CJROSS said:
Knyght what type of stereo amp are you listening to it on ? Most of the negative views Ive seen on hifi fora are from people comparing the 2910/3910 to the 2900 and hearing it on decent £500-1000 Stereo amplifiers.
ok, when i demoed my 3910 in the shop, this is what i went through....
3910 hooked up to 3805 and also Musical Fidelity stereo amp somewhere around £1,500 (i honestly cannot remember which model now..lol) Then tried a 2910, 2900 (last one they had, already reserved for someone else, it was what i originally went in to buy...lol), Arcam CD player (£400 model, cant remember which now either) and finally a Cyrus CD6.......these were all hooked up using the same high quality cables to a pair of Monitor Audio Silver S6 series speakers with Strata 5 subwoofer (this is what i have at home so made sense, not likely to upgrade these speakers for a long time)
And just to make sure, these are MY OWN OPINIONS, based on what my ears like to hear etc, im sure other people will disagree with some of this and im happy if they do.....i buy hifi for ME to listen to tho so my opinions count for me, if you want to try equipment based on what i've said then go for it, dont blame me if you have different findings. (ok disclaimer over...lol...time for the results)
3910 on surround amp beats 2910 and Arcam (bass tighter/defined, mid range more neutral, treble less distortion)
3910 on stereo amp beats 2910 and Arcam (same as above to a slightly better degree)
3910 on surround similar/slightly better than 2900 (better bass i found, mid range similar, treble similar)
3910 on stereo amp similar to 2900 (no part sounded particularly better, different maybe but not better, i'd say 2900 was warmer, the 3910 more clinical)
3910 on surround amp inferior to CD6, noticeable but not necessarily a big difference (CD6 was tighter on mid bass sounds, seemed to control deep bass slightly better too, higher midrange and treble didnt actually seem to much difference)
3910 on stereo amp inferior to CD6, this was quite a bit more noticeable (in comparison the CD6 improved with a stereo amp dramatically to it being on a surround amp, and went up in detail and control on most counts, didnt think it would be quite such a difference but it was.....might have to get a CD6 in the future...but only when i can afford such a nice stereo amp too...the guy in the shop said it sounds good on cheaper stereo amps as well, but it seems to really like the Musical Fidelity he had setup).
there ya go, thats what i found when i listened...but just to say it again, thats to music i like, on speakers i own, with my ears.....heh...
anytime you wanna spend good money on hifi, demo it first, get opinions from people sure, but in the end its your ears that have to endure or enjoy it ;-)
(oh lastly, to stop the usual response of 'your ears dont hear the differences, you just imagine them knowing which bit of kit you are listening too'. I didnt know which kit i was listening to, he'd setup say the 3910 and the 2910 to an amp but not say which way round, i'd listen to both say which sounded better and noted the differences, then he'd do the 3910 and CD6 etc etc. If you demo equipment and they are willing to take an hour or two to let you, the do it this way.....its very useful.....i obviously wound up wanting the CD6 but thats not a DVD player so i couldnt, but i did choose the 3910 as the best of the DVD players with my ears..so im happy)
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