Musicman, Terrence, Topspeed,Westcott & Kexo

[EdwardGein]

Can you give me your honest opinion if you think a tube buffer, particularly Musical Fidelity X-10D, if I could get under $200, would be a waste of money for my currecnt system as is, in regarding not seeing more then minor audio improvements (Denon 3801 Receiver, Orb Mod 1 5.1 System, Pioneer PD-59 CD player, Harmon Kardon 31 DVD player? Be brutal as if this would be nothing more then a long shot, I'd rather save my money.

Here is a link to it

http://www.arcticcorsair.f9.co.uk/audio/kit/musicalfidelity-x10d.html

Thanks for your opinions

[musicman1999]

I have not heard this piece personally,but have read many good reviews.It will change your sound for sure,if it's to your liking,hard to say.It does not work with a digital connection,so you would have to use analog.I really don't think your Orbs would be a good match however,should have something with a wider frequency range.I don't think you would like it.

bill

[topspeed]

Save your money. Your speakers simply don't have the resolution. Besides, I thought you just bought a tube cdp anyway :confused: ?

[EdwardGein]

Nah, I sold that too for about what I paid. The sound was pretty good but it still wasn't as good as my Pioneer PD-59. The guy who sold it to me is a pretty good guy & he basically said all these players are system dependent & you can't predict how they'll sound on your system. The one bizarre thing was, his more expensive, improved & recommended nos tubes didn't sound as good on my system as the cheaper standard factory tubes. Based on that, I just don't have the time to keep going through trial & error on expensive CD players & how they'll react on my system but am still open to minor tweaks such as the Musical Fidelity X-10D & the Furutech RD2, if they run me under $200 & I can resell them at close to the same price with little delay. The Musical Fidelity tube buffer, the guy I sold the Super Ah Njoe Tjoebe 4000 suggested.

[kexodusc]

I got a real funny suspicion the only thing this device is doing is adding distortion - tons of people like distortion in various forms - tube lovers, planar and ribbon fans, etc. In moderate amounts I think it can actually make things sound better sometimes. Rock, blues, and even jazz have depended on distortion to remain popular for decades. I love it in my guitar amps, and there's a reason why tubes have remained so popular among musicians.

How this thing can claim to not be colored, but make the sound at all different is beyond me. That's, by definition, a contradiction. If your signal was perfect going into the device, and it alters the signal somehow, it's been colorized. Period.

Ed, you've got bigger and better things to spend $200 on - some wicked DVD's or CD's, new speakers, a few cases of beer, etc....

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I got a real funny suspicion the only thing this device is doing is adding distortion - tons of people like distortion in various forms - tube lovers, planar and ribbon fans, etc. In moderate amounts I think it can actually make things sound better sometimes. Rock, blues, and even jazz have depended on distortion to remain popular for decades. I love it in my guitar amps, and there's a reason why tubes have remained so popular among musicians.

How this thing can claim to not be colored, but make the sound at all different is beyond me. That's, by definition, a contradiction. If your signal was perfect going into the device, and it alters the signal somehow, it's been colorized. Period.

Ed, you've got bigger and better things to spend $200 on - some wicked DVD's or CD's, new speakers, a few cases of beer, etc....

My question to this is, why use the analog outputs of the CD player when the digital outputs sound better in most cases? `

Aside from a CD player with only analog outputs (not likely except on cheap portables), what other component would benefit from its use?

[topspeed]

How this thing can claim to not be colored, but make the sound at all different is beyond me. That's, by definition, a contradiction. If your signal was perfect going into the device, and it alters the signal somehow, it's been colorized. Period.

Well said...