RCD-955 & RSP-1068?

[june]

Hello All,

Any using this combo? I did the jazz CD test this morning with coaxial vs. analog. The coaxial sounded smoother & less brighter. Also by using the coaxial, we can get the signal from HDCD's. Any thoughts or coments?

We also are using Paradigm Ref Studio 100s v2 speakers.

[grit]

Could be a few things. My first is to make sure that when you are listening to the analog connection, the 1068 is in "bypass" mode. Otherwise, the 1068 is taking the analog signal, converting it to digital for processing, and then BACK to analog via it's DACs. If you are using a sub, also check your speaker crossover settings. For a fair comparrison, set the sub to none.

In general, I prefer an analog connection from a CD player over a digital one. Places where you could be falling short there is the quality of the CD player and quality of the analog interconnects. I can't speak for the RCD-955, but I purchased a RCD-1072 AFTER I got to bring one home and test it against my RDV-1060 in both analog and digital.

[bleeding ears]

June, I have the 1068 and rcd965bx, which I think would be similar to your 955, I guess.

I have used $600 analog cables from the cd player to the processor and I have also tried a $70 coax from cd to processor.

I heard no difference in sound quality with iether cable

Most seem to hear a brighter or thinner sound using digital cables, which is the opposite of what you are hearing.

Are you using decent analogue cables?

I compared my rcd965 to my onkyo dvd player in analog and the dvd player won. My cd player may be leaving me soon.

The 965 did not sound bad it just was not my preference.

Have you fiddled with the many settings on the 1068 processor.

I have found by changing settings the sound changes considerably.

Also different discs can sound very different, you said you get HDCD through the digital, perhaps you are just hearing a better sound with HDCD.

Perhaps a few more sessions with other cds and altered processor settings will give a better picture of what is happening?

I am interested to know more.

Pete