MUSEATEX CDD

Are you using it with a Bidat or Idat?

No
An Audio Note DAC 2.1 Sig.

I have an older CD-D along with a fully upgraded Bitstream. Together, they are fantastic, but I bought mine used so have no idea whether there is a big change from break-in.

What type of digital cable are you using? (I have the recommended Moray James digital)

You can email John Wright who does all the official repairs and upgrades on Museatex equipment. John can be reached Museatex.com. He's the best source of info on the brand.

A mere six hours of break-in is probably too early to make an eval. You should let the thing stay on for at least 24 hours continuously as well. How did you come by a NOS unit?

I got a great result with a used CD-D running into either a Bidat and Idat, both modded by John Wright. I still own both DACs. I can't tell you about the CDD separately since I never used it with a non-Museatex DAC.

Unfortunately, my CDD failed, and these units can't be repaired since there are no longer any replacement drives available. I think you are lucky to have a NOS one, and you might want to try a Museatex DAC with it before drawing any final conclusions.

PS. I second Darkmoebius' recommendation of a Moray James digi cable, esp with a Museatex DAC.

I also have an umodded CDD. I am not entirely happy with it. It sounds slightly vieled and also it can be a little brittle in the upper mids and highs. It doesn't compare to my Micromega T-Drive, which is really an excellent transport sonically. I run the Micromega into a Theta Generation Va. When evaluating the CDD, I use the Theta as well. Since the Micromega is slowly dying, I am wondering what to do with the CDD: mod it, buy a BIDAT to go with it, do both or get rid of it.

Right now I don't have access to a Bidat. I played it quite a while last night, and it is really starting to open up! I also e-mailed John Wright, he thinks with mods it will better my Audio Note! It was purchased from a Gent that had recieved it as a gift and really wasn't into audio enough to do the 2 box thing.
The only dig cables I have are a Pure Note Paragon terminated with Cardas RCA's and an Audio Metallurgy Gold alloy terminated with WBT Nextgens.
Sheldon

Hey, what mods was John going to perform? Might have him hotrod my CD-D, if possible.

He replaces all the tired old caps with new/better ones including a few Black Gates in key locations. There is some shielding and power supply and grounding changes as well as a reclocking update. He also installs an IEC inlet and changes out the RCA female for one of better quality. You can send him your choice of IEC and RCA if you want. He charges $350 plus shipping. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Thanks Sheldon,

It's great to hear that he is now doing the reclocking upgrade again. When I last emailed him a year or so ago, that wasn't an option anymore because he couldn't get the parts for the "C-Clock" upgrade. Mine is the older version without this.

I'm definitely going to look into this. Supposedly, the Bidat/iDat/Bitsream to CD-D connection witht the C-Clock option provides some of the lowest jitter numbers ever achieved in commercial audio. Numbers still extremely low by even today's standards.

Hello,

For what its worth I bought a fully decked out CDD John himself had been using for a year or two. It had a recently replaced CD mechanism (one of the very last he kept privately) and John told me he would just add stuff to the transport over the months. I can't compare a modded CDD vs non...but I can tell you I'm very happy with my digital.

I would also recommend a MJ digital coxial, I happen to also use one of Moray's PC's on my Bitstream (heavily modded) DAC as well. Although I actually prefer my Blue Circle PC. The most stunning tweak I've run into so far is a Skylan isolation system which is little more then two slabs of wood with some voodoo magic substance in the middle and some ceramic feet. I say voodoo half kiddingly cuz I'll be damned it actually worked. I didn't think it worked when i bought it because I had the system setup wrong; I had the transport resting on the feet and then the feet on the platter, it was only a year later somebody looked at my system who also had a skylan stand and said "you might actually hear results if you set it up properly" I was pretty suprised when I did the switch; it somewhat renewed my faith in this tweaking nonsense.

If you don't use isolation it's fairly cheap if memory serves it was like $200-300, its an operation out of Calgary (John's home town). If you're into Jazz a Bitstream DAC might be all that you will ever need. It's about as analog as I've ever heard.

The Bitstream is analog supreme, I'd like to see them manufactured again, they had it right.

My Museatex Melior finally gave up the ghost last year. I'd love to have John Wrigh mod it, but there are no replacment transport mechanisms. It was a fantastic transport. I'm now using a refurbished CEC TL5100 and it's pretty close if not equal. If you EVER see a BiDAT with a digital volume control for sale, buy it and have John mod it. When run directly into a high quality amp, it will be the best redbook DAC you have ever heard for under $10K.

So based on the above, i should keep my modded bitstream-LOL. Ive been hearing some stridency so thought id switch out dacs. For some reason the bitstream has been the a constant in my system for a long time...