madisonears
Responses from madisonears
| how to best a/b cables I think your dealer, like so many dealers, is full of hot gas. He is trying to influence your decision and make a sale by impressing you with this bit of hooey about two sets of cables between different outputs and inputs affecting each other. I f... | |
| Has anyone else ever reached an audio impasse? If neither you nor your friend can hear an improvement between CD and SACD on his 100K system, then you have both lost your hearing, or you should immediately sell the 100K system and purchase a 20K system, or this is an early April fool's joke. T... | |
| Which cable will reduce harshness of CD player? Try van den Hul The Second, as it will compress the high end a little bit to even things out. What you lose is a little air and depth, but tonally the cable is very smooth. | |
| Good & Bad quality recordings of SACD's? Sorry, goners, I forgot to mention my SACD is Sony 9000ES CD/SACD/DVD combo. I was comparing CD's through the CAL/3.1DAC to SACD's on the Sony. I do not dispute that there are some crummy recordings getting made into SACD's, but when it's done pro... | |
| Good & Bad quality recordings of SACD's? You guys are waaaay off base regarding the sampler disc, and SACD in general. I don't know what your CD system is like, but mine is pretty good: CAL Icon as transport to an Assemblage 3.1 DAC. Most cuts on the sampler, especially the older or acou... | |
| Brahms Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 115. Thea King and the Gabrieli Quartet on Hyperion are superbly recorded, and the performance will move you, especially the Adagio, which has made me cry.I tried the Philips duo version of this piece and didn't care for it. Can't remember the group or... | |
| Best recordings for the following... Yes, the Nutcracker on Telarc by Mackerras and London Symphony is very well played and one of Telarc's better recordings.Dutoit and Montreal Symphony has a beautiful Swan Lake on Decca, with superb sound.Four Seasons has been done to death, and I'... | |
| Is the CAL ICON a reliable choice in a used CDP The CAL Icon MkII is almost universally praised as a very reliable CD player which makes better than merely acceptable music and can also serve as a very good transport further down the upgrade path. Bought mine as a dealer demo about six or so ye... | |
| Warmest? BAT VK200, Classe CA200, Mccormack .5 The BAT Vk-200 is a superb amplifier. In my system, with Bryston BP-25 preamp and B&W 802's, it is warm, rich, powerful, detailed, thoroughly musical. I have not compared it to the other models, but I tried a McCormack amp once and really disl... | |
| Mountain So the album titles are finally sorted out. This is related to the topic, and I thought I'd share with all you Mountaineers: I saw Little Feat once right before Lowell passed on, and they brought out Leslie West to play along on "Fat Man in the Ba... | |
| DACs - New vs. Old The Icon makes a very nice transport. Plugged mine into a used (for one month) Assemblage 3.1 DAC, and it beats some very expensive transports. If you ever have DAC trouble, you've still got a real nice back-up player. I would get the newest DAC y... | |
| Bryston or Classe I own a Bryston BP-25, and it is an excellent product. Sonically, it is very smooth, yet detailed, with absolute silent operation. Lots of air around instruments, wide soundstage, nice imaging. It is solidly built with useful features. 25 year war... | |
| How about the older CAL CD players? I doubt that there is anyone with respectable taste who will deny that the Icon was an excellent player new, and now, used, is still a very good value. I use mine as a transport to an Assemblage 3.1 DAC, and it fills that role very well. The digit... | |
| Krell KAV-250a/3 or Proceed HPA3 Krell is hi-fi. Proceed makes music. Your choice. | |
| Favorite HDCD???? Mmmm, I don't know about that LP--I had it, and mine sucked. Noisy, lots of distortion, etc. Current HDCD is like a window compared to it.I've always wondered about Manassas. Don't know why I've never tried it, but I guess I will now. Thanks for t... |