sunster
Active Member
Do you Purchase from Amazon.com to India. Hows your experience with electronics?
Post your latest AV purchase(s)......
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RajithKumar
Well-Known Member
Hi the setup looks nice.. Do you feel dedicated cd player required for pm 6006 as it has inbuilt DAC.Just share your thoughts. I'm in a dilemma to go for separate cd player or not. Currently I'm using Samsung bluray for playing cd and flac. files via coaxial input to my pm 6005. It sounds good. Any noticeable improvements in sound will be there if I use separate cd player (cd6005).Sure, Center and my whole setup
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I have been contemplating this review for few days & wanted to Post in DAC/CDP section where it will be more appropriate; but Anyways
I Had 7 Types of Setups which I compared in my place
A. CDP(Marantz CD6006) ->Gungnir ->NAD Amp (C372) - > Spkrs
B. CDP -> NAD amp (All CDs/MP3/WAV)
C. BDP (LG BD 450/ Sony S1500) -> Gungnir -> NAD Amp
D. DVDp(Pioneer DV266) -> Gungnir -> NAD amp
E. DVDp -> NAD amp
F. Pioneer BDP180 ->NAD amp or Pioneer BDP 180 -> Gungnir -> NAD amp
G. with a Cheap TUBE Buffer (Preamp ) in between these Combos
Few Observations through my trained ears .
SQ wise A>B>D~F>E>C
1. BDP (C) as a transport via DAC , was worst among all, as the Sound stage and sharpness (audio resolution) was much inferior to above combinations. in-spite of giving 192khz output it was pretty unbearable to listen to. Same with the FLAC and MP3 played via bdp.
2. A & B were very neck to neck ; but I clearly preferred A any day. The difference was less obvious with good source like CDs and WAV files, With MP3 even 320kbps the difference in SQ was very obvious for me. A is definitely superior but if you have good CD or uncompressed format collection (FLAC, WAV) don't waste money on DAC. Instead invest on good CDP with USB Play support as required. If you use MP3 or streaming content Like Airplay, Saavn buy a good DAC instead.
3. Pioneer BDP with Gungnir DAC was third best (Though small but universally appreciable difference from option B) and the most VFM solution where you get to avoid a additional CDP. surprisingly the vintage DVD player (DV266 only 96khz output) was very enjoyable as well. Pioneer BDP 180 without a external DAC was good enough for non critical listening. Probably OPPO BDPs with audiophile enhancements will be almost equal to mid-range CDP like CD6006.
4. Tube Buffer Just modulated Voice/Piano/Acoustic Guitar/Violin notes to a more musical sound signature , at the expense of some details in HF range. A good quality tube preamp will probably be my next investment.
I used MX 12AWG speaker wires and cheap shielded Belkin interconnects, Music mostly Bollywood, ARR and popular English Rock numbers. Since I used multiple inputs of NAD I could switch between various inputs on the fly and could gather reasonable information. I will try to do some blind testing later if possible.
Denon X2200w didn't fare very inferior to NAD whenever CDP was used , but USB play from Denon was much inferior to Marantz CDP USB play. so also it required volume to be cranked above 60% in stereo mode most of the time.
in a nutshell if your source is good CDs or FLACs the additive SQ is less incremental but a Good CDP is a better investment (of course with a CD collection or invest in Good DAC & Network Player if source is FLAC/MP3/Streaming Music) and you can decide about upgrading your amplification (from Stereo Int amp to Pre-Power/Monoblocks) later.
Again Strictly my observations ; take with a pinch of salt.
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RajithKumar
Well-Known Member
Thank you very much for the feedback of different combos .It helps many people who plans for such kind of setup. My source is CD and FLAC mainly ,but unfortunately the CD6005 doesn't recognise the FLAC (seen from the spec).if was so ,I can straight away go to CDP. Another option I have seen is Universal BDP from Marantz UD7007 which has good DAC for audio too.Also got some good feedback about this from one of our forum member who is using both Marantz CDP & UD7007 .So still I need to explore further little bit. What is your opinion on this.Thank you once again.
UD 7007 isn't known for its audiophile sound quality as far as I know. Nevertheless it should be easily better than Pioneer Bdp 180 as far as audio performance is concerned. If you are adding a dedicated DAC (midrange DAC) to UD 7007, it should be a good setup.
I had most of my music in Flac format ; I've converted it to Wav format very easily. Converting between uncompressed formats is pretty easy. Wav playback on cd 6006 is pretty awesome, equivalent to Cds. Its worth the extra effort. You already have a decent Amp PM 6005 : add a good (source) CD player like 6005 and you'll have a great setup. Howz the USB player performance of PM 6005?
What I've realized is Source is a significant determinant of the end quality apart from the speakers. Even the cheaper Smsl amps should perform reasonably well with superior quality Source.
RajithKumar
Well-Known Member
Yes definitely, the source really matters lot, after hearing flac. Wav format, I almost stopped hearing mp3. Pm 6005 doesnt have USB playback option. Its available in Cd6005. Thank you very much for your suggestions.
I have heard from one of the user of cd6005, it doesn't accept some CD, (even may be new also). How your cd 6006.
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I have a roughly 300+ Cds, some my own compilation, I haven't faced any issues with CD reading. Few badly scratched Cds(which had lot of issues while playing in other players as well) : I ripped to Error free Wav format (using free:ac, exact audio copy softwares etc) I could get most of the CD data back with precision.
So even if you were to encounter a non readable CD, just rip it to Wav format and enjoy. In fact I've ripped most of the Frequently used Cds to Wav and enjoying the convenience it offers . If you don't have a large CD collection buy a good network player with USB support (like CA Cxn, Marantz NA 8005 etc) - Add a dedicated DAC later, if the performance is unsatisfactory.
Thanks
RajithKumar
Well-Known Member
Nice to hear about CDP and the information . NA8005 will be out of my budget. So thinking of CDP.
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yanky1586
New Member
35k which included shipping
RajithKumar
Well-Known Member
Happy to inform that I have added one more Dai sub e-12f to my setup .Now going with dual sub setup ,need to find good placement .
Dinesh29888
Active Member
Picked up a pair of "Polk Rti-A5" from Profx
With Csi-A6 as centre
DSW 660 as Sub
OWM3 as Surrounds
With Yamaha RX-V581
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Hi Rajith,
Congrats, How are the twins performing??
You bought it in Chennai? Do you mind sharing the price and where you bought from. Planning to get a sub to go with my zensor7 5.0 - contemplating b/w this one or pb1000 or sds10. also do you know anywhere they have the e-12f for demo?
Thanks
vinothkumar
Well-Known Member
Congrats, have u hooked them up? If so please share about the performance the a5 as well as the amp
Picked up a pair of "Polk Rti-A5" from Profx
With Csi-A6 as centre
DSW 660 as Sub
OWM3 as Surrounds
With Yamaha RX-V581
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vinothkumar
Well-Known Member
And also pls share us the price independently if possible
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Bought Chromecast audio to stream music from WD. Quality and connectivity are good. Waiting for mini toslink to toslink cable to connect with DAC.
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Post your setup after connect with DAC
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