Mrt, be assured you have absolutely no influence over anything I do, read, or say.
Like all reviewers, you are nothing more than entertainment. |
ah, audofeil, always the contrary one.
i wouldn't continue this behavior too often. it's bad for your health.
however, if i have that much influence over your position, you don't have much confidence in your convictions. |
"But if you want to bring your toys here and have a Muralboy vs. Vinylfeil shootout you'll be embarrassed.
Stomped, crushed, and whipped."
That might depend more on who greases the palms of the judges best more than anything!
How much does this job pay? I might be interested! |
I have very nice digital stuff here when I want to hear material not available on vinyl. Very expensive gear in fact.
But if you want to bring your toys here and have a Muralboy vs. Vinylfeil shootout you'll be embarrassed.
Stomped, crushed, and whipped.
I will serve humble pie of course.
Hot or cold, your choice. |
Audiofeil, you are guessing. I have heard marvelous vinyl systems costing 6 figures. My duo set up brings in the last ounce of detail a recording provides. You would be amazed at how much artistry is available on CDs. |
>>03-21-11: Mrtennis
audiofeil, this is probably the first time i agree with you 100 percent<<
This is not good.
Perhaps I need to re-think my position. |
audiofeil, this is probably the first time i agree with you 100 percent.
the best digital i have ever heard was a 1996 top of the line naim 2 piece cd x cd player and separate power supply. but i would not say that it was better than vinyl, just that it was pleasant, minimally timbrally inaccurate and very listenable. i heard this player at the sahara hotel at ces. |
Zmanastronomy,
Thanks for the clarification.
You are indeed correct that very good digital costs far less than very good analog.
Enjoy the NAD. |
Audiofeil.
Your probably right. I have a very modest turntable and maybe I should have said that.
But, What I stated is what I hear in my system.
Most vinyl lovers have 10X the money that the NAD cost in they're turntables. |
>>03-21-11: Muralman1
47 Lab Flatfish + super Audio Note DAC surpasses vinyl set ups I have heard.<<
I suggest you've not heard many decent vinyl front ends as that pairing will be trashed by most good analog combinations. |
Cary SACD with built in DAC that you can use separately with a Synergistic Research Hologram D powercord. You can switch sampeling rates on the fly with the remote. |
47 Lab Flatfish + super Audio Note DAC surpasses vinyl set ups I have heard. |
>>03-20-11: Zmanastronomy
I just picked up a NAD C-565BEE cd player and it is very close to vinyl.<<
Maybe to your vinyl.
Not mine. |
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I just picked up a NAD C-565BEE cd player and it is very close to vinyl.
Very rich sounding with lot's of detail.
It's a keeper. |
Do they still make cd players?
Just kidding...*s* |
You owe it to yourself to check out Playback Designs MPS-5.
Please read all the reviews for yourself & then audition one.
As close to vinyl as I've heard to date. You won't be disappointed. Also can use the internal dac with a server.
Very flexible. |
Ear acute, just a fantastic player, bettered my capitole, by a long shot, most analog sounding player in my experience: |
Another vote for Resolution Audio Opus 21. Certainly you could get new CD players that come along with latest chips and higher resolution, but somehow the Opus 21 managed to conjure up timbre and tonal hues reminiscent of vinyl that I suspect wasn't even there with the digitial format.
To get the best from this player, a DIN to RCA interconnect is needed to bypass the internal volume control. The DNM Reson is an excellent choice at affordable price. |
Burmester 069 with Reference Line Power Supply Unit. You've the best magic sound of vynil without any defects. |
I strongly SECOND the APL NWO-M. Read the reviews here and by various mags (of its predecessors).
Starts with the best Esoteric transport made, add lots of 32-bits DACs, top-quality parts and genius engineering and you get a piece that is second to NONE in the digital world, IMHO. Literally exponentially better than the APL machine used at the famous San Diego shootout several years ago(from the "thread that wouldn't die" fame). It just does everything "right" without even trying.
If you are lucky enough to hear one, you most likely will start going through your finances to find a way to acquire one. Yes, it really IS that good, IMHO. I have no affiliation with APL at all - just a very happy NWO-M owner. |
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thanks to everybody for the answers provided so far. it looks like in terms of equipment it might be worth looking into modwright.
as for the quality of the actual source material, are there particular cd manufacturers that are audiophile-oriented? or places on the web that sell especially good stuff? thanks. |
Extremey happy with my modded AMR CD-77.1.
Best,
Bob |
I also like Resolution Audio. I think the Resolution Audio Opus 21 is about as good as digital gets. Compared mine (GNSC modified) with Audio Note turntable TT 2. Could not tell the difference. |
You should try and listen to "The last record player" by Einstein Audio, amazingly analog sound. |
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"I would argue that you just dont have the quality of software with cd's (or sacds) in comparison to (original) vinyl. No machine can make great sound out of questionable source material.'
On an absolute scale perhaps, however not all vinyl recordings are equally good nor are all CD recordings equally bad. in fact, some vinyl recordings are pretty bad and some CD recordings are pretty good.
