The best CD Player for the money

Hey Dave, Mmashak's APL Denon 3910 is a solid state design with MOSFET output, no tubes. I really think that your 3930 should be compared to that one so it is a fair game.

I am sure that there will be many around here to believe that Op Amps can beat tubes so your statement that your Op Amp/Black Gate 3930 "completely cream APL 3910" might actually fly. :-)

Best!
Alex

Jp1208, my solid state Denon 3910 sounds really nice but is not nearly as good as the AKM/Tubed one. Tvad have heard them both in his system so he may want to provide some feedback about the differences. Since my long discontinued AKM/Tube Denon 3910 was all-single ended design, it is possible to sound a tad slow/romantic compared to a solid state design but the level of naturalness, realism and soundstaging properties can not be matched with solid state.

All of the current APL Hi-Fi AKM/Tubed products are featuring fully differential design.

Since we are also offering 3930 (see our website) which is all solid state design using the original Burr-Brown DACs and MOSFET output, it would be fair that David Schulte's 3930 is compared to that one. I am willing to submit an APL 3930 machine to anyone who'd like to compare it to Schulte's. Doing so with the AKM/Tubed NWO-2.5, NWO-M1 and even the discontinued APL 3910 would not be fair for David Schulte, not APL.

Regards,
Alex

Jp1208, I don't think the solid state APL Denon is better than the AKM/tubed version. This is the reason suggesting comparing apples with apples since TUC Denon 3930 is also solid state.

Since both AKM/tubed and solid state APL Denon 3910 based players are long discontinued, while TUC Denon 3930 is their current latest and greatest, I think it would be more appropriate to look at APL's current products of which the all-solid-state APL 3930 would be the only somewhat equal level competitor to TUC 3930.

Regards,
Alex

Mr. Hi End Audio, Dave, if you recall, several months ago you were apparently quite impressed with the APL Denon you've heard at Steve's (against your current “greatest” at the time) so you personally called me to place an order for APL Denon 3910 which I refused after careful consideration, sorry to say. Steve offered you the APL Denon recently because he thought you’d still want one (which you did) and because he has NWO-2.5 coming in a couple of weeks from now. He asked me if I am ok with him selling you my Denon on which of course I said no, sorry again. Why a competitor wants to buy my discontinued product anyway? While I suspect why you want to buy it now, please be cautious because you may encounter a boomerang effect. :-)

I am perfectly aware (in great detail) how all Denon, Sony, Pioneer, Esoteric and many more players/combos are built. I also know that upgrading components brings very nice results (been there done that) and is a good value at the price point but, sadly, this approach is limited by the original circuit/overall design topology of the given digital player and is greatly insufficient if best possible results are desired.

Please let's stop beating a dead horse! The APL 3910 was discontinued long time ago and, although it’s still quite good, it can not hold a candle against the current APL products.

Happy New Year!

:-)

Regards,
Alex

Ferrari, although I am sure that the Wadia combo is excellent, according to someone who is the F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s neighbor in Switzerland, his recently acquired $22,000 universal digital player sounds as good as and sometimes better than his $65,000 vinyl setup. Coincidentally, same result was reported from another fine gentleman who A-B-ed the same digital player against his $32,000 vinyl setup.

Just FYI! And no, the above is not a joke!

BTW, the universal digital player in question is a single box player which...

sounds lightweight small, lacking bass drive, micro and macro dynamics, thin and strident

Of course, this same universal player features things as explained by Mrhiendaudio...

there is no need to rebuild the circuit design with hotglued breadboards and wiring all over the place

In other words you should just get...

any number of DVD-ROM RAM Buffered transport equipped players (Denon/Marantz/Esoteric)run into heavily upgraded DAC even older dacs by Theta, Linn, Monarchy and Krell completely crush any 1 box player we have heard

And you are all set!

:-)

Regards,
Alex