I picked up my Arcam amp after repairs this morning and took the opportunity to do some listening. I heard a T+A integrated and CD player driving a pair of Dynaudio Focus, a new series from them. This system would cost just over $9k. Speakers were $3k, CDP $3,300.00 and the integrated about the same. This may sound like a large price tag but comparatively the system sounded worth every penny. The T+A is nice gear, if you get a chance, check it out. T+A cdp and SACD players have an interesting feature and I need to look into it more to understand what and how it works but they have 3 to 4 sound settings you can choose. I don't know if it is some type of filter, sound shaper or DSP and the salesman wasn't up on it yet. While listening I went through the different settings and they seem to have more to do with spacial effects than altering the frequency response. The shop had a $4,500.00 SACD that was a trade in and the guy said the cd section sounded better on this machine compared to the stand alone cdp. I brought it home for a listen. The T+A players do not have balanced outputs. So far I prefer my Krell kav-280cd. The Krell has a slight advantage with balanced circuits and outputs, and an upgraded power cord. I need really to do more listening but I feel the Krell sound as more weight overall. The T+A is leaner sounding. For instance on piano the T+A has more air or silence around the notes while the Krell seems to let the notes ring longer and give more textures. So which has more detail the one with the extra information that some times melds the notes together or the one that lets you hear every note with some breathing room? I prefer my 280's high end. Trying to put the difference into words, the T+A is brighter and cymbals have more shimmer, nothing offensive, while the 280cd the cymbals seem to have more weight or the metal sounds denser. Both units have very good bass response the difference here between the two is similar to the piano, a bass line on the T+A is leaner or tighter while on the 280cd you can hear each note but the string has more reverberation sound. I would describe T+A as Arcam on steroids.

The shop also recently picked up Cambridge Audio. I listened to a small combo and thought for the money it was good The little 60 wpc integrated pushed a pair of Audience 42's pretty well.