So on a case by case basis at least, which is what really matters, CD quality can sound better than similar vinyl, especially if well mastered or remastered. |
Agree with the above about source material, really great CDs get close. Get a copy of "Equinox" , which was recorded with superior technology to see what can be done. |
I would argue that you just dont have the quality of software with cd's (or sacds) in comparison to (original) vinyl. No machine can make great sound out of questionable source material. |
Audio Aero Capitole Mk II SE comes pretty close in my experience. It does have that sense of spaciousness and air IMHO - could be the tubes. It is a musical and involving cdp. I think I read in a recent listing that Audio Aero has appointed a new North American distributor in the USA, which was something that was missing for some time. |
One that costs $90K, as reviewed on the high-endaudio.com site. Sal is drooling, since he cannot afford such joy. Hey, there is hope, if we get to audio heaven. |
I see posts of people wanting solid state equipment to sound like tube. Cd to sound like vinyl. Why is it so difficult? Just get a tube amp or use vinyl records. |
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I agree with the comments made by Zmanastronomy, Steelhead and Macdadtexas. I own an ARC CD-7, which is a fine CD player. However, I recently started to reacquaint myself with my old vinyl. I serviced and upgraded my old TT, and bought a new cartridge. Frankly, I was very surprised by how good the old vinyl sounded compared to the CDP, even with the old TT and beat up records. I suspect the problem with CD has to do with the formatting. The technology is 30 years old.
My problem is that I am not familiar with the new stuff coming on line. However, at some point, I may start exploring the benefit of using a DAC, e.g., the ARC DAC-8.
Hey, Macdadtexas, got a question. You said that "if you download your CD's to digital files, then run the music through a good DAC off of a music server, I think it sounds much better than CD. You take much of the mechanical error out of the equation."
Could you provide a simple explanation of how a DAC can improve the sound playback of a convention CD that's formatted using the old technology? I would have thought that part of the problem is that the standard formatting technology loses a lot of sound information during digital encoding.
Thanks. |
About seven or eight years ago I purchased a used Resolution Audio CD50 and thought this "thing is pretty good." The more I listened to it the more impressed I was. Not long after I sold off my vinyl collection. Every once in a while I feel a twinge of regret but that's only natural. I honestly can't count how many times I've tried to replace this cdp with something better.
Now the CD50 is very old technology and should have been surpassed by now but it just sounds like music to me. That statement should sound familiar to any vinyl lover.
If the transport dies and can't be replaced I'll contact Jeff Kalt at Resolution Audio to see what it would cost to have it modified for use as a dac. |
Check out any Modwright Sony or Denon player. They come up used on Agon quite a bit because everyone wants the latest and greatest player. It's as close to vinyl as I've heard. I've owned the Modwright 9000 and currently until it craps out someday, the Modwright 9100 with all mods. It is also a sacd player, and will play dvds too. It sounds preferable on several well recorded cds to a very good analog setup. I was THE anti-cd dude for 15 plus years--never had a player I liked so I didn't buy one. The Modwright's changed my mind and sent me on a cd buying spree in the past 3 years. Look up reviews on them. |
but the sense of spaciousness, air, This may sound a little strange but when I was auditioning speaker cables in my home I found the Nordost Frey's gave me just that. In fact my first impression with the Nordost was they seemed to be thin and lean sounding. But the more I listened to them I picked up air between the instruments and vocals. After hearing that I bought them. I know that doesn't help you since you have 2 sources and you are looking to get get similar sounds with everything else being the same. I do have a Meridian G08 and just thought I'd mention what I heard in my stytem. |
none, it's all about the DAC. Get a good stand alone DAC that effects your music the most.
In fact, if you download your CD's to digital files, then run the music through a good DAC off of a music server, I think it sounds much better than CD. You take much of the mechanical error out of the equation. |
Your source is only one part of your system. Unless you have a complete well matched system you may never obtain those sounds. The last thing I added to my system that seem to finally give me what I had been searching for was a cable. I have both a digital and analog front end.
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I much prefer and normally listen to vinyl.
I think SACD is as close as your going to get. You may want to consider investing in a SACD player.
Have Fun! |
My freind was at his brother in-laws place that is really into vinyl. He took his CD player with him, it was a very highly reviewed Sony player and he told me by comparison he had to play some SACD's to approach the TT's ability to have that expancive hall sound.
So I'm thinking that you need 24bit files to match the quality.
While I listen to my CD player I feel I have a great sound stage with deep imaging, but I don't have a TT to compare with.
My CD player upsamples to 24/382. But it doesn't sound as good as his Sony which upsamples to 24/192.
I think some of the SACD's approach vinyl but not redbook.
Just my 2 cents worth. |
I've had good luck in this regard with my current music server/network player/DAC configuration in my rig.
Not by chance. I have strived to get both my vinyl and digital to sound right to me. They may not be exactly the same, but are very close.
Then again, I like vinyl, but am not one that thinks it is necessarily the end all for good sound. Some do and I doubt they will ever be satisfied with digital no matter how good. |
