Outstanding digital components

[tfarney]

The mighty Lyngdorf:



Ah, if I were a rich man...

Tim

[hiredfox]

The Best? What means the Best. None are or can be all things to all. If we agree that the aim is reproducing the nearest thing to the original sound, then this is also conditional on the type of music to be enjoyed. A system that can reproduce four or five electric instruments successfully might fail completely with a full 100 seat orchestra. I can only speak for the latter where most high-end players fall down very badly on timbral accuracy of string instruments. I have owned and auditioned most of the top players and in my experience, SACD far surpasses RBCD as a reproduction medium for classical music, conveying the 'you are there' experience in a way that utterly eludes RBCD. So, don't waste your money on a high-end RBCD player as only the importers and retailers will be happy - I guarantee you will not be! For the same money a SACD player will provide far more long lasting satisfaction.

In the same way as most RBCD users look down on MP3 so the gulf between SACD and RBCD is similar, they are all approximations based on sample rate and word length on the same ladder. SACD is best at the moment.

OK if you must buya RBCD player and classical is your thing then Combak's Reimyo 777 combo is so far ahead of anything else for realism that there is only one choice.

But what is the best player? Well, it's got to play SACD and RBCD for starters which the Reimyo can't do. The three main contenders are the Esoteric X-01D2, Krell Evolution 505 and Marantz SA7-S1. Of these, go for the Marantz.. it is the BEST 'CD player yet by a country mile and don't just take my word for it, ask Alvin Gold. Apart from it's price - by luck it is the least expensive of these - it offers real insight and emotion to the playback experience without sacrificing detail, dynamics, PRT and all the other hi-fi descriptors that get bandied about. Or to put it more simply it just plays music accurately and effortlessly and with great integrity.

[Marco]

Hi Firefox,

Welcome to the forum

Nice post above! I'm sure you'll get some good replies.

As per our new policy, can you please pop into the Welcome area and introduce yourself and the system you use to our members, also including your first name and basic location details?

Thank you.

Marco.

[Filterlab]

The Best? What means the Best...

The 'best' is a personal thing to each and every individual, that's why the thread is entitled "Outstanding digital component".

Welcome by the way.

[Steve Toy]

I've heard well implemented RBCD comprehensively outperform poorly implemented SACD. I know logic tells me that hi-res should always be better, but RBCD already provides us with a very decent uncompressed format that when properly implemented can still work musical wonders.

[KMair]

I don't get to listen to lots of different gear, but did get an outstanding demo of an Oracle cd1500. It was the most effortless, detailed playback I've experienced. I will someday gravitate to owning one or something of it's calibre.

[snapper]

Similar to this one,K?

[snapper]

Sorry,meant to add,the above is just the transport.

[KMair]

Yes that is the one. Lovely piece of gear and it sounds even better than it looks!

[Beechwoods]

There are two digital components which I would have to recommend:

Cowon iAudio M5L / X5 - Portable Music Player

This has a battery life of 35 hours, and a capacity of 20Gb. It's considered by many to have the best D/A of any portable, and it handles a good range of formats including OGG, FLAC, MP3, WAV etc. I have the open firmware Rockbox running on it and that turns a good player into a fantastic player. Rockbox supports virtually all non-DRM formats including Shorten, FLAC, AAC, OGG, WAV, MP3 and does this with a highly skinnable and customisable interface, and true-gapless playback. I know that the iPod does that now, but with SHN and FLAC? You can actually run Rockbox on an iPod, and it works really well, but the battery life of the Cowon and the fidelity make it the best hardware for their firmware in my opinion.

I have the monochrome display M5L, there's also the X5 which does video and colour display, but for me pure music playback is what I'm after, and I'm happy with the basic model. Can be picked up for around £100, but seems available only on eBay in the UK.

Tascam HD-P2 - Compact Flash Recorder
http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/Tascam%20HD-P2.htm

I got this as an upgrade from my DA-20MkII DAT recorder, because I wanted 24 bit recording and the convenience of solid state CF recording when moving stuff to my computer for editing. I collect a lot of live audio recordings, and transfer a lot of stuff from tape and reel to digital, for archiving. I decided it was safer to record to a dedicated machine than get a high-end soundcard and then have to worry about other stuff running and competing for CPU cycles on my Mac. The HD-P2 is portable, though it's a lot bigger than things like the Zoom H4 and Edirol that do a similar job, but it's aimed at the professional field recorder and this portability was attractive to me because I don't have much space and I often travel to friends places to record their tapes when it's not possible to borrow them for any period of time... being larger it also has a fantastic clear display that's easily readable from feet away. The HD-P2 does 16 bit and 24 bit recording, with sample rates from 44.1 up to 192khz, supports timecode yada yada yada.

Compared with DAT CF recording is a breeze. Re-take as often as you like, without wearing the tape out. Zero risk of digi-noise which was the bane of DAT even when using new tape and with clean heads. And fast to transfer to the desktop for onward editing.

Just my two-penneth!