abecollins

Responses from abecollins

New ARC CD Player, and their take on SACD ?
Cary 306/200 does 192KHz upsampling. It has 8 24-bit Burr Brown DAC chips and PMD200 HDCD decoder/filter for HDCD playback. MSRP is $5000 but nobody pays near MSRP for this player. 
Help My
You may have spoken with "Knut" at CJ. He's a great guy and has helped me in the past with various CJ questions. I picked up a used CJ PF-R a couple weeks ago and use it with my CJ Premier 11a. It's a very nice preamp for my taste.. and I've gone ... 
High End CDP's that play CD-R & CD-RW's?
Some older CD players simply will not play CD-R. A few others are sensitive to the quality of the media. I've had great luck using bargain basement el-cheapo CD-R's in my Sony XA7ES, Adcom GCD-700, Sony car CD player, Cary 306/200, Sony DVP-S7700 ... 
Adcom GCD700 random mode ills
Hmm, my GCD-700 drawer doesn't sqeak, yet. The changer will *usually* play two random tracks from one CD then move to another random CD. This is "hands off" without using the "next track" button. It doesn't bother me much because its faster going ... 
AMC out of favor?
Trelja, although I respect your opinions, I don't agree with your list of high-end manufacturers who you claim have "fallen out of favor" and your list of those who have "taken their place". It is true that as audiophiles we have more to choose fr... 
Passive pre with Bryston 7B ST??
Interesting comments from Mikem as I had similar experiences with a couple passive preamps into my CJ Premier 11a tube amp. The Adcom GFP-750 was "lifeless" in passive mode and was somewhat better running active. I still didn't care much for the A... 
Very Basic Tube/SS Pre-AMP/AMP Question
And to add to what Tubegroover has said, your other components like the speakers will play a big role in which brand of electronics will suit you best. For example, my Thiel CS 1.5 speakers are not lush or warm in the mids and this may be why I li... 
Does Cary stack up to ARC
Tom, I probably should have tried some tube rolling in my ARC LS16 too. I was using it with the stock Sovtek 6922 tubes. It wasn't bad at all and it had all the qualities I like in a tube preamp except it could have been a little more extended cov... 
Adcom GCD700 random mode ills
I think this is normal. Mine will usually play two, maybe three tracks from one disc (in random order) before going to another disc. I believe this saves on mechanical wear and tear. It seems reasonable to me. 
Does Cary stack up to ARC
I cannot comment on Cary but I owned ARC VT100MKII and LS16 and found them both to be outstanding but not quite the sound that I prefer. I like a warmer sound and for that reason I kept my CJ Premier 11a amp which I'm presently driving with a pass... 
Very Basic Tube/SS Pre-AMP/AMP Question
I've tried various combinations and for now have settled on a passive/buffered preamp with my Conrad-Johnson tube amp. There is no right or wrong answer. Common wisdom says to try a tube preamp with a ss amp. I have but I still haven't found the r... 
Do i get the old or new Classe amps?
One additional note. There are TWO styles of CA-200. One with the heat sink fins on the back and the newer style with the heat sinks on the sides. The version with the fins on the sides is the model most identical to the CA-201 electrically. It is... 
Do i get the old or new Classe amps?
I have owned Classe DR10, CA-100, CA-200, CA-300. The CA-100 was truly an improvement over the DR10 especially in low-end bass detail. It separated the instruments better and was slightly more transparent over all.I have listened to the CA-201 and... 
Best Used DAC for 1000?
DACs of five years ago are selling for 10% to 20% of their new price.... because thats about all they are worth. Modern less expensive DACs will often out perform the so called "A" rated megabuck DAC's of years past. 
XA7ES, Miles, Cary 301, ARC CD-1?? Direct to amp..
My only comment is on the Sony XA7ES since I own one. It drives my amp directly and sounds its best this way - bypassing the preamp all together. For the price, you can't go wrong. Its a very good sounding player on its own and you can improve it ...