advice for cd player

[lallapai]

I need advice to substitue my Linn Genki with another cd player (or DAC+transport) that match better with other components of my system: Leben CS600; Harbeth C7ES3. There is also: Rega P3-RB 300; Nagaoka MP 200; Graham Slee Gram Amp SE; cables: Linn; Audience Conductor and Conductor E.
I like tube sound.
In particular I listen to chamber music and jazz.
Many thanks.

[DrewTurner]

I use the Ayre c5xe mp.Wonderful player.I'm very interested in Leben.I are you happy with the way it drives your 7's?How would you characterize it's sound?I listen to Jazz and Classical.I use Audience au24e cables throughout my system as well as the Audience ar6 "T" power conditioner.Fantastic to my ears.Speakers are P3ESR'S.Thanks

[lallapai]

Thank you for the advice about cd player.
Leben CS600 matches very well with my 7's, not only for jazz and chamber music. It sounds smooth and clear. With cd player I use pre-in mode.
I've got Atacama SL 500 stands filled with Atacama filler for the speakers.

[macraddy]

Ah the Genki - Lovely machine! I had an Ikemi for years and loved it. I'd advise looking at the 'sources for your Harbeths' forum, there's much more advice there. Congratulations on what I understand to be a terrific amplifier too!

[AdamW]

I need advice to substitue my Linn Genki with another cd player (or DAC+transport) that match better with other components of my system: Leben CS600; Harbeth C7ES3. There is also: Rega P3-RB 300; Nagaoka MP 200; Graham Slee Gram Amp SE; cables: Linn; Audience Conductor and Conductor E.
I like tube sound.
In particular I listen to chamber music and jazz.
Many thanks.

Hi,
If you live in Italy and like valve sound, you simply must try the Docet Lector CDP 7.
Regards,
Adam

[hifi_dave]

You have Rega so take a look at the Rega Saturn, a terrific player at a very good price and the Rega Isis, the tube version. This is, without doubt, the best CD player I have heard at any cost. If that one breaks the budget, the EAR Acute is a stunning tube based player at a lower price. All work exceptionally well with the Harbeth range and Leben.

[T.W.]

You may also wanna look at Lyngdorf CD-1. I owe it and I think it's almost perfect. Sorry - no tubes but digital output :-)

http://www.lyngdorf.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=135

T.W.

[kittykat]

Hi lallapai

1. i'd forget about buying based on brand. it will have nothing to do with the sound you want
2. suggest if possible to bring your linn with you down to the shop
3.The law of diminishing returns apply strongly in cd players, like amplifiers. If you can, compare the most expensive one in the shop and a usd 1000 player. There might not be much difference at all.
4. do some desk research and look for cd players with the latest current chipsets and shortlist them and compare these against the genki. There has been a bit of technological advancement since (in chipset and application) but whether it can be heard is another thing.
5. the tubey sound you want is mostly tweaked in, very popular with chinese players. so listening will only help you discover what you like.

[garmtz]

Stream your music using a Linn Majik DS, it's better than CD-players costing several times more!

[denjo]

+1 for the streamed music option! Don't forget that not having a CDP is an option. Instead, stream your music from a wireless device!

[Lee Henley]

Another option to streaming is to have a mini mac plugged direct into a DAC, the mini mac can be picked up very cheap second hand nowadays, also very good if you have an ipod touch as this acts as a remote to operate itunes and allows you to see the songs on the mac. Finally if the rest of the hifi is in the same room as flat panel HD TV then the mac can be plugged into this and act as a monitor

This will probably be my next purchase after a set of new speakers (Harbeth I hope), a mini mac and a decent DAC. I already have an imac but this is upstairs, my internet signal is very weak, Ive tried streaming before and it kept buffering and cutting out, I sold the airport express in the end.

BTW, quite a few people are selling high end cd systems and using the mini mac route

Hope this helps

Lee

[tinears02]

+1 for the streamed music option! Don't forget that not having a CDP is an option. Instead, stream your music from a wireless device!

May I suggest a digital player with totally no moving parts, as the link below ?
It does require an external DAC though, and some work to rip
your cds to the SD card. Google for more info on what other diy
folks are up to with it.

http://www.qlshifi.com/en/wzcapi/qa550.htm

cheers.
std disclaimer : no connection with the said company above,....

[tto123]

WD TV Live might be a viable option.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=735

[audio39]

Look at the Luxman CD players...the new player with the tube output looks very interesting.

There's an obvious synergy seeing that the owner and designer of Leben is a former Lux guy.

[EricW]

If the budget permits, I like the option of an Apple MacBook Pro laptop with flash memory instead of a hard drive, and a good external DAC. Not cheap, true, but then it also can be used to do a lot more than just play CDs.

The Mac SSDs have reached 256gb in size; that may be big enough enough for you. If it isn't, it's a fairly safe bet that they'll be up to 512gb reasonably soon, perhaps before the end of this year.

If you encode in a lossless or uncompressed format, and use a good quality DAC, the sound quality available is at least that of a high-end CD player, in my opinion, with much greater convenience. Streaming wirelessly is an option, but not a necessity - you can also just plug the laptop into the DAC with a USB cable (or Firewire, if your hardware has it).

If a very slight bit of hard drive noise doesn't bother you, the iMac can now be ordered with a 2-terabyte hard drive.

