Mr Peabody
07-12-2008, 10:19 PM
I didn't think these thoughts individually were enough to start a thread of their own so here's another wrap up on yet another journey to the audio shop.
I basically went there to see the new Marantz A/V gear, see separate thread, and to shop CD players. My transport died and I was on the fence as to what direction to go. They had a NAD Master series SACD and an Arcam cd192 both on demo clearance. i was thinking they'd make a great transport and alternative DAC. The NAD got some respect from me, it struck me as ( warning audio adjectives ahead ) warm and analog sounding but the detail was more difficult to pick out compared to the Arcam. The cd192 made instruments sound a bit thinner than the NAD. In the end I was going to check out the Arcam in my system because the detail won out but then he hooked up a T+A he wanted me to hear. Big mistake, I should have ran. This was an incredible player. So I am giving it an audition now. At first my Audio Note DAC was giving it a run for the money but more back and forth made the differences more apparent. I may be going back to a single box player.
I also heard some Audio Analogue gear that was being evaluated as a possible new addition to the line up. It was a CD player and integrated amp. I think each piece was around $2,100.00. Together they had a sound that made me think the makers were trying to immitate classic tube gear sound. It was polite enough but seemed to have a bit slower pace to it. We started hooking other CD players to the integrated and it turned out to be a pretty decent offering by itself, it seemed to be the CD player that gave the slower pace and most of the stereotype tube signatures.
In the course of running through all this gear we also used an Arcam integrated and some T+A separates. All this time on each system they were played through a pair of little Dynaudio Focus. My impression from some here on the board is that the Focus line might have been some type of detour for Dynaudio. My impression was quite different. My attention was on the electronics and conversation so it took me a bit to look over to notice the speakers, they were bookshelf speakers on a stand. I about fell out because I thought we had been listening to floorstanding speakers. The bass response and imaging from this $2,200.00 (recent price increase) bookshelf was amazing. Compared to the Audience series the highs on the Focus were more refined, not as aggressive, but they were still extended and quite nice. With this being said the only demo disc we used was a Jazz album by Peter White. The speakers were still neutral enough though to allow us to hear differences in not only the variety of players but also the amps used.
I guess maybe they could have been separate threads after all :)
I basically went there to see the new Marantz A/V gear, see separate thread, and to shop CD players. My transport died and I was on the fence as to what direction to go. They had a NAD Master series SACD and an Arcam cd192 both on demo clearance. i was thinking they'd make a great transport and alternative DAC. The NAD got some respect from me, it struck me as ( warning audio adjectives ahead ) warm and analog sounding but the detail was more difficult to pick out compared to the Arcam. The cd192 made instruments sound a bit thinner than the NAD. In the end I was going to check out the Arcam in my system because the detail won out but then he hooked up a T+A he wanted me to hear. Big mistake, I should have ran. This was an incredible player. So I am giving it an audition now. At first my Audio Note DAC was giving it a run for the money but more back and forth made the differences more apparent. I may be going back to a single box player.
I also heard some Audio Analogue gear that was being evaluated as a possible new addition to the line up. It was a CD player and integrated amp. I think each piece was around $2,100.00. Together they had a sound that made me think the makers were trying to immitate classic tube gear sound. It was polite enough but seemed to have a bit slower pace to it. We started hooking other CD players to the integrated and it turned out to be a pretty decent offering by itself, it seemed to be the CD player that gave the slower pace and most of the stereotype tube signatures.
In the course of running through all this gear we also used an Arcam integrated and some T+A separates. All this time on each system they were played through a pair of little Dynaudio Focus. My impression from some here on the board is that the Focus line might have been some type of detour for Dynaudio. My impression was quite different. My attention was on the electronics and conversation so it took me a bit to look over to notice the speakers, they were bookshelf speakers on a stand. I about fell out because I thought we had been listening to floorstanding speakers. The bass response and imaging from this $2,200.00 (recent price increase) bookshelf was amazing. Compared to the Audience series the highs on the Focus were more refined, not as aggressive, but they were still extended and quite nice. With this being said the only demo disc we used was a Jazz album by Peter White. The speakers were still neutral enough though to allow us to hear differences in not only the variety of players but also the amps used.
I guess maybe they could have been separate threads after all :)