Forgive me in advance for my lack of listenning skill. I recently decided to re-visit the mid-fi journey by buying a Rotel RCC 1072 and after three continuous days of listenning, I have to say these mid-fi sound will give you listenning fatigue due to bright, metallic, cold and harsh sound. Yet it gives you a false sense of big bass. not a kind of tight bass but sissy bass. the soundstage is quite wide but not deep. High frequency is very high and will be harsh on bright recording. Etta James in "All the way" with several tracks are unbearable. Yes, it may sound better in details than the Pioneer or Technics DVD players but is it worth 700.00 ? For me it is not quite. Sorry Rotel fan. I owned a Krell CDP KAV 280 matched with the 400xi, and to me that heavenly tight bass, warm and opening vocals...Yes, I rather save up 4000.00 for a good CDP than buying under 1000.00 wimpy one. Live and learn everyday and I do learn a good lesson : All CDP sounds different and you will get what you pay for. Hi-fi choice of the year not the ears.
Law of Diminishing Returns - CD/SACD Players
I've been surfing through Audiogon reading many of the posts regarding the sonic qualities of some of the top tier cd/sacd players. Some brands/models that seem to be mentioned often are EMM Labs, dCS, Meridian, Esoteric, Audio Aero, etc. These players, however, are in the tens of thousands of dollars. I would love to own one of these machines some day, however, finances do not currently permit.
For those of you that have evolved to owning a top tier player like those listed above, what players can you recommend that would give 95 percent of the performance of a top tier player, without having to pay the price of a top tier machine? What does one have to pay to get that 95 percent performance? Does a Rotel 1072 give us 95 percent of the sound? Can a $1000 player like the Rega Apollo compete? Or does one have to move up a more costly player like the Resolution Audio Opus 21 or Ayre Cx7e to obtain the 95 percent? ...or perhaps one has to move to the $5000 - $6000 category of player like the Cary 306, Ayre C5xe, or Bluenote Stibbert?
Unfortunately, I have not heard any of the top tier digital players. I would love to hear from those who have had the opportunity to own or audition the very best. We all know that extracting the last 5 percent of sonic nirvana is extremely costly! What is the best "bang for your buck" to obtain 95 percent of the sound of a first class player?
calgarian
For those of you that have evolved to owning a top tier player like those listed above, what players can you recommend that would give 95 percent of the performance of a top tier player, without having to pay the price of a top tier machine? What does one have to pay to get that 95 percent performance? Does a Rotel 1072 give us 95 percent of the sound? Can a $1000 player like the Rega Apollo compete? Or does one have to move up a more costly player like the Resolution Audio Opus 21 or Ayre Cx7e to obtain the 95 percent? ...or perhaps one has to move to the $5000 - $6000 category of player like the Cary 306, Ayre C5xe, or Bluenote Stibbert?
Unfortunately, I have not heard any of the top tier digital players. I would love to hear from those who have had the opportunity to own or audition the very best. We all know that extracting the last 5 percent of sonic nirvana is extremely costly! What is the best "bang for your buck" to obtain 95 percent of the sound of a first class player?
calgarian