CD player Auditioning tips?

[Hawklord]

I'm in the process of looking into upgrading my CDP (An Arcam CD72T). I have booked a slot to audition some kit tomorrow (Audio-t Basingstoke) and was hoping for a few hints as to get the best out of the experience. I'll be taking some of my favourite cd's along to judge the relative performance of each player but would you recomend anything else?
I'll be listening to various makes (Linn, Cyrus, Rega) as well as the next levels of the Diva series Arcam have to offer. They also mentioned that they have the Naim CD5i available for audition but this is slightly over of my budget at around £825.
Are there any other makes I should listen to around the £700 mark that I have overlooked?

any help much apreciated

 

[bobbypunk]

Try out the Roksan Kandy for about £600
and The Exposure 2010 is well worth a try at about the same!

 

[Hawklord]

no one have any opinions of players in this price range?

Is the Naim highly thought off or am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

[John Dawson]

Remember you can upgrade the CD72T to full 82 or 93 specs for £200 and £550 respectively! This would leave you something over, say for top quality interconnects for example.

The 93 in particular is IMO more than competitive with anything else you mention. Of course an audition is what counts but see also this month's Hi-Fi Choice for a panel led review.

John Dawson (Arcam)

 

[Hawklord]

Originally posted by John Dawson
Remember you can upgrade the CD72T to full 82 or 93 specs for £200 and £550 respectively! This would leave you something over, say for top quality interconnects for example.

The 93 in particular is IMO more than competitive with anything else you mention. Of course an audition is what counts but see also this month's Hi-Fi Choice for a panel led review.

John Dawson (Arcam)

I will definately be listening to Arcams offerings

What interconnects do you recomend? I'm currently using a 0.8m Van Den Hul D-102III Hybrid is this of suitable quality?

Hawklord

 

[Bernard Barnett]

Something else to consider is to retain your CD player as a transport and add a DAC. Definitely worth a listen. I have an old Arcam Alpha 8, bought a second-hand Tag DAC 20 and the difference is impressive. The Tag also allows you to play high-definition CDs (HDCD) which in my view are superior to SACD and DVD-Audio (scurries for cover).

 

[337GUS]

Hi

Loads and loads to choose from if you are prepared to go ex-dem / used:-

Musical Fidelity 3.2
Roksan Caspian (old one not M)
Rega Jupiter
Meridian 507
Quad 99

Not heard these but maybe worth an audition:-

Marantz CD17
Sugden CD21

Or as suggested Tag DAC20 or MF 3.24 DAC. If you have a decent DVD player you could use it as a transport and sell your 72 and fund some of the upgrade, a Trivista DAC would maybe be in reach then as well.

Gus

 

[Hawklord]

Just got back from a good auditioning session with my wallet £825 lighter lol.
Listened to a cyrus cd8 (with and without power supply bit), Arcam CD82T and CD93T, Rega Jupiter, Naim CD5i and a few others I can't remember tha names of
They used a similar set up to my home kit (Arcam A80 amp and Linn Katans (they didn't have Ninka's but are a similar tonal match)) and I took along the best of the cure, best of Chili Peppers and Echo and the bunny men Songs to Learn and Sing for comparison.
First off I listenend to the upgrade path Arcam have on offer starting with the CD82 then the CD93. I noticed an imediate improvement with the cd82 over my cd72 but was less noticable between the cd82 and cd93. The sound was more detailed , transparent and neutral as you would expect with the Arcam sound (which is what I'm used to). I initially bought my arcam kit when I had some B&W 602 S3's which did a good job of taming the bright sound they had and complemented the B&W's admirably.
Since purchasing my Linn Ninka's which are more relaxed in their presentation (imo) I thought it'd be very interesting to see what other manufacturers had to offer and see what character they could add to these speakers. I feel I was looking for something more dynamic and warm if you get what I mean
I then compared the Cyrus cd8, Rega Jupiter, naim CD5i and a couple of others using the CD93t as a bench mark to beat (if possible).
All were very impressive and comparable to the cd93t just different in the way the sound was presented. I got this list down to three being the CD93t, Cyrus cd8 and Naim Cd5i.
I prefered the sound of the cyrus best of all with the Naim coming a very close second. They seem to offer more warmth and feeling to my choice in music making the Arcam seem more clinical and a tad lifeless in comparison. The music seemed to sound more enegetic and emotional with the cyrus and naim.
The next step was purely a matter of money I'm afraid so I ended up purchasing the Naim CD5i purely as it seemed to offer more value for money at £825. The cyrus would've been my choice given I had the extra funds but never mind I'm sure the Naim is a wonderfull compromise.
Just to rub salt in the wounds the demo guy brought out the next level up Naim (the cdx2 I think). This completely blew my socks off but I nearly fell of my chair when he told me the cost (£2600). He did offer a good finance package but I didn't take the bait lol.

Sorry if my experience of this audition is not very descriptive but I find it hard describing what I'm hearing

so I'm soon to be a proud owner of a Naim CD5i and will have to sell my CD72t at the earliest opportunity.

thanks for the pointers and help people

 

[Andywilliams]

Hi Hawklord
Moorgate hifi have the cyrus cd8 for 799 quid if thats what you would rather have.
Cheers Gonzo.

 

[337GUS]

The Naim CD5i has no upgrade path unlike the Naim CD5 as far as adding a flatcap or hicap PSU which may affect it's resale value.

I think you should consider the Cyrus CD8 if that's what you liked best even if you have to wait or shop around.

In your shoes I would always be wondering whether I should have got the Cyrus. Also the CD8 can be improved with the PSX PSU.

IIRC Moorgate just sold an ex-dem Naim CD5 for £750.

Just my 2 pence

Gus

 

[Hawklord]

The deals been done and the cdp is being delivered next week. I'm happy with the compromise i have made. The cd8 only bettered the Naim with the additional power supply anyhow (imo) which put it out of my price range at this time. I can see the cd5i lasting me for many years to come and there are other sides of my set up that will need upgrading before the cdp (my amplification for a start).

I'll just have to get on with enjoying the extra deapth and feeling this cdp appears to give me over my current cdp

I hear Naim kit takes an age to run in too is this right?

thanks for your thoughts

 

[337GUS]

Originally posted by Hawklord

I hear Naim kit takes an age to run in too is this right?

Yes, the CD5i maybe even more so, but then all new kit takes a while to bed in and sound at it's best.

Gus

 

[Hawklord]

I've another thread about the available connection options the Naim has can any one help as I've not had much luck in the cables section of the forum:-

I've just ordered a Naim CD5i and noticed that it offers a Din conection as well as the usual rca phono's. Would there be any benefit using this over the normal rca connections. I currently use van den hul D102III hybrid interconnect to connect my cdp to my amp would there be an improvement if I used say a Chord Chrysalis Din to rca phono cable instead?
I will be using one of the connections to go to my integrated amp and the other to my GSP solo headphone amp so which should go where?

thanks for any assistance