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Tubed CD Player w/ solid state amp?

The more I research different CD players in the $2000-3000
range, the more confused I seem to get!(It's a big purchase, and perhaps a tough spousal sell) Over the last few weeks, I've asked a few questions relating to my search, and have gotten some good advise. Complicating matters is a lack of high-end dealers in my SE PA neck of the woods.

Some of the players that continue to draw my attention are some of the usual candidates discussed here:

GamuT cd1R
Ayre
Simaudio Nova
Metronome
Audio Aero Prima

I'm looking for a match to my Plinius amp and Totem Forests.
Some of the units I've looked into are tubed. Any advantage or disadvantage to a player with tubes,especially as it may relate to my amp etc? (I listen to a wide variety of musical styles.)

On a separate note, is a CD player's power cord as important as it appears to be on AGon?
128x128golfrok
btrvalik
61 posts
 
You really can't go wrong with any of those.. they are all top notch. The thing that some people like about tubes (myself included) is that they tend to soften digital music reducing a lot of the harshness issues people complain about (when compare to LP or SACD). It is also kind of fun to combine the new world and the old world.. You should see the look on someone face who lived with tubes in the 40's & 50's.. they think I'm nuts.. maybe they are right..
gaudio_eek
312 posts
 
At HE2003 in SF, Vincent Bruzzese (Totem owner) matched his Arros and Hawks with Plinius and Accuphase. He then used his own integrated amp and Accuphase to drive the Forests. The sound was musical and inviting. Everyone who visited the room was impressed.
I've never owned Accuphase but heard that it is on the warm side of neutral. This makes sense because Totem can be bright if not matched well with a source component.
You seem to have made the right choice with two components. Now you need to pick the warmer source component of the ones you listed.
Based on this, I would do away with the Nova. The rest is a close match depending on whether you want XLR or RCA connections and lastly, your choice of interconnects.
Important to remember though that Totems are very unforgiving of poor upstream components because they are highly revealing speakers.
a_e_watkins
106 posts
 
Golfrok

All the above mentioned players are excellent choices. However, I might add one more for consideration, that being the Cary 303/200. I just recently took delivery of this unit and have been very impressed.

Whatever your choice, good listening.

Regards,

AEW
gabbro
88 posts
 
I have been using a Cary 308-T cdp with a ss MF amp. No complaints, although I think the tubed output on the cdp gives it a slight mid-bass bloat (but warming up the sound a bit was my goal, afterall). As a side bonus, it recieved high WAF after a listening session with one of her favorite disks (an unremastered 70's recording that I had previously proclaimed unlistenable). That was quite a relief, because I had faced severe criticism due to the cost.
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