Trying to find a new digital reference

[purite audio]

Over the last year or so, I have been trying to discover exactly what digital ( initially just plain CD ) is capable of, this was driven partly by curiosity ( to discover whether digital could get near vinyl ) and partly because as a 'dealer/distributor ' I wanted to find some exceptional products at different price points that I could sell. I have and continue to listen to as many players /dacs here at home as I can lay my hands on, at this moment I feel that while there isn't a huge difference between players/dacs there is enough ,and that a really good DAC CDP can really make you wan to listen to CD.
I am interested to hear your experiences of players at different price points, and especially if you have heard something really exceptional, here are some of the players I have listened to in no particular order, Meridian 507 588 808, MF Nuvista, Naim 555, Audio Note UK transport and Dac5 ( expensive any way ) Audio research CD7 DCS Scarlatti DCS Verona elgar plus ( old reference system ) Tascam cd pro ,ACK DAc, MSB Platinum Lavry 924 Beresforsd AMR cd77 Nagra Consonance something or other Pink Triangle Da Capo , current favourites are the Lavry MSB and my new Stahl -Tek, ( shoot out coming up ) .
I really would be interested to hear your thoughts , Keith.

[Marco]

Hi Keith,

If you were nearer I'd bring down my Sony DAS-R1. It's a truly exceptional piece of kit that has an uncannily natural way with music, which is rendered without the 'edge' or 'grain' normally associated with CD; in fact it has all the attributes of good vinyl. Consequently one can listen to music for hours on end without any fatigue factor whatsoever, and yet the sound is also very dynamic and detailed. It's about the nearest digital sound you'll get to that of vinyl when done well.

Basically, I'd try to listen to anything that uses Philips TDA1541 S1 or S2 multi-bit chips, as I feel they are the catalyst for the type of reproduction I have described. Obviously though much depends on correct implementation. Hopefully Leo will comment on this as he has much experience in this area. Meanwhile here's an interesting link showing which CDPs and DACs used the TDA1541:

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/...r/TDA1541.html

Marco.

[Filterlab]

So far the most natural digital source I've heard is the dCS Scarlatti transport/clock/dac running via Halcro amps into a pair of Verity Audio Parsifal speakers. It was at the Scottish hi-fi show last year and I genuinely thought a live band was playing before I walked in the room.

However, the importance of setting up components properly was demonstrated with finesse this year as the full Scarlatti system at the Manchester show was downright murky sounding, presumably from the components being balanced on some faux Tudor oak furniture and partnered with some 'better looking than sounding' amps and some unknown speakers.

[Filterlab]

By the way Keith, have you tried that gorgeous DAC on a stand at all?

[Togil]

In the Far East MBL is very popular because of its analogue sound. I have the 1531. I'm not sure which chip it uses, the player is very heavy and seems to concentrate efforts on the transport section.
Unfortunately because of the strong Euro MBL seems to be finished in the UK

[Filterlab]

MBL?

[Nick]

MBL?

Here you go -

http://www.mbl-germany.de/english/start.html

[Filterlab]

WOW! Now that's a nice player:



Cheers for the link, I'll have a thorough read later.

[purite audio]

Marco Hi, I will have to look at some older machines using the crown and double crown chips, I think the Audio Note UK transport and dac ( which was a £30k combo ) may have used one ,but that was dull and soft as s**t , another disappointment was the Abbingdon Musical research cd77, I had very high hopes for that sadly no.
A fair number of the systems I hear have very strident treble ,I wonder if that is why some NOS dacs are popular rolling off the treble would help in those cases.
Off topic, JC not remembering who he was posting as, is the funniest thing I ahve read for a long time.

[Filterlab]

Off topic, JC not remembering who he was posting as, is the funniest thing I ahve read for a long time.

Hehehehe, it's hilarious!