2. digital
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no excitement from my Cambridge 840 cd

Purchased a Cambridge 840 anticipating a whole new ball game with my NuForce amps. Bottom line: I get more sound, notes I never heard before ......... but at the expense of soundstage, depth, the bloom that comes from very good setups.
Current system:

Cambridge 840 cd
Zu Audio Varial balanced i/c's
Adcom 750 preamp
NuForce balanced i/c's
NuForce 8.5 v2 amps
NuForce speaker cable
PSB Stratus gold-i speakers

Here's the kicker: I've been using a Sony CDP 555es, cd changer. The sound is gloriously deep, a wide stage with notes that bloom out of nowhere. A deep silence.
On this the i/c is a Mapleshade original (thin wire) i/c.
Now, I've tried mixing and matching: putting the Mapleshade's between the Cambridge and Adcom, but nothing comes close to that sound I get from my old Sony es changer.
Shall I sell the Cambridge player or try different i/c's ?
danbern3aolco
danbern3aolco OP
14 posts
 
Oh yes- the power cords and such:
Cardis Quadlink from each NuForce amp
Audience from Adcom preamp
all going into a PS UPC 200, with Wattgate wall recepticle
lwood
61 posts
 
Pretty much my feeling on it, except I found it to be much more of a 'digital' sound than my rig, a Denon 1560 as transport and an ART DI/O modded DAC by Boulder cable....I keep trying to kick that combo to the curb, but it has staying power!! Good luck
celtic66
990 posts
 
Here's the deal. Firstly, the Cambridge is probably not broken in. Leave it powered up at all times and within a month of use it should much better. I owned this unit and it benefits greatly from an external DAC which fills it out, images better and gives more dynamics. My Audio Sector DAC smoked the onboard. Good luck.
lwood
61 posts
 
I thought the big deal with this CDP was it's internal Wolfson DAC's...if not, it's not much of a robust transport.
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