LP sound from CDs

[Lee Henley]

I know 3 folks whose ears I trust that rate the valved Jolida DAC very highly.

Personally, I'd recommend a Beresford Bushmaster DAC as well.

In my system the Jolida is the most LP sounding Dac Ive ever heard. Its seen off quite a few other dacs that I have had the pleasure of listening too at home, some of which Ive actually owned, these being

Owned and sold by me at a considerable loss since I brought them all new

Cambridge Dacmagic
M2Tech Young
Audiolab CDQ
Eastern Electric Tube Dac

Borrowed and tried in the system when evaluating the options

Naim nDac
Northstar Essensio
Metrum Octave

Its quite amazing that apart from the Dacmagic the Jolida is the cheapest on the list Ive tried and its the one thats staying, Im no longer looking for a Dac and I no longer spin cd's, all my files are played on a Mac Mini straight into the Dac via a Hiface for coax connection.

Hope this helps

Lee

[Marco]

Easy on the ears all day long means summat's afoot IMO AND IME - SO THERE

Not necessarily. I can (and often do) listen to music on my system, quite literally, ALL DAY LONG, as the sound it produces, amongst other things, is 'easy on the ear'. However, that term is very subjective!

Marco.

[Alex_UK]

hmmm... well, yes, if it's NOT easy on the ear all day for me it gets the boot! But I think I know what you mean Dave!

[jandl100]

Live music is not necessarily easy on the ear - it can be raucous and uncomfortable, be it a jazz saxophone at full throttle or a violin played to its limit. I prefer to aim for the unvarnished truth.

Hee hee - - this is a very contentious subject for an audio forum!

[DSJR]

I'm sorry, I do still differentiate between 'easy on ears' and 'bland' but as usual, didn't express it properly.

[Yomanze]

Live music is not necessarily easy on the ear - it can be raucous and uncomfortable, be it a jazz saxophone at full throttle or a violin played to its limit. I prefer to aim for the unvarnished truth.

Hee hee - - this is a very contentious subject for an audio forum!

Yep agree with this. Sometimes your system should make your ears hurt a bit if that's what the music set out to do. Take distorted guitar, or Joni Mitchell tearing mics apart, as other examples that can be 'raucous', but that's the point! I have had systems that didn't really portray these bits instead making everything softer, smoother, but they were fatiguing in the wrong way as they were boring!

[high.spirits]

Thanks for all the feedback and comments. It gives me many options to think about.

My aim is to get reproduction as near a live performance as possible e.g.
I went to a Swan Lake performance many years ago (the Moscow Ballet Company if I remember correctly).
I have a Deutsche Grammophon LP of Swan Lake and it is very close to the live performance. Very different to a Decca CD I have which is flat and boring.

To start narrowing down the options:

On the CDP front – does the Marantz CD63 II Ki Signature or Quad 67 CD fit the bill as described by Marco.

On the turntable front – rather than fiddle with my current turntable, what would be a good upgrade using currently available equipment at a sensible cost and not going esoteric?

cheers
Martin

[Audioman]

My criteria for a 'vintage' CD player is one you can get replacement lasers for. Also would concentrate on a good transport. Can't recall hearing a CD63 KI but remember an impressive Quad dem with the 67. How it really stands up to current designs I am not sure and don't know if it is still serviceable. Marantz players I have heard that impressed have generally been the more upmarket designs. I wouldn't get hung up on multibit either as it is the implementation that counts. There aren't many 1541 based designs less than 20 years old.

I also don't think it is a desirable or realistic aim to get concert hall sound at home. It realy is impossible to replicate that kind of sound. Also bear in mind most recordings are studio based rather than live concerts. Invariably the later are tweaked in the studio to iron out flaws and render them playable on domestic equipment that is usually not of hi-fi quality.

[julesd68]

Here's a cheap DAC that promises more of an 'analogue' sound -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Non-Oversa...item2ec8735917

I know next to nothing about DACs so maybe someone who does could comment on the tech specs and whether it is a potentially interesting product ...

[DSJR]

I once had the chance to listen to a variety of 1950's Decca CD A-D masterings with the engineer that did them. I commented on the differences as some were sweet and more than one was a bit rough and almost harsh. "That's EXACTLY what the masters sounded like!" he replied with feeling, very proud at getting the transfers done to exactly mirror what he heard from the original tapes, which incidentally were in far better condition than many of the 60's and 70's analogue tapes he'd worked with...

CD SHOULD get you nearer to the heart of the original mix, assuming the recording, editing and mixing was done well to start with. I'm sorry to be so negative on the Thorens, but updating the cartridge to one the SME III and other tonearms will work with, together with the phono stage suggestion, which I haven't heard, should lift your vinyl experiences to another level.

The CD63 KI version could be strident in many systems and it was perfect for slugging with the old MF X-10D valve buffer, or better, the DAC that MF made in the X series at the time. For not too much money, I do feel you could leapfrog this once popular machine with something like the far better cased Arcam Diva 72 and 82 machines or my long-term favourite, the original Rega Planet CD player, still serviceable and tweakable should you wish to look to some bodging (look on the Acoustica site for inspiration for the Planet and CD63 models)..

Hope this helps with future direction.