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No longer sitting on the fence

I have been uanble to make up my mind about SACD. I have listened to the top Sony models and found them impressive but have decided to stay with Redbook. I have over 5K cds in my collection and I think this is the better choice for me. I currently own a Cary 306/200 player that is excellent but I am willing to pay more for that small improvement. I can't afford the dCS equipment and have been looking at the Audio Aero top model. I've looked at previous posts and for the most part they are positive. My biggest concerns are built quality, dependability and customer support. There seems to be an issue about a number of gray market units out there that the company won't support and I'm not real clear on the Mark 11 version with different chips. Any help would be appreciated.
rec
buscis2's avatar
buscis2
468 posts
 
Rec, check this out. Written by another analog snob who now owns Audiomeca and actually prefers it over his analog rig.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/enkianthus_e.html
gaudio_eek
312 posts
 
You may want to also consider going the route of EmmLabs DAC6 with a modifed transport by Ed Meiner. This seems to be the latest rage amongst some "connoisseur" AudiogoN members. One A'goNer sold his Linn CD12 in favor of this set-up. I don't know the price though and how well this would match with your budget. However, with 5,000 redbook CDs, it's worth it to check out every option you can lay your hands on.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue4/meitnerdac.htm
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/firstlook/meitner.asp
Good luck.
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I would not trade my Audio Aero for anything out there. I bought mine used here on Audiogon and I love it. It has several digital inputs so I use it for my main Cd player, I use the coax for my DVD player(two channel) and I use the toslink for my Yamaha CD player for when I want to play multiple CDs without having to get up to change.
rec OP
328 posts
 
Thank you everyone for your input. I am going to look at all the recommndations. Good listening to all...Robert
golden_ears
224 posts
 
From what I've heard, all of the Capitoles that came out this year are excellent, and very reliable. I called the distributor and asked them about this stuff.
Regarding the players from last year, and all of the chip replacments, there were a few that had weird software problems and playback issues. From what I've heard, Audio Aero replaced the whole board on those players. The majority of the chip "problems" were software/display related, accessing track skipping and minor stuff like that, but they always played; it's not like the owners didn't have music. The newest players don't have those problems; they've worked the "bugs" out.
When I think about reliability, I think more in terms of "does it break down and not play?", not in terms of it showing every display option known to man. (that I don't care about anyway)
But hey, I've been a turntable guy for many years too, so a little aggravation, lack of display features and manual operation doesn't scare me! :-)
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