Some musings on the CDT-10.
I've been running the stock NuPrime CDT-10 power cable, and using a VH Audio cryoed Flavor 1 PC (designed for digital components) into my Denafrips Pontus II DAC with great sounding results. The other day I needed to hunt through my cable collection due to reconfiguring a video component, and stumbled across a beefy VH Audio cryoed Flavor 4 PC - unused and forgotten since I parted ways years ago with a mono amp pair. Great opportunity to hear what upgrading PCs would do for these two components, and I took advantage of my find: after cleaning the newly unearthed PC's connectors with Caig's Deoxit, and conditioning them with DeOxit Gold (used to be called ProGold), I swapped the VHF4 onto the Pontus II, the VHF1 onto the CDT-10, used the IsoTek burn-in cd for a few days, then gave a listen.
More positives to everything, which was not unexpected. The VHF1, designed for digital components, presents seemingly a pleasant synergy with the NuPrime CDT-10 unit and an increased performance over the stock cord. [FWIW, the Pontus II DAC boasts of its encapsulated linear power supply (which in part uses dual o-core transformers), so to me it's no surprise that those transformers / the power supply likes being fed by the beefier VHF4 (which is unshielded "in order to maintain unrestricted macro and micro dynamics".] Audio improvements were heard in, and not limited to: bass extension, macro/micro dynamics, soundstage height and depth, background blackness (even though it seemed pretty "black" before!), instrument placement (orchestral work proved so revealing), etc. Spinning the Cowboy Junkies' "The Trinity Session" proved a sublime experience.
Loving the extensive input section of the CDT-10, and I've used all of the following with good results: AES/EBU, coaxial, and I2S; the optical input remains, and will remain, unused. So far the CDT-10 sounds similar when using each input, yet I prefer using the I2S. As of yet I have not tried to sub out the CDT-10's stock I2S cable...yet. A very small CDT-10 nit - I wish the unit could show time remaining information for track / cd, maybe a future iteration will. The NuPrime CDT-10 is repeatedly proving to be a "sound" investment and a synergistic pairing with the the Pontus II DAC and my other system's gear, thanks NuPrime. The unit runs cool, looks good in black, operates noiselessly, and is pretty fully featured. YMMV
Happy listening!