2. digital
  3. 1056211416

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
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! :-)
rec OP
328 posts
 
I thought I would update, I found an Audio Aero and had an extended listening sessions with the Capitole. I found it a wonderful warm sounding cd player but it just wasn't 4K better than my Cary 306/200. The dealer also carried the dCS line and had a complete dCS digital system including the new Verdi transport. No question about it, the best digital I have ever heard. I have decided to save some money and buy dCS used gear, probably one piece at a time as I couldn't afford a complete system at once. Thanks for all the input.
socrates
247 posts
 
Have you checked out the Esoteric stuff that has been getting a lot of overwhelmingly postive ink in Stereopile? It is supposedly among the best on redbook and SACD from the latest buzz, with the stillborn DVDA format thrown in for good measure, all at 1/2 to 1/5 the cost of the dCS setup, depending if you go one or two box....
More to discover