Source recommendation poll

Which of the following options would you recommend for under $5k on the used market?

  • Musical Fidelity NuVista

    Votes: 2 7.7%

  • Wadia 861

    Votes: 15 57.7%

  • Levinson 390S

    Votes: 2 7.7%

  • Levinson 360S DAC

    Votes: 2 7.7%

  • Levinson 36 DAC

    Votes: 1 3.8%

  • Sim Audio Eclipse

    Votes: 2 7.7%

  • Naim CDS 1

    Votes: 1 3.8%

  • Naim CDS 2

    Votes: 5 19.2%

  • Naim CDX 1

    Votes: 4 15.4%

  • Naim CDX 2

    Votes: 4 15.4%
  • Total voters
    26
bifcake

bifcake

Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Messages
45
Reaction score
0
Location
NY
Here are the choices of CD players given my criteria that members of this forum recommended in my other thread. If you would, please vote in this poll to help me better gauge my choices. For a more complete list of requirements, look in the "source recomendations" thread.

Thanks
 
Of the choices you've given us, I ticked Wadia 861 but listen to a DAC64 if you can :) With a DAC64 (or any other decent DAC) you don't need to spend a bundle on a transport. $1000-1500 would be more than enough.

Michael.
 
Sadly Michael, the 35 is somewhat outdated these days, I reckon even the Chord would annihalate it;)

I can't vote as my recommendations, the AA and CD3 are not on there:( Also appears to be some kind of mistake at the lower end, with all that old Naim gear appearing:D
 
I'm going to chuck another in the works Bif what about a TRivista several on audiogon for under $5K :D Ultra smooth and detailed and clean, no fatiguging
Problem is what is you fave presentation? some of these players are chalk and cheese, I've owned 3 of them, as for the Naim stuff, come on :eek: The densen is ok for sure, but not in the same league, plus realiablilty issues as well.
Bif are you air and space and ultra detail person?, or PRAT,bounce life and drive (without grain) and interest. It would help us define the paramiters more mate. WM
 
bif,
there is an old saying - measure twice, cut once.
audition, audition, audition, and then audition some more. none of us know what sort of presentation you like you can try to describe it to us and we can have fun making suggestions based on that but at the end of the day it's your ears and your system. most people with gear of the calibre you are aiming for are willing to give you a listen before buying and if you are up front with them about needing to kick the tyres and having other kit to listen to i'm sure they'd understand.
if i were in the market for a 2nd hand cdp i'd be looking to buy from a dealer - either ex demo or trade in because then you at least get some comeback if the transport goes pop after 3 weeks. if you do go the dealer route then you should be ble to get a home demo and most are up for bargaining so you could get the price down a bit. you'll have to pay a premium for the security of buying from a dealer though.
the other thing to do is to go and take a listen to new kit that is the same or similar to the kit you're interested in 2nd hand. cheeky i know but hey it's your ears and your dosh.
personally i'd recommend one of the naim players although this is a definate statement about how i like my music cds2 if you can afford it .
cheers

julian
 
I'll try to address a few points here.

I'm not averse to sampling the Tri-Vista provided that it does redbook really well. I don't foresee myself getting into the hi-res formats any time soon.

To give you an idea of my sound preferences, I heard the Levinson 360s DAC driven by a high end Sony DVD player as a transport and I thought it was just heavenly. I listened to it on a Cary 300SEI with my headphones and you couldn't pull me away from that setup.

I heard the MF gear and I liked it quite a bit, but I didn't hear it on a really high, high end system.

I heard Krell 25kps (or whatever the model number) driven by a pair of Krell 600c monoblocks into JM Lab Utopias and that was out of this world as well.

I heard Classe gear feeding Revel Salons, and I liked that quite a bit.

I heard Levinson feeding B&W 800 (or whatever their current highest end model is) and you couldn't pay me enough to put up with that. I thought it was just awful.

I heard Boulder gear feeding JM Lab Grande Utopia Berrylium and I wasn't impressed.

I've never heard Wadia, Naim, Sim Audio or the more esoteric gear.

I hope this gives you an idea of the type of sound quality that I'm looking for.