[macraddy]

There's also the option of a cheaper Macbook air with solid state drive? Or possibly run from an external USB drive in another room? They're also nice machines. I'm writing this from a 17" Macbook Pro and can recommend them for general use...

Although for hi-fi I'd still recommend the CD player route!

[garmtz]

Stream your music using a Linn Majik DS, it's better than CD-players costing several times more!

Repeating myself... ;) Try it! The Linn is a great match with Leben and Harbeth, as I have listened to this combination the last few days. You also might track down a Linn Majik CD, a great CD player!

[macraddy]

Repeating myself... ;) Try it! The Linn is a great match with Leben and Harbeth, as I have listened to this combination the last few days. You also might track down a Linn Majik CD, a great CD player!

Let's all bare in mind that garmtz makes his living from selling people Linn equipment!

[EricW]

Let's all bare in mind that garmtz makes his living from selling people Linn equipment!

I'm sure that was meant light-heartedly, but I'll point out that Alan Shaw makes his living from selling people Harbeth speakers, and I think we would all give his words a fair bit of weight.

The fact that you have a personal interest in something doesn't necessarily make what you say untrue.

[unleash_me]

See if you can audition Opera Consonance CD 120 (http://www.opera-consonance.com/products/refcd120_linear.htm). Its a filter less non-oversampling cdp without an opamp. This might fit your need for a cdp with vinyl like presentation.

[kittykat]

I'm sure that was meant light-heartedly, but I'll point out that Alan Shaw makes his living from selling people Harbeth speakers, and I think we would all give his words a fair bit of weight.

The fact that you have a personal interest in something doesn't necessarily make what you say untrue.

...Or unbias?

harbeth related ones excepted :-)

[EricW]

Kittykat: "untrue" and "unbiased" are two completely different things. I expect that Alan Shaw (for example) has a degree of bias in favour of Harbeths. To be expected. The ultimate question, of course, is whether he's right to hold that bias.

Bias, if it exists, exists prior to judgment and hence can influence judgment, but doesn't inevitably do so. Particularly in a competitive market, a degree of bias has to co-exist with a degree of objectivity, because if you're out of touch with reality, your competitors will eat you up.

[kittykat]

Hi EricW. Totally agree with you and I didn’t say they are similar.

Having vested interests does make certain predispositions in opinion more likely, not necessarily to the extent of telling fibs. It could be just a simple blurring of distinction between fact and fiction. The former could be “I am impartial and I did listen reasonably extensively across different candidates and am comfortable to make this recommendation” to a latter extreme of “I think this is a good cd player and as such ill recommend it” or even more extreme case of “im a distributor for this brand and as such ill recommend it on this forum”.

And you are right, if a bias is out of line it will result in eventual annihilation but it would have caused damage to a lot of people’s pockets in the interim.

[EricW]

Hi kittykat: you'll get no argument from me, because I entirely agree with you as well.

I must admit, I initially thought that perhaps macraddy had taken a bit more of a shot at garmtz than warranted, hence my first response.

But perhaps to repeatedly recommend a product that you have a personal (business) interest in promoting (though pretty indirect in garmtz's case, I would have thought), without disclosing that interest, is not the right thing to do. It may be done innocently, but if so, why not disclose. It would avoid misunderstanding.

[macraddy]

I'm sure that was meant light-heartedly, but I'll point out that Alan Shaw makes his living from selling people Harbeth speakers, and I think we would all give his words a fair bit of weight.

The fact that you have a personal interest in something doesn't necessarily make what you say untrue.

Absolutely true - but Alan Shaw wouldn't make unscientific statements that cannot be substantiated by using absolutes such ‘better’, especially when being concerned with the subjective nature of music reproduction...
(And my tongue is firmly in my cheek! I personally know hi-fi dealers who operate this way and some customers do respond to it.)

[garmtz]

My recommendations really are not intended to be commercial, as I live in The Netherlands and have no way of selling you Linn equipment. It is just out of me having tried a lot of equipment on Harbeth speakers and sharing this with the community. Admittedly, I have not tried EVERYTHING on the market, but I think neither have most consumers.

I will refrain from making recommendations then from now on.

[DrewTurner]

Hi Garmtz, I've enjoyed reading your recommendations.Please continue.I'm sure your intentions were honorable.

[EricW]

garmtz, I would echo Drew. I think recommendations from people who have personal experience with various equipment are always valuable and helpful. Unfortunately, we live in a cynical world. Maybe, to counter that, just add a brief sentence noting that you are a Linn (or whatever) dealer. Then everyone can decide for him- or herself how many grains of salt to add, but we don't all lose the benefit of your insight.

After all, even if someone is only the purchaser/owner of a piece of equipment, he/she could be said to be "biased" in favour of it by that fact alone, because who wants to admit they made a bad choice? So where are we going to find a panel of neutral, objective, well-informed judges who have absolutely no bias, and no personal interest in what they're writing about? Seems like an unrealistic plan to me.

And macraddy, actually, if you were to parse Alan's language strictly, you might find some of his language to be "unscientific" as well. Words such as "warm", "full", "rich", "uncoloured" etc. are not scientific in and of themselves. I don't think you can describe human experiences - which is ultimately what we're concerned with - in purely scientific terms (whatever those might be), even if you can maybe find scientific correlates for those experiences.

[garmtz]

Fair enough EricW, thanks! DrewTuner, Cheers!