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CDP Help Rotel 1070, Sony 333 or Music Hall CD 25

I sold my Audio Analogue Puccini Amp and Rotel 971 CDP and Got a Classe CAP100 Amp and have temporarily been using my Toshiba DVD player as my CDP. I have Sonus Faber concertino speakers and a PSB subwoofer. The Audio Analogue and Rotel had a great midrange presence, warmth and image size that I miss. It did lack drive, slam, resolution and transparency that the Classe now gives. Now my vocals seem a little recessed. I like the vocals life size and at the plane of the speakers not recessed.
I can only spend about $350 and the above CDP seem available in the used market. Which do you think can do the job until one day I can get an even better CDP?
Also has anyone tried the Rotel's balanced outputs to sucess? The Classe amp has true Balanced inputs that supposedly will improve sound if I get a CDP with balanced outs. I thank you in advance for reading this and any helpful input.
Thank you very much.
gregg
beatlebum
184 posts
 
You might try the MSB Link Dac III. Use your DVD player as transport with this D/A. Available at various places in your price range.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Owning both the Sony SCD-C333ES and the Music Hall MMF-25, I can definitely say that for CD playback, the Music Hall is superior to the Sony.

Not that the Sony is bad. To the contrary, it is quite different than I expected. Instead of being harsh, shrill, thin, and constricted, it is rich, full bodied, and lush. Its bass response is perhaps the biggest surprise to me. I normally find all but very good CD players to be quite weak in the lower frequencies. Where it falls down compared to the Music Hall, is that its pace seems a bit slow, and it lacks the nth degree of resolution.

However, once you try SACD, the Sony leaps over the Music Hall, and most CD players. SACD restores to digital what I miss most from analog. The powerful low frequencies, giving the music a foundation I rarely come across in a CD player and restoring the music's flow. I find CD to often have the sense of chopping up the music. Still, I find vinyl superior to SACD at this point.

The Music Hall is an excellent player. Refined, with good detail, without ever sounding analytical, sterile, or bleached out. I find it to be the best CD in the sub $1000. Superior to the Jolida JD100. A close friend of mine owns both, and even after months of tube rolling, he still cannot get the Jolida to sound as good as the Music Hall.

That being said, another friend of ours is now of the opinion that the new Cambridge CD player, at $529 list price, with the Wolfson DAC trumps the Music Hall. I cannot really speak to this as of yet, since I have not heard it. But, I intend to soon.
gregg OP
4 posts
 
I really appreciate your observations and your time to write. I have heard in a review, that the Music Hall has a somewhat smallish Vocal image size. Seems like when I went from my Rotel 971 to my DVD player my image size for vocals went small or recessed. Could you comment on the Sony and Music halls image size, presence or placement of vocals? At plane of speaker or recessed?
Thanks
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