Tubed cd player or dac ?

[JohnT]

Im trying to decide whether to go with a tubed cd player like the JoLida jd-100, or cary, sonic frontiers or use my rp-82 as a transport and get a nice dac ead 7000mkIII, bel canto, perpetual..I have a very transparent analog bypass on my pre-pro and need a good source thats smooth and full bodied...anybody have any opinions or experience with any of thes components ?...really would apreciate any input

[Lex]

No experience with tubed CD players. I'd guess put your money in the DAC wouldn't be a bad way to go. I'd like to do the same for my S7000 integrated tube setup sometime.

Lex




Cable Guy DVD Collection

[David Meek]

John,

I don't have one yet, but almost universally, the Musical Fidelity A324 DAC is considered a steal at $1099. That leaves a LOT of cash to buy music and movies. Check it out.




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[JohnT]

Man, that Music fidelity is perty looking 8O ...If I got a dac I wouldnt mind buying used...I wonder how the more expensive older dacs compare to the less expensive newer dacs ??.... Ive been continuing to read great things about the jolida jd-100, plus I think it has a digital out...could get dac and jolida , use the jolida with digital out and analog outs and compare to see whether I prefer the dac or analog outputs and sell whatever loses ?..

[awtryau89]

John,
I know what you are going through and I know that you know what I am going through. Anyway now that I have said that, I would definitely look at the DAC. Ricky can chime in here but it is my experience that you can take a pretty average transport and add a DAC that has a very good jitter reduction chip and it will do 98% of what a good transport will do. If you like the Perpetual I can put you in touch with one of the owners of the company here in Atlanta and he will sell you a P3A with full warranty at 40% off. You can spend around $60-$80 less and get a used one but it does not have the warranty. This unit will not give you the 30 trial though. I have owned MSB, EAD DSP -7000II, Theta, Audio Alchemy and others. I can tell you that it will be personal preference and to my ears there is alot more going on in a DACs output stage than anywhere else. I think you can get less DAC processing power but better output stage and have better sound. One last comment, look at the Anadyne DACs on Audiogon. They were outstanding in there day and still are. They feature a tube output stage and variable gain. The Adapt was over $2500 new and goes for around $400-$500 now. It was built like a tank and will give you the tube sound with much better DACs than you have now.




Eric Awtry
War Eagle

[JohnT]

Eric,

40 % off is a great deal, how much is listed price on the perpetual dac ? and also for the external power supply (p1 or something)..have you listened to the perpetual with or without the external power supply ?..I ve read good reviews on this but they say it is twice as good with the supply...I will look into the other dac you mentioned...also there is the cal sigma II tube dac ?

[Bob]

A small group of us in the Manhattan Beach area of CA get together once a month, rotating houses, to listen to music and kick the tires on our audio gear. One of the group started on a search for a new CD player almost a year ago. It became a search that we all got involved in. First of course we listened to all the variations that we each owned, we all own ARC/Vandersteen systems so listening at each others homes made it easier. We went through Theta, Meridian, Gamut, Cary, Oracle, Granite Audio (which was almost chosen), Marantz, Shandling (looks great sounds awful), Ayre (another close contender), the search stopped with the ARC CD3. However, we don't have a Musical Fidelity dealer in the area. Could be that we didn't get a chance at hearing something even better. Wadia wasn't considered because of the cost.
When I am on location, like now, I have my own home made "boombox" portable system. I took a Theta Miles that I bought used for $500 and a inexpensive creek amp and a inexpensive Marantz tuner and pre amp, but them all in a case custom made by Anvil along with some little NHT speakers. The front comes off, the speakers get spread out and Volia, music.

[awtryau89]

John,
The List is $799. You do the math. The Monolithic Power Supply is extra.




Eric Awtry
War Eagle

[sattothestars]

Personaly I would stay clear of the PTs as they are pretty much ho hum .If you punch in PT in Audiogon there are masses of them for sale,and obviously there is a reason why.There have been sopme good ones mentioned here,but I would ad the Kora Hermes 24/192 with Auracaps,use 6922 tubes and has an excellent sound.You can find them used at a very reasonable price on the net.Another is the Audio Note,1.1,but they are hard to come by.Sonic Frontiers also made some fine DACS.




JLF sattothestars