Demo booked, bring on the contenders...

[Claus]

Saturday morning is first day in the hunt for "new digital front end". Cloney get the first shot at coming up with the goods, as I got the green light from the Minister of Finance (wife) to make an investment.
I am willing to let myself be surprised and go with my ears more than with hype. I am leaning towards a DAC solution, but the feeling of putting CDs into chunky machines, is hard to ignore...

I am also looking at the Stello CDA500 U2 which is getting a lot of rave in Denmark and 6Moons. It is able to play 24/96 over USB at 2700 euro on special at Danish dealer.

There's also a couple of Gamut CD3 on the second hand market in Denmark at 2400 euro. But of course with no digital input... Hmm...

I am hoping to go to Kronos for a demo as well before last decision is made.
I will keep you posted,
Claus

[Diapason]

I have neither advice nor comment, but I look forward to your findings!

[Fran]

Yes, and if you can make it along on Sunday, there will be a few DIY dacs that may serve as benchmarks....

[Claus]

Thanks Fran, I have been given the green light for your function as well. So it will be very interesting, although hard to compare on very different systems I suspect. I was tempted to ask for a loan of the rDAC and bring it along on Sunday. I would like to see how it would fare against you DIY efforts. I have read some worrying reports about the burn in taking weeks and the DAC not really settling in to its initial positive impressions... Hmm...

If I go for a DAC I still will need some kind of decent transport I suspect....

[tony]

Best of luck Claus I know how you feel .I pick up a cyrus cd8se today from Noel. Got a trade in on my cd8x and had sold my tuner recently so cost was not prohibitive. Even better in a moment of obvious temporary madness I was allowed put a deposit off a pair of spendor a6's.
To camouflage and spread out the cost I will be taking delivery in late march. Havent the courage to mention the word dac yet. I keep stuttering over it.

[HiFiFan]

Hi Claus
you might want to consider the Resolution Audio Cantata see http://resolutionaudio.com/cantata.html

I know someone who bought one a few months back and he loves it, this guy has gone through a lot of gear and told me it was one of the most analog sounding digital systems he has ever heard. Interestingly Steve Huntley (former Wadia and still owner of Great Northern Sounds who do great mods on ARC, WADIA and previously the Opus 21) joined resolution audio in Nov of last year.

The Cantata Music Center is a big leap forward from the Opus 21. It's a big leap forward from even the GNSC modded Opus 21's. The improvements are not subtle in terms of dynamics, resolution, depth, a sense of being in the recorded space, focus, etc. It still does all the great things the Opus 21 does....that great analog like flow to the music and it's overall engaging character...it just does it to a higher degree....plus the other improvements.

[cybot]

Here's another one, this time from Icon Audio which, incidentally, came tops in a shoot out against makes from the likes of Creek, Leema, Consonance, Roksan etc in this month's edition of Hi Fi World. Happy hunting :-)








http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio- ... 766/review#

[jkeny]

OK, I love a challenge.

How about giving the MK2 modified Hiface a whirl? As a transport or as a fully integrated DAC (with 24/192 ES9022 DAC from ESStech).See the MK2 Hiface reviews on this sitehttp://tirnahifi.org/reviews/?page_id=9 & the latest one here: http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/in ... hiface-mk2.

I'm hoping to be down in Fran's on Sunday but away in Cork 'til then so won't get a chance to put anything together for Fran's I expect!

[Ivor]

Hi Claus
you might want to consider the Resolution Audio Cantata see http://resolutionaudio.com/cantata.html

I know someone who bought one a few months back and he loves it, this guy has gone through a lot of gear and told me it was one of the most analog sounding digital systems he has ever heard. Interestingly Steve Huntley (former Wadia and still owner of Great Northern Sounds who do great mods on ARC, WADIA and previously the Opus 21) joined resolution audio in Nov of last year.

The Cantata Music Center is a big leap forward from the Opus 21. It's a big leap forward from even the GNSC modded Opus 21's. The improvements are not subtle in terms of dynamics, resolution, depth, a sense of being in the recorded space, focus, etc. It still does all the great things the Opus 21 does....that great analog like flow to the music and it's overall engaging character...it just does it to a higher degree....plus the other improvements.

that looks (sounds?) really interesting, is there a price? I didn't see one.

[Claus]

Great suggestions guys. Thanks! Resolution Audio looks like some piece of kit! But at 6000$ probably out of my reach (despite bailout etc.). Looking forward to a hifi weekend!