Old Vs New ..... Transport and dac.


Hi All,
I've been putting together a Vintage system based around a pair if Altec Lansing 604 duplex speakers in their big cabinets 620a , and a pair of Leak pre and power amps from the 50's / 60's.... Now, I was going to go for a turntable front end, but then I got to thinking I might put a decent digital front end together for a change. Ive been buying 50c second hand cd's lately like they are going out of fashion (which they are I suppose) Any way I was thinking of getting the latest shanling CD transport ET3 and a Denafripps mid range Dac. Like the Pontus or te one up from there. I thought that woudld be a decent attempt. BUT THEN... A local Transport and dac came up for sale for around the same money (3k) .... A Reimyo CDT - 777 Transport & Reimyo 999EX Limited Edition DAC. The Transport is running flawlessly and the dac was updted to this spec backi n 2018 by Kuichi San at Combak Harmonix in 2017 I thnk.

I lusted after then back when they came out, I love the form factor, the fact it's a SOTA classic transport and dac etc and the Tonal focus of Japanese design in audio( I know this is a horrible generalisation, but you know what I mean).

Soooooo. My question is do you think that the Japanese pair with their engineering / design and of course sound quality , would stand up to the more modern Chinese pairing. I'm more excited about the Reimyo Transport and Dac, than the Shanling and Denafripps. 

My main front ends have all been Vinyl in the past so this is something new for me. I enjoy a focus on Tone and overall performance in my systems, rather than the spotlighting and the search for the ultimate detail.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your thoughts on the above... Thanks for your advice and Help.  

 

borg7x9

Showing 1 response by steakster

Are you able to hear the Reimyo combo in your system?   

One of the primary considerations with an older CD transport is the availability of a replacement CD drive/reader mechanism.   The original might not be available, but are there substitutes?   If so, perhaps buy one now - as a future backup.

I have a modded high-end DAC from 2007 that competes quite well with modern DAC’s of today, if not better.  I can also tweak the SQ with the digital IC and/or power cord.