Audio Research CD6


I have been following an ARC CDP upgrade path for some years. CD2, CD3, CD3mkll, and currently CD5. I was excited to see upcoming CD6 until I saw the price and realized it has many features that are of no use to me. I was used to the slight price increase and nice improvement in performance, not this 50% increase and philosophy change. No complaints, it's their company and I'm still happy with CD5. I am curious though in what directions former ARC CD Player users are looking now that the former ARC upgrade path is no longer available. Thanks.
jl35
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DSD now seems all the rage and the way of the future.

The ARC players and DACs don't do DSD.

I have a CD7 and I'm as pleased as punch and I have no plans to upgrade any time soon. However, should I upgrade to another ARC cd player, its DAC had better have DSD capability.
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Bruce - You might want to check out the forums at http://www.audioaficionado.org/manufacturers-forums/ if you have not already done that. There is an active ARC forum there with lots of ARC owners.
Jl ... I started a thread some time ago about the same issue.

I own the ARC Ref CD-8, which has a similar circuit topology and uses the same DAC as the CD-5. I have little or no interest ... yet ... in the DAC features of the CD-6 or Ref CD-9.

The question I asked in my thread was whether the CD-6/9 redbook CD performance was significantly better than the the CD-5/8. So far, I haven't gotten many comments back. So I'm glad you picked the issue up again.

My thought is that if I want to explore DAC applications later on, I don't need to drop a small fortune now on making an investment in the CD-6/9. There are other less expensive paths to take.

So having said all of this, I renew my question -- does the CD-6/9 do a better job with just redbook CD playback than the CD-5/8??