The Audio Source Shootout

[spirovious]

Thanks,

Forget abt detailing,which sound was pleasent & more musical?
Oppo,Mar or CA?

 

[psychotropic]

like i said, i liked all of them, so you'll have to depend on the views of the others to make a more informed decision. Overall the Cambridge came out tops on more tracks than the other two for me. The Oppo had the most "sophisticated" sound. But the fact that the Maiden track sounded better on the Marantz means that I can't dismiss its merits, whereas this would be completely irrelevant to most of your audiophiles

Thanks,

Forget abt detailing,which sound was pleasent & more musical?
Oppo,Mar or CA?

 

[spirovious]

like i said, i liked all of them, so you'll have to depend on the views of the others to make a more informed decision. Overall the Cambridge came out tops on more tracks than the other two for me. The Oppo had the most "sophisticated" sound. But the fact that the Maiden track sounded better on the Marantz means that I can't dismiss its merits, whereas this would be completely irrelevant to most of your audiophiles

Thanks,I will read others views too.I m trying to get ideal BUDGET sound system/HiFi .

 

[Asit]

Hi Psychotropic,

Really sorry to hear about your missing the bus. I have a suggestion. Here goes: Can you couple your next week's trip to Bangalore with the Hyderabad visit? You would have to leave a bit earlier than originally planned perhaps. First go to Hyderabad, pick up the amp, then with it, go to Bangalore, attend the marriage and audition the speakers. This way, you will be able to audition the speakers with your amp, and then come back to Chennai hopefully with both the amp and the speakers (and then cut office on Monday because of tiredness). I do not know the distance between Bangalore and Hyderabad and if my suggestion makes at all any sense, but my feeling is they are a lot closer together than the distance to Chennai from each of them.

Regards.

Note added later: Just looked at the map. I was wrong. Bangalore is quite close to Chennai. Hyderabad is quite far away. I guess my wrong impression was from the fact that the two times I have travelled between Bangalore and Hyderabad were actually by plane, and the only time I went to Bangalore from Chennai was in a train (long time ago, by a train called the Vrindaban Express).

 

[psychotropic]

Chennai to Hyderabad is 688 kms - it's about 12-14 hours by bus. Hyderabad to Bangalore is 550-odd, again that's about 12 hours. Both are overnight. Bangalore - Chennai is abotu 360 kms. Driving myself it's about 5 hours door-to-door, but with a train or bus it's usually more like 6-7 hours.

The problem with doing Chennai - Hyderabad - Bangalore - Chennai is that it will mean 3 consecutive nights of bus-rides. That'll probably finish me off .

One possibility of course is that I go to Hyderabad, pick up the amp, go to Bangalore, and spend 2-3 days there, resting and recuperating (since unlike Hyderabad I have tons of people i know in Bangalore), and then head back to Chennai by train. Hmmmm, thanks for that idea, let me get to work on it.

Hi Psychotropic,

Really sorry to hear about your missing the bus. I have a suggestion. Here goes: Can you couple your next week's trip to Bangalore with the Hyderabad visit? You would have to leave a bit earlier than originally planned perhaps. First go to Hyderabad, pick up the amp, then with it, go to Bangalore, attend the marriage and audition the speakers. This way, you will be able to audition the amps with your amp, and then come back to Chennai hopefully with both the amp and the speakers (and then cut office on Monday because of tiredness). I do not know the distance between Bangalore and Hyderabad and if my suggestion makes at all any sense, but my feeling is they are a lot closer together than the distance to Chennai from each of them.

Regards.

 

[Rem]

Psycho sorry to hear that you missed the bus you remind me a lot about myself luckily I have never missed one may be in future

Nice to hear that the shootout went on fine but could you also mention what amps and speakers where used for the shootout.

 

[venkatcr]

Nice to hear that the shootout went on fine but could you also mention what amps and speakers where used for the shootout.

Patience, my friend. The review will have all details including photographs, albums used, songs used, all equipment details, etc.

Cheers

 

[jaudere]

Patience, my friend. The review will have all details including photographs, albums used, songs used, all equipment details, etc.

Cheers

like a typical trek leader! if you have done some serious trekking, you must have noticed this in initial few treks. all the people in the group start chitchatting right from the beginning. the leader remains silent at this point of time. by the midway, almost all are tired and then the leader comes in!. with details! and he is in command form that point onwards he will tell you where to stop, how to conserve water, where to eat, how far is the destination and all that stuff.

 

[Rem]

Patience, my friend. The review will have all details including photographs, albums used, songs used, all equipment details, etc.

Cheers

Ok sir way 2excited need to calm down now

 

[sushanthace]

Venkat Sir, Eagerly waiting for your opinions on the shootout.

Finally i got to meet a few members and got to know the people behind the pseudo names.The setting was perfect and the music even better.

Thanks Raghu (decibels) for being a fantastic host.

The excitement was unbeatable. We chose a few tracks and played it on 3 players keeping the amp and speakers as a constant.

All the technical details and review would be more accurate and better from Venkat sir. So there is nothing more i can add to what pyschotropic has said in his posts. Overall i would rate cambridge audio>Oppo>Marantz (based on the kind of music i hear).


