Cambridge Audio 840C

I did the comparison between CA 640 V2 and 840. The system consisted of CA 840A integrated amp and I connected AKG K601 headphones to this amp. Both CDPs were connected at the same time and I was listening to the same discs running in both players in the same time. Then I switched between two inputs to hear the difference.

And I didn't heard any ... to be honest. It was big disappointment having in mind the technology built into CA 840. And 840 costs about twice as much as 640 V2. It may be that 840A is not good enough to show the differences, but it should be ... AKGs are excellent headphones and they are certainly not the reason for this disappointment.

Anyway, the only player that I heard until 1000 euro mark that does make a difference is Naim CD 5i.

Hi,

The headphones have been hooked to the headphone out on the CA 840A amplifier. The comments that you put guys is something that is quite possible. I was surprised myself. I took several other CDPs that were laying around (Audiolab CD8000 and Denon DCD 1500) and there were also no differences in reproduction - maybe a little bit in case of Denon.

I used during this test also Warf EVO 30 (the result was the same as with headphones) but you might say (and I would agree) that these loudspeakers are also not good enough to register major differencies between the players. That is why I didn't mention it in my first post.

But if that is true about EVO 30 and not good enough headphone output of CA 840A, that means that differencies between CDPs in a price range until 1000 euro are very subtle and that we need very good system to be able to notice it. The question is then: why should we put a CDP under 1000 euro in a very good system ? Or to put it in another way: if you have a system where the components are between 1000 and 2000 euro, probably various CDPs are not going to make a big difference, if any at all.

But it is possible that there are some other experiences - I haven't compare all CDPs that exist and it is quite possible that there are some other that do make a difference. Naim CD 5i does. So, I am not making here any generalizations based on only one test case ...

I didn't compare Naim CD 5i and CA side by side. So I am a bit precousuos. My feeling is that small Naim has excellent dynamic and is very strong in bass compartment. I listened to the system: Naim CD 5i + Naim Nait 5 + Ruark Sabre III and it was sounding vivid, fast, ... excellent for the money.

What I did compare side by side were: Naim CD 5i and Naim CD 5x. 5x is better, especially in the bass area - the bass of CD 5x is more precise. You simply hear more details and it is a bit more open. Whether it is worth additonal 1000 euros is a matter for discussion but if you have that cach, go for 5x. Later you can upgrade with external supply, which is not possible with the small one. But before you do this supply upgrade, try it first. I did try Naim Flatcap 2x but I couldn't hear much difference. Many people did though, so be a bit carefull with that additional 1000 euro (or something like that).

I hope this helps a bit ...

Regards
Dejan