The Cary 303T SACD is a vacuum tube/solid state selectable SACD player. Plays Redbook CDs and upsamples at 44.1, 96, 192, 384, 512, and 768kHz. His mechanism is based on Triple-beam laser, multi speed SACD transport.
The 306 uses 8 of the Burr Brown DAC chips and the 303T uses 4, the power supply is superior in the 306, the chassis is all one material (aluminum) and is of higher integrity than that of the 303T and several unspecified internal components are of a higher grade material and construction. The 303T substitutes the 24/192 USB input for the Balanced XLR on the 306. This info comes from a Cary technical staff member. $6500 vs $8K creates a confusing marketing situation to me. Are they trying to steal Esoteric's thunder with this close price point give and take away strategy?
I called Cary Audio and spoke to Jason. He corroborated what Krisjan stated; the 306 Pro is the top of the line at 8K and the 303T is 6.5K. When I asked about Cary's ad in Stereophile stating the 303T to be the best player on earth, Jason replied "it's just an ad"(!) and the 306 is the superior player.
No I have not heard it yet. I have heard some reviews saying that it is a pretty excellent system. I have also read reviews in other places stating that it is not, the best of the best, however.
The now discontinued 308T, which I once owned and thoroughly enjoyed, was always a sleeper in the Cary line-up. Unfortunately, at $6500 there's significant competition, so it better be good.
Minor correction to my post: list price is $6500 (according to a blurb from the Sept, 2009 CEDIA show in Atlanta). Whatever Cary's marketing blurb may say, the 306 PRO player is more expensive than the 303T so it can't be considered their "top of the line". Perhaps when/if they drop the 306 PRO it will attain that status.
Krisjan, According to the Cary ad in the November Stereophile, "the new CD-303T is, in our opinion, the finest CD/SACD player on earth". This must mean it is the new top of the line and would cost at least 10K. It also doesn't mention the ss output as an option which appears on their website.
I'm interested to hear comments as well. The 303T is not their "top of the line" - that would be the 306 Pro CD/SACD player. The possible advantage for the 303T is the dual ss and tubed output option (the 306 PRO is only ss). I believe the list price of the 303T is $6000 while the 306 PRO is around $8000. I recall commenting to Cary on the warranty card that I got with my 211 AE monoblocks several years ago that they needed to make a version of the 306 (which I also owned at that time) with a tubed output. Looks like they listened to me. :-)
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