Update gear or not?

[j.postema]

Thanks for your reply. In that case I would opt for keeping the Quad MKII and add a new cd-player. Unless there would be a significant sonic / technical improvement when replacing the amplifier. But as far as I can tell based on limited experience and reading there would be no significant improvements.

[Macca]

Depends how much money you want to spend on an amplifier. I think there is better out there but not cheap. And if you are happy with it why change?

CD players are pot luck really. I have about a dozen and they are all different, although I would not say massively so. Getting that synergy with the rest of the kit is what matters and that's trial and error.

[Pharos]

Thanks for your reply. Longevity and soundquality are more important to me than esthetics. That's why I find it hard to choose what option would be good: at least I think I should replace my cd player in near future because it is old and had skipping problems. But I prefer the new player to match esthetically with the pre / power aplifier. At the same time, I have no idea how a different amplifier would interact with my big electrostatic loudspeakers - they are not the most common / easiest type of load (capacative). As far as I'm aware the Quad 606 MKII is very stable and has no problems to drive difficult loads like my big panels. So I think I would either keep my Quad amplifier and replace the cd player, or replace the complete system. I'm still a bit afraid of future problems (service) for the Quad power and pre-amp - just because of it's age. (around 30 years) I'm not sure if this is an acutal problem.

Quad have been for a long time, and still as far as I know, very good at servicing, and even on very old stuff. Alan Shaw of Harbeth has recently praised Quad for this.

It seems to me that the match between your power amp and speakers will almost certainly be very good.

IMO you should treat the power amp as a server for the speakers, and the pre as a server for the power amp.

Signal sources are another matter, and I regard them as a very separate issue to be considered entirely on their own, although matching can be aesthetically pleasant.

[Made in 1968]

Depends how much money you want to spend on an amplifier. I think there is better out there but not cheap. And if you are happy with it why change?

CD players are pot luck really. I have about a dozen and they are all different, although I would not say massively so. Getting that synergy with the rest of the kit is what matters and that's trial and error.

I dunno why you are not a Fan of the Sony 'XB-930' machine, if its the inbuilt DAC or the filter settings just add another DAC. but its a pleasure using it, i could never to back to a standard drawer now after using a fixed lazer mech.. It very reliable too. I bought it new when it came out which is over 10 years ago & believe me it gets long sessions on a regular basis. Ive been told the standard model sounds better than this UK Special Edition, that i don't know.

[Macca]

I dunno why you are not a Fan of the Sony 'XB-930' machine, if its the inbuilt DAC or the filter settings just add another DAC. but its a pleasure using it, i could never to back to a standard drawer now after using a fixed lazer mech.. It very reliable too. I bought it new when it came out which is over 10 years ago & believe me it gets long sessions on a regular basis. Ive been told the standard model sounds better than this UK Special Edition, that i don't know.

I could never get on with the XB930 in any of the dozen or so systems I went through during the time I had it. It always sounded a bit stodgy to me. It was the UK edition though, maybe the normal one is different. Although the bloke I sold it to said it gave pretty much nothing away to his £3K whatever. He bought it for his daughter's system IIRC but couldn't resist trying it in his own set up first. . It obviously really suited his system for some reason I cannot grasp.

Now the SCD-XB790 is a different matter, always sounded a bit bland and too smooth (like a lot of SACD-capable players) until I got the Krell-DCB1 set up and then it came into its own, Quite amazing sound quality, up there with the best digital I've heard anywhere. And I only put it in to test that everything was working before I went upstairs to get a 'high-end' player but when I heard what it was doing I just left it in.

That's what I mean about it being pot-luck to an extent

[Made in 1968]

Strange innit. Its the longest surviving CDP ive had, Just think it sounds good to me, I did use a vintage '502' for a bit but it had to go over issues but i still had no desire to sell the '930'.. I think the standard also has an headphone output. Thus UK spec doesnt..

[Macca]

I agree about the XB930 being a joy to use though. Fantastic build quality.

[Barry]

I have an XB930 which replaced an XB720. I now keep it as a second spare CDP, but when it was in use I was quite satisfied with the SQ. Playing around with the filter settings was inconclusive due to the short period of silence when switching between settings - in the end I just left it to setting "1".

[Lawrence001]

I dunno why you are not a Fan of the Sony 'XB-930' machine, if its the inbuilt DAC or the filter settings just add another DAC. but its a pleasure using it, i could never to back to a standard drawer now after using a fixed lazer mech.. It very reliable too. I bought it new when it came out which is over 10 years ago & believe me it gets long sessions on a regular basis. Ive been told the standard model sounds better than this UK Special Edition, that i don't know.

I had one for a couple of years but I much preferred the SCD-940, the only thing was it overheated and started playing up, I had 2 that did the same. And it didn't play my CDRs but it sounded so good I didn't care.