BTW, I know that I liked that 360s combo, I was just wondering if I could get something that was even better than that for the money.

Oh, and another thing, you can choose more than one option on the poll.

Thanks
 
Bif,

WM's comment there is saying that you seem to veer more to what he calls "hifi rather than music" (Krell, Classe etc). The TriVista is good at redbook, in the same way as the NuVista - and similarly is not everyone's cup of tea (just as Naim is not - but at the other extreme).

When I was trying to avoid going so far up-market myself, one dealer had a moan at me about people in the UK finding a sound they liked, then trying to get it for half the asking price, whereas in Europe they tend to find something they like....and then buy it.

You could be in the same position. You've heard a set-up you really like. So that's your benchmark. From here there are two options. If you like the demoing process, take your time and demo everything you can find, then buy what really wows you on sound quality and/or VFM. Allow up to a year for this.

Alternatively, find a very short list of things with very different presentations (e.g. 861, Sim, Trivista, maybe Naim CDS2 and DAC64 although I personally don't think these are in the same league). Allow no more than a month for this. Try them with your own gear (as a headfi setup it should be fairly easy to transport around). If any of those wipes the floor with the ML (to your ears) get them, otherwise get the ML.

Then forget that any other sources exist and just enjoy the music.
 
I don't know where some people get their ideas from about Naim CD players. It's my experience that most CD players sound pretty similar to each other - the tiny differences are hyped-up no end on internet forums. Having said that, I've never heard an American player sounding good.

The CDS2 has an extremely accurate clock and 'times' like a turntable. It is a very, very good CD player. If you buy Naim second hand and don't like it for some reason, you can always sell it on & get your money back, it holds its value.

With the newish Naim CDS3 and the forthcoming £12k player next Spring, there may be a few CDS2s coming on to the s/h market. Not mine though!
 
Hi Devil,

I understand that we're on the margin of differences here, however, $5k is a lot of money and I want to spend it in such a way as to get the margins in a way that I like. I would also really like to get a player for a lot less that would give me the same performance as a $5k player.
 
Originally posted by The Devil
I don't know where some people get their ideas from about Naim CD players. Having said that, I've never heard an American player sounding good.

The CDS2 has an extremely accurate clock and 'times' like a turntable. It is a very, very good CD player.
Click to expand...

James,

I think even PM, a rabid Naimee, admitted that the CDS2 is a bit long in the tooth, being very surprised that the lowly Rega at 20% of it's value ran it very close.

It vertainly has something, I grant you. In fact, most of the US players mentioned in this thread are far more rounded in their capabilities than most UK product. They tend to have less overt personality than the likes of Chord and Naim, preferring to be damned good across the board than to excell in one particular area.

Of the US players I have had the good fortune to audition, Wadia and Theta have the most obvious personality, Levinson probably has the least. With Levinson, nothing really reaches out and grabs you, but then again, nothing is done badly enough to cause offense (a bit like dCS over here)
 
Of course!! Buy the cheapest CDP in the Universe and put it on lots of Mana!

Beware the Densen - it plays music.
 
Eh? I've heard several cheap digital 'solutions' on big Mana stacks whereas you've not heard any of the things you've poured scorn on recently.
 
You are correct is some respects Alex. I've never heard a 'warbling' LP12, neither have I heard the weird effects that you claim Mana has on the 'second halves of notes'.

The Marantz isn't/wasn't a 'cheap' CD player (by most people's standards). It is, in fact, very good.
 
Hi.

Your auditioning seems to be lots of different speakers and amps - IME that makes it impossible to draw any comparisons between them.

I'd do as GrahamN said - try your favorite options at home and pick your favorite.

I'd also go ex-dem (especially on a CDP).

From the editions of stereophile Ive read, NY seems to be awash with high end dealers, so that shouldnt be a problem for you.

Your difficulty in asking the question on a UK forum is that we dont always have the same products in our dealers -

For example no use me reccomending the £3k valve driven electrocompaniet, you probably cant hear one!

NB
I picked the evergreen 861 from the list.

Cheers
Chris
 

Latest posts

Back
Top