2. amps-preamps
  3. 1113841214

Amazing ''Overachieving'' products...your pick?

I have owned both expensive gear (and I do mean expensive) and ''budget'' gear. Many components are mind-boggling on a price-paid versus performance ratio. Three of my favorites are:

1. The Bedini clarifier. This gizmo just plain works. You may like - or not - the difference it makes on your cd's. In my case, it clears up a lot of fog. The cheapest upgrade to ALL my cd's.

2. The Cayin TA-30 integrated amplifier . So much performance and flexibility for so little money. Put it up against anything up to 3 times the price, musically and from a build-quality perspective. Just plain amazing.

3. The Apple i-Pod Mini. Yes, even from in an audiophile application, playing cd's (not downloaded MP3's). You can snob it but you cannot ignore it.

What are YOUR picks ?
sonicbeauty

Showing 1 response by metralla

metralla
945 posts
 
I don't know about amazing, but it's very good - the Sony SCD-XA5400ES.

In standard form it is almost the equal of my much modified (by Ric Schultz) Sony XA777ES - which was $1900 plus $1500 mods.

The Sony is $1500 from Crutchfield, although there are cheaper outlets (that I can't recommend).

It is a fine player for both CD and SACD, and has a nice balanced output stage that's done pretty well. Not as solidly constructed as the XA777ES, but it does multichannel over HDMI.

Good platform for modifiers.

Regards,
More to discover