I own the Cary 303/200 and it has been in my system for about five months. I have had a similar positive experience with CD's that are HDCD encoded. They sound as close to live performance as any recording has presented itself in my system. The HDCD disks are simply amazing. If you are a fan of classical music I would suggest checking out any of the Reference Recordings HDCD disks. Many jazz and rock recordings are HDCD encoded, most of the Grateful Dead reissues as an example, and they sound great through the 303/200.
I have not had the poor articulation of bass note problem that you have had in my system on non-HDCD recordings. I substituted the original power cord with a Dedicated Audio PDS cord, regularly available on auction for around $90, and found that it seemed to integrate the highs and the mids better. I use a Harmonic Technology Pro Silkway II balanced interconnect to the preamp. I found that this CD player sounds better when the balanced outputs are used.
I always leave the CD player on. Keeping it on, upgrading the power cord, and giving it a little more time to break in should clear up some of the issues that you are having. Feel free to Email if you have any questions.
Regards,
Drew
I have not had the poor articulation of bass note problem that you have had in my system on non-HDCD recordings. I substituted the original power cord with a Dedicated Audio PDS cord, regularly available on auction for around $90, and found that it seemed to integrate the highs and the mids better. I use a Harmonic Technology Pro Silkway II balanced interconnect to the preamp. I found that this CD player sounds better when the balanced outputs are used.
I always leave the CD player on. Keeping it on, upgrading the power cord, and giving it a little more time to break in should clear up some of the issues that you are having. Feel free to Email if you have any questions.
Regards,
Drew