Best 1 Box CD Player in the World ???

[marsilians]

Please could you mention which Arcam you are referring to? I am quite interested. Thanks.

Hi

I have listened extensively to both the CD17 and 37. Like Dinyaar noted, the quality of sound from these is simply superb. Yes, it breaks ground from the typical Arcam laid back signature, but I think it might be deliberate due to the Wolfson DACs thats used in here. I know Integra (higher end Onkyo) receivers use the same DAC in their latest AVR and Stereo amp lines.

To me the difference between the 2 is simply the support for SACD. If you dont need SACD support then the 17 is just a standout CD player. If I were looking for a player now, I would seriously consider this.

The biggest difference i noticed was the instrument separation which just took away the feeling that you were listening to the sound from just 2 speakers. (listened to the them via a Martin Logan Source pair as well as B&W Nautilus). Secondly the soundstage is so wide compared to the older models like the 192s, its phenomenol. People say this is very close to vinyl. I don't agree with that, to me it has a touch of colour to make you feel that you are listening to CD sources rather than Vinyl but the effects are just superb nevertheless.

Either this is picked new or used, its a v good purchase in my view.

Music listened to were :

Jacintha - Lush Life
Apocalypto - Movies Sound track
Gustav Holst - The Planets
Trilok Gurto & Co. - Hallucination Engine
Bob Marley - Bridges to Babylon (for live auditions)


Integrateds : CA Azur 640 & 840, SimAudio Moon I3

 

[dinyaar]

Dinyaar,
Gow much difference is there in redbook cd playback quality between the cd17 and 37 ? I understand the cd 37 is a SACD player.

HI SW,
Ya the 37 plays SACD while the 17 does not. The 17 is about half the price and if u dont have 'too many' SACD titles its better to go for the 17 IMO.

Having said that i have extensively heard the 37 while i have limited experience of the 17 but whatever little i heard its almost there.
Rgds

 

[arj]

i would rate the following very high in both musicality and resolution (there are others which do one at the expense of the other as well)

these are in no particular order other than memory flow
1. Reimyo CDT
2. Esoteric Neo series (the teacs have an lower quality DAC although the transport is fantastic)
3. Cary 306
4. Accuphase DP series
5 DcS paganini
6. Audiomeca (not sure if they are even sold these days)
7. Sim audio supernova
8. Nagra
9. Metronome T2i
10.bladelius..no idea how it is, but given the engineering it must be good !

 

[arj]

Now I've moved completely away from a disc based setup to an external Reimyo DAP-777 Dac (upgraded by David Schulte, upgrade company).
This is fed by a Red Wine USB Select device (powered by a Red Wine battery power supply). Digital interconnect between the USB Select and Reimyo is a Furutech Audio Reference III Digital cable. This is the best / most musical digital I have had in my system.

This is really cool i too have the Reimyo dac and am really on the lookout for both a good USB/SPdif converter as well a good digital cable.

have you by any chance heard the empirical audio offramp ?
also how does your USB+ dac compare with any of the CDPs you have mentioned ?

 

[Abhishek]

hi arj!

you may consider the digital cables from the chord company. they are good cables at affordable prices.

you may see them here - http://www.audiodynamicsindia.com/chord.html

regards,
abhishek.

This is really cool i too have the Reimyo dac and am really on the lookout for both a good USB/SPdif converter as well a good digital cable.

have you by any chance heard the empirical audio offramp ?
also how does your USB+ dac compare with any of the CDPs you have mentioned ?

 

[Nalzan]

The krell evolution 505 sacd/cd player is the one I use and it's an absolutely wonderful sounding player,both for rbcds and sacd's the latter both in 2 and
multichannel formats.Stereophile recently reviewed it and rated it as amongst the best in the world! Particularly spectacular when run in the cast mode in an all Krell setup.

 

[SaurabhK]

HI SW,
Ya the 37 plays SACD while the 17 does not. The 17 is about half the price and if u dont have 'too many' SACD titles its better to go for the 17 IMO.

Having said that i have extensively heard the 37 while i have limited experience of the 17 but whatever little i heard its almost there.
Rgds

For How much could one get a CD 17 for in india and where?

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Saurabh,
Arcam is distributed by Xpro Global ltd and the Delhi dealer is Sound of Music.
Tel 65515557. I think the guy is Faisal Hameed.
It should be around 50K
Rgds

 

[SaurabhK]

Any dealer in your area whom you know from whom a discount could be gotten? Delhi dealers im afraid live on another planet and to talk to them u need to drive up in a mercedes or sport a rolex at the least.

 

[deba]

Do expensive CD players really sound better?