Thanks for your suggestions, I'm going to do some research on your Cambridge Audio D300 player. What receiver do you use with it? I'm totally not into vinyl because when I originally collected this stuff in the 60's & 70's- I've basically spent all my money on replacing all my vinyl albums with Cd's and replacing those CD's with the latest greatest remastered version, I scratched my records to smithereens! Oddly enough, when I play my CD's on my JVC receiver on the Marantz I had for all of one day, the dound was much better digitally through an optic cable than playing it through analogue cables. I also the next day then bought an Onkyo DCX-390 Cd player, and playing the same CD's as I did the Marantz, found the sound much better to my ears but still not as good as the sound coming from my original JVC DVD receiver set up.

If you want email me your address and I'll make you a CDR of "Revolver". I'm curious as to what you think of the sound.

As I said earlier, when I was around 12 or so, I heard Revolver on someones stereo system for the first time, I had never heard a stereo record before and it sounded like the Beatles were performing live in the room. I wish I knew what the guys set up was. I have never heard any recording sound as good since.





Quote Originally Posted by dean_martin
Two suggestions, one of which will cause some around here to take up arms and the other has its own drawbacks:

1) this is the more controversial suggestion - I prefer the Crystal brand digital to analog converter in my Cambridge Audio D300 cd player to the Burr-Brown 24/96 DAC in my AMC cd player with older and poorer recordings. I've had these players for 4 years and I've done several comparisons between them and have included a Panasonic dvd player with Burr-Brown 24/96 DACs in the comparisons at other times. At first, I thought the CA sounded smoother because it was less detailed, but then I began to hear the details that were so pronounced with the other players and concluded that the CA tended to blend everything together rather than causing or allowing things to pop out which results in a weightier rather than a leaner overall sound with some cds. This characteristic tends to mute the tizzy treble nasties and also alleviates the lack of bass to some degree with some early pop/rock recordings. It doesn't fill in bass, but it draws your attention away from the lack of bass. The Crystal in the CA D300 is an 18 or 20 bit DAC. (I think 16 bits is the redbook cd standard. I have yet to understand why it's necessary to have a 24 bit 96 or 192 Hz chip set to play back a 16 bit 44.1Hz medium.) So, I guess I'm suggesting that you audition different cd players. One that has the reputation (in some circles) for sounding "warm" with exagerated bass and rolled off highs is the Rega Planet 2000. If you want to take a hit or miss shot for relatively little money, check audiogon for a used Cambridge Audio D300, D300SE, or D500SE cd player. If you can track down a tube cdp like a Jolida it may be worth it to spend a couple of hours auditioning it with some of your favorite older recordings.

Some argue that there are no differences in sound among cd players, or, to be more precise, that you can't prove there are differences in sound. (Some would argue that I can't prove that the differences I've mentioned are due to the different DACs and they're right.) Most of the time I don't detect any differences, and the differences I've mentioned are probably so subtle that it's taken me 4 years to draw any conclusions. Chances are you want hear night and day differences when auditioning cd players, but who knows what YOUR ears will hear.



2) this is the more expensive suggestion - try a turntable. I've compared some early cd releases to their lp counterparts and have found the lps to be a tad more balanced with a little more bass weight. The releases I've probably spent the most time comparing are early REM albums. The first cd releases of albums like Murmur and Reckoning simply suck. The original lp versions do a slightly better job of filling out the bass and they don't have that irritating treble. But the version that brings out everything that was actually recorded for Murmur with the best presentation is the Mobile Fidelity LP. I have some remastered issues of 1960's jazz and rock (mostly Rolling Stones) on vinyl that sound as good as any new release on cd. Some of the studio recording equipment back then was actually very good, but inconvenient or cumbersome. With a little luck, you can get your hardware (table and cartridge) for less than you could get the cd players mentioned above. The biggest expense will be in reconstructing your cd collection on lp. You can find tons of remastered Beatles on vinyl. In fact, I think there was a recent re-issue.

BTW, I have early cd releases, probably '89 or so, of the White Album and Abbey Road that I haven't listened to in ages. I do remember that the Abbey Road cd sounds similar to your description of Revolver. I'll revisit them and post if there's anything relevant to report.