path you choose! Cheers!!!

the sound of the amr is capacitor and tube dependent. i almost bought one and asked for the mundorf cap and some soft sounding tubes. it was a couple of years ago, and at that time the price was around $8000 +. i think it should be compared to the 20 bit lector (about $4000), the first two chassis player, audio research cd7, zanden combo and perhaps some other tube units.

i decided against buying the amr because i felt and continue to feel that spending more than $5000 for a digital front end is intrinsically a foolish purchase.

Vze739en,
This is exactly how I feel about my AMR DP-777. I use it with a PS Audio PerfectWave transport. The DP-777 is supposed to be very close to the CD-77 but since I have not heard the latter I cannot vouch for that. The DP-777 is about $5000. What I can say is that, in my system, the DP-777 dwarfs Berkeley Alpha (series 1) and EMM CDSA SE -- by a country mile.

Mrtennis, indeed. There are arguments to support your perspective. However, remember it is not intrinsically foolish except for you because that is your opinion and perspective. To each his own.

Sabai. Indeed. The DP-777 is very well thought of...is the AMR-CD-77.1 better. I do not personally know. The problem I have encountered with some DACs on occasion is the interface and the digital interconnect from transport to DAC causing degredation to the digital signal that is sonically apparent. That said, I would assume AMR did their part to handle the incoming signal for the DP-777, especially knowing that their product end goal was indeed to produce an outstanding DAC.

I am sure that you have an excellent unit and I would consider this something to keep presumably for a long period of time. These pieces are unique in their engineering approach and resultant sonics.

Back to MrTennis, Yes. Capacitors and tubes do affect sound. My discussion with tube rollers on the AMR CDP-771 is that they after endless tube rolling came full circle back to the stock NOS tubes that are reasonably available.

In fact everything effects the sound of everything...so one can go on forever. The CD-77.1 may indeed be able to be tweaked even further with Mundorf Capacitors, but the basic unit is now so good as to make this sort of thing in my book not desirable.

Also, MrTennis makes the logical point of comparing this unit to others in its price class. There are many units in that price class to compare and many opinions. In the end, I did not have the luxury or time to do that comparison.

Like many, who buy at this price point I referred to the insight of a few trusted audiophile friends with "golden ears" and went on their advice. I am not telling anyone else what to do. The units MrTennis mentions are well regarded. I discussed them with people that knew such units and there were many reasons at the time such units were ruled out.

I have been told that SACD sounds better than the AMR CDP-77.1. I haven not performed the comparison. SACD is considered to be superior and I am glad it is still being put out by recording engineers. Yes. There is not the same abundance of Redbook (Regular) CDs, but SACD is something that I do think about possibly expanding into one day, but that is a conversation for another time. The person who told me this was listening to a friends Wadia SACD player on an entirely different set up..I do not think they did an A/B comparison...a business Wadia has quietly discontinued.

That said, there are other manufacturers of SACD players. McIntosh has quite a following for their MCD-500 and now their MCD-1100.

And, of course there are many factors that go into a re-mastered SACD. All of this is subjective, but that could be an alternative to explore with currently less material on that medium.

I do believe that musical sound that is emotionally engulfing/involving can be had for under 5k (for the digital source only part) if you know what to get...but, I will also submit that none of that will sound good IMHO without credible power conditioning...running around 5k USD MSRP again IMHO. And, this assumes you have made serious investments in the preamplification, amplification, and speaker portion of your system.

The above statement is based on my own personal experience, measurements and money spent. It is extremely important to stabilise both the Voltage and have available Current for a system to reach a sonic state of "liquidity" and resolve by also lowering the Noise Floor. The definition of liquidity here is a sonic state, where the music seems to emerge from a sort of "blackness" in an "effortless" (often said to be like flowing water) and dynamically & tonally balanced character that smacks of true to life (I call this "spooky real") as well as evocative of finding oneself mesmerized by the ending and beginning of the next note (Harmonic reintroduction to reconstitute content through an engineering artform...like a great Chef, imparting the essences of hidden flavors that emerge as the meal goes on)... ...the elusive holy grail...of hi-end...

Again, this and these statements are merely MHO. So, I am not one to submit absolutes or declare I have the best, rather I would say, "AMR equipment is truely reference class and if you have excellent preamplification and ampplification clarity with resolving and musical speakers as a base, then you can attain a shocking level of musical involvement and pleasure from listening to music as an end in itself.

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I want to mention one important experience. DO NOT FALL FOR THE PURCHASE OF THE BENDIX 6900 (trumpeted as a substitute tube for the output stage, even stated in the manual--I disagree in light of my own experiences). I NEARLY LOST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON PAIRS THAT WERE NOTHING BUT TRASH. I WAS DEALING WITH A TUBE CON. I had my purchase independently tested on the Amplitrex 1000 tube tester and not only were the tubes measured as "used up," but several had measured leakage currents that would damage my system.

The tube dealer that I worked with to determine the condition of my purchase, will not sell Bendix 6900s becuase he has not seen any in years that are not used up, pulls, etc.. or defective. There are approxmately two dealers who sell these. WARNING. DO NOT BUY. It is your money.

I was very excited and was taken in by a skilled con. Learn from my experience and DO NOT BUY THE BENDIX 6900...ever.

The Bendix 6900 is a military hardened 5687 equivalent tube (already a military tube itself with strong emmissions). It has a mythology surrounding it...It is made with "Nomex" Glass that is hard and thick and heavy...something like a borosilicate glass for the temperature stress of rapid temperature changes experienced by ICBMs ascending or descending the upper atmospher and mechanical hardening for its actual application as pulsed radar tube in missle guidance systems. So, now what?

Well there is good news. The 5687 tube (used in the AMR CDP-77.1 as a standard) is used in the driver stage. The AMR provided JAN Philips 5687 is abundant and absolutely excellent. It is a hardy and excellent driver for a standard minature tube "[that it resembles a 6SN7 (bigger bottle) tube on steroids]" by the accounts of one Principal Engineer designer that uses this tube in their very own equipment as a driver tube for his Parallel Single Ended Triode (PSET) monoblocks.

Good luck everybody... I did not plan to come back to this thread, but saw more stuff written and thought I would respond...and also share this last piece of information.

These are just my opinions and perspectives...I am not telling anyone what to do...we are all adults (or aspiring to be ~ : )) and I trust can make decisions on how we want to shape our system. In fact shaping the system is a huge part of the fun of this often rather expensive hobby.

Cheers!!!

Vze739en,
your comments are well taken.. I would like your view of my other pieces: Herron Vtsp 1A and Mccormack DNA-1 (silver upgrade).. I am thinking the AMR (source) is superior to the others; however, I am hoping not so much as to reduce the ability to hear the incredible sound of the AMR...