Cheers
Sushanth

 

[psychotropic]

Oh ya i forgot to mention Raghu. What a guy. As a dealer he has nothing to gain from hosting us at his place, but he happily did. A standing ovation for the gentleman please, from everyone who may benefit from the results of this shootout.

Plus of course the Primare amp + Dynaudio speakers that he used sounded fantastic. I was listening to it and thinking 'wow, this is what high-end sounds like', and this may be why I ended up liking all the CD players and couldn't pick one decisively over the others. So let me do a bit of plugging on his behalf, if you're looking to buy Primare, Epos, Dynaudio, Creek, NAD and so on, and you're anywhere in South India (or even in any other part of India), Raghu is the man. If you're going to buy without audition, he's the guy I would trust.

 

[cha_indian]

wish we could have something like this in Hyderabad ...

 

[Rem]

Psycho as much as possible do the audition with the same amp you are getting if possible check with Sridhar or Ali of ARN to see whether they have the same 320 or the newer version of that amp at their outlet, if its there then no need to worry audition the speaker with that and you should be fine.

Once that is done you can schedule your Hyderabad trip next week and get your amp knowing fully well how it would sound with the speakers you have auditioned.

 

[thevortex]

It was a nice meet-up last Saturday. Pity was that I could not spend too much time. Sorry to hear Psycho missing the bus and wish him all the best for his selection.

I listened only to a couple of tracks on the Marantz and a couple on the Oppo. Call me a Marantz fan but I thought there was no competition between the two. For sheer musicality and pristine sound staging, the Marantz was way ahead. Although typically the Marantz sounded weak (in the bass department) and a bit bright on the Iron Maiden song.

While evaluating all this though the usage of the Primare amp must be kept in mind. From what I have heard of it, it has a very different sound compared to the NAD or the Marantz. The Primare sound is closer to a Cambridge Audio with a bit of dryness to the sound. In contrast NAD is much warmer. Another aspect is that the Dynaudio Audience 72 floorstanders function more like bookshelves - and I say this in a good sense, really. They image very very well and are very coherent and clear. On the flip side, they dont really have outstanding bass response for their size. The Audience 52 bookshelf in contrast is stunning in its bass response. Truly stunning.

These are from my very brief stay there - half an hour's worth. I would love to listen a bit longer to the Oppo - maybe later on if Venkat has the time.

 

[thevortex]

psycho - not to throw a spanner in the works - but have you ever thought of the possibility of using a HTPC as a source? A decent HTPC with a good sound card with songs played on a top class software player will easily beat any of the setups that you heard out there. Keeping the Amps and speakers constant of course.

Also HTPCs are not too costly as well. However I must warn that you lose the natural plug and play type of experience that equipments such as DVD players and CD players offer.

 

[moserw]

However I must warn that you lose the natural plug and play type of experience that equipments such as DVD players and CD players offer.

As if anyone would want that compared to having an endless playlist or queuing up all the albums from one particular artist like I'm doing today with Porcupine Tree, not to mention the original CDs are safe from scratches and there is no deterioration in the SQ of the digital rips you have on the PC.

 

[psychotropic]

hey vortex, it was a real pleasure to meet you that day. Yes, I think my next upgrade to my source, whenever that happens will be to a PC based one. But it's going to be maybe 2 years or so from now, till then I'll make do with the Marantz.

psycho - not to throw a spanner in the works - but have you ever thought of the possibility of using a HTPC as a source? A decent HTPC with a good sound card with songs played on a top class software player will easily beat any of the setups that you heard out there. Keeping the Amps and speakers constant of course.

Also HTPCs are not too costly as well. However I must warn that you lose the natural plug and play type of experience that equipments such as DVD players and CD players offer.

 

[thevortex]

As if anyone would want that compared to having an endless playlist or queuing up all the albums from one particular artist like I'm doing today with Porcupine Tree, not to mention the original CDs are safe from scratches and there is no deterioration in the SQ of the digital rips you have on the PC.

Not a big thing for you and me. In fact I can make do even without a remote control or even a wireless keyboard or mouse. But I guess not many would. So I guess thats a fair warning

By the way did you check out cPlay 2.0b29! It is splendid, amazing. I am out of words to describe this version. (For the uninitiated this is a software player of the highest order - sorry for the diversion)

 

[moserw]

Not a big thing for you and me. In fact I can make do even without a remote control or even a wireless keyboard or mouse. But I guess not many would. So I guess thats a fair warning

By the way did you check out cPlay 2.0b29! It is splendid, amazing. I am out of words to describe this version. (For the uninitiated this is a software player of the highest order - sorry for the diversion)

Updated just yesterday, hence been on a listening spree since this morning with Porcupine Tree, Jimi Hendrix and now starting with Buffalo Springfield. It sure makes my music sound better, way better in fact.

 

[psychotropic]

hey vortex, is it amazing and splendid for its sound quality or for some features, interface aspects? how much difference does the software make to the sound quality?

Not a big thing for you and me. In fact I can make do even without a remote control or even a wireless keyboard or mouse. But I guess not many would. So I guess thats a fair warning

By the way did you check out cPlay 2.0b29! It is splendid, amazing. I am out of words to describe this version. (For the uninitiated this is a software player of the highest order - sorry for the diversion)