$1200 vs $200 cd players

[theaudiohobby]

RGA,

Get your facts right, Martin Colloms gave the honour of best digital playback ever to the Naim CDX3, where he said that 'It has surpassed every digital implementation to date, and that it does this for the existing CD catalogue...' (HFN 10/2003)

[RGA]

There is nothing wrong with my facts. Nice try but there is a date issue here. He reviewed the DAC 5 in 1998 and again in 2000. You post a review from him of a $24,000.00 cd player in 2003. This still does not apply to Paul Messenger or Bob Neill - both of whom like Naim as well. And to give Naim their just credit from my own personal standpoint if I were looking at SS gear Naim would be on my shortlist. I am not going to get into this debate that you seem to be under the impression that the ONLY product I will recommend is Audio Note. What I am saying to you is that if a reviewer you respect wheher it be audio or film - comes out and lists a DAC or cd player as best - do you take his word ONLY? No anyone who did that would be an idot. Even if I respect him or say a Roger Ebert I am not goingt o JUST accept his word for it and agree that Citizen Kane is the greates of all film ever. No, I am going to find out about his runner ups.

The fact of the matter is the BOTH Naim and Audio Note(and they're not alone) make in the reviewers opinions "WORLD Class" sounding DACs. The decision STILL rests with YOU and ME and every other individual. Would you say that if a DAC such as the AN Dac 5 with all the unanimous praise and the odd detractors is now totally not worth even auditioning? That the same reviewer who loved the DAC 5 is a nut but now that he says somehting good about Naim he's now a genius again? No only a moron would say don't audition it. So If someone was shopping in the $25,000.00 range they would or should be listening to several such CD players and decide which sounds best for them. After all Stereophile had a Cambridge Audio CD player in their recommended componants listing and the same model was totally rubished with a 2 star rating in What Hi-fi - OBVIOUSLY the reviewers didn't hear it the same in that system.

If you notice I never ever tell someone to BUY Audio Note unless they can go and hear it first. I don't want anyone buying without auditioning - by the same token though people look for personal experiences - I tell people what I compared what I heard directly against other equipment. I merely stated way back that having heard mega buck cd players compared to cheap entry cd players - I noticed the most improvement in sound a more open natural presentation which allowed me to hear more of what was going on with the 3.1 cd player. That does not mean that if the Naim player in this system was used that I would not have preferred the Naim - it may very very very well be the case that I would rather the Naim player. I am not glued to one piece of gear. For instance in my signiture you cans ee my upgrade path - but you can bet your ass that when it comes time to actually buy I'll be auditioning several of the competitors in my price range. Those are there becuase I liked what I heard from them but I did not do an A/B test with other Turntables - ie; I did not spend all day or several days a/bing the TT1 versus a similarly priced Rega or Linn. I can say that I very much liked the TT1 musically. But Rega and linn are not dogs by any means. This applies to DAC's amps Speakers etc.

However ultimately there is also a system matching componant to all of this as well - you simply cannot match anything with anything and get a truly great system - even the magazines quantify their reviews by saying that. So in fact you may elect the 4 star cd player over the 5 star cd player because the 4 star sounds a helluva lot better in your system and the 5 star could be pretty banal sounding. The constantine Soo article of the AN E suggested that with matching amps - some worrked a lot better than others -- all the amps were excellent from several different manufactures and by themselves terrific pieces of gear - Bryston makes great amplifiers - but it REALLY depends on what speaker you plan to use because the result can be abysmal then again the result can be "you don't need to spend more on a Krell" excellence.

[theaudiohobby]

RGA,

In the end, your last post brings us back to where we started, i.e. The Audio Note DAC is not transparent. Also, your comments about the filters, distortion etc is just so funny, you may think that you are making sense but all you are showing is your ignorance. When UHF bought a new reference player, they bought a Linn Unidisk , I think you should read their comments on the new digital formats.

[RGA]

RGA,

In the end, your last post brings us back to where we started, i.e. The Audio Note DAC is not transparent. Also, your comments about the filters, distortion etc is just so funny, you may think that you are making sense but all you are showing is your ignorance. When UHF bought a new reference player, they bought a Linn Unidisk , I think you should read their comments on the new digital formats.

Actually I think it is you who knows little about the cd format - the first cd players are very reminiscent of the AN DAC's - the ORIGINAL theory was best but they Sony/Phillips could not get it right. But you should know that right. UHF bought a $16,000.00 all in one player - your point is what. They said the AN system bettered their reference player. I would hope a player 5 times more expensive and from a great audio company like Linn would be better than a 5 year old discontinued bottom of the line AN DAC and Transport combination. They state no such thing - The AN is not what they want - an all in one player.

Not transparent - nothing is transparent - analytical the word is different from analytical the adjective associated with the luistening experience - no music should EVER "sound" subjectively analyticall or cold. Bob Neill reviewed the AN and a good Naim player. I trust him more than you.

[lumiere]

I am not going to get into this debate that you seem to be under the impression that the ONLY product I will recommend is Audio Note.

I wonder where would he have gotten that idea from.