[doug s.]

hey steve, i can hear that di/o begging to be put under the knife, uh, er, i mean soldering iron.  for <$100 worth of parts, you can have it sounding quite a bit better than stock.      and, get two cheap isolation transformers, one for the di/o, the other for the hk; it will increase detail lower noise floor, a/o any negatives...   

doug s.
ps - i never heard the yaqin buffer; but i concur that there are better buffers than the m/f units, (at least the first series),  which i found a bit loose, coloured and lacking in dynamics...

[SteveFord]

Phono stage comes first - I'm really more of a vinyl fan, actually.
Back to our tube CD player thread...

[Neogeo333]

Dont forget the French Audio Aero.  I have one of there Prima cdp still sounds pretty good.

[wisnon]

What about a limited edition Lampizator? Only 3 made and may be gone soon.

http://lampizator.eu/shop/viewitem.php?productid=189

€800 is about $1000

[KKM]

Heart had sold some tube players at a reasonable cost and great performance. I have the CD5000 base but here is a review of the 6000:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/heartcd6000_e.html

[rollo]

    For us we tried all the wannabe DACs [ under $1000 ]. The ART DIO graced our home for quite some time. Modded power supply, RCAs, caps and more goodies. It was maxed out. It was very very good for the money. Actually Ka Boom for the buck, however no class "A" player. Close but no cigar.
    Then a Lector 7TL CDP Mk1 came along. Using 12AT7 Telefunkens for gain and cathode follower just bliss. If you can find one used which is rare give it a listen. Looking for the Mk1 DAC at this moment. Just cannot find one used. New they are expensive and the MK2 NOT the same in tonality.
   Not a huge buffer fan either. More cables, more circuitry just more. My 2 cents anyway.


charles

[doug s.]

    For us we tried all the wannabe DACs [ under $1000 ]. The ART DIO graced our home for quite some time. Modded power supply, RCAs, caps and more goodies. It was maxed out. It was very very good for the money. Actually Ka Boom for the buck, however no class "A" player. Close but no cigar.
    Then a Lector 7TL CDP Mk1 came along. Using 12AT7 Telefunkens for gain and cathode follower just bliss. If you can find one used which is rare give it a listen. Looking for the Mk1 DAC at this moment. Just cannot find one used. New they are expensive and the MK2 NOT the same in tonality.
   Not a huge buffer fan either. More cables, more circuitry just more. My 2 cents anyway.

charles

hi charles, a coupla years ago, there was a little digital comparison at woodsyi's.  (as you know, his digital rig is not too shabby.)  my humble modded di/o was the equal to woodsyi's system, according to all present.  except one guy, who actually thought the di/o might be a little better.  go figure.

spending big money on digital is not worth it, imo.    you might get "different", but not better.  that being said, there is one expensive digital unit i would love to be able to audition in my home, (or a system i am wery familiar with); that's the memory player 64.  its technology sounds different enough to mebbe actually offer worthwhile improvements.  i'm skeptical, but still hopeful...

doug s.,
i believe there are NO class "a" redbook players...

[redbook]

 I guess you have no experience with new digital sources...a lot has changed since the 1980s

[doorman]

+1 on the Decware site.
I have their ZCD 1600 mk11, which I find very satisfying, YMMV, of course.
It's since been replaced by the ZCD 2000 IIRC
Happy hunting!
Don

[doug s.]

I guess you have no experience with new digital sources...a lot has changed since the 1980s

i assume you are referring to my comment above, re: there being no "class a" redbook cdp's.  (imo, of course!)  i suggest you guess again.     afaik, the following is a relatively modern well-regarded digital front end:

EA modded Northstar 192 DAC, EA Pace Car with Tascam 144 for 24/96, Bolder modified SB2, Northstar transport asynched to Pace-car.

it's about as good as my wintage 2000 modded art di/o; and doesn't hold a candle to a good winyl front end...  enjoyable?  yes, certainly.  "class a"?  not in my opinion.  (i haven't heard the nova physics memory player 64 - mebbe it would change my opinion?    )

ymmv,

doug s.
ps - in the 80's, there were no digital systems higher than "class c", imo; and yust barely, if even that good...   

[KKM]

I still have a brand new ART D/IO in the closet that I've never opened, is it worthy to use these days?

[doug s.]

I still have a brand new ART D/IO in the closet that I've never opened, is it worthy to use these days?

it is ok stock, especially if you insert a tube buffer between it and your preamp.  (someone on a/c is doing yust that, after i loaned him one of my modded di/o's to try; he found a stocker and is using it w/a tube buffer - he said it smoked the jolida cdp he was using prewiously.)

but it is so much better if you mod it.  and, a caveat to running it stock - you will likely at the wery least have to put a woltage diwider into a pair of interconnects, (or purchase something like the harrison labs, rothwell or goldenjacks attenuators), as normal dacs output 2v, and the di/o, being a pro-audio piece of gear, outputs 7v.  it might be perfect if you run a passive pre, but will likely either overload an active pre, or you will get way too loud at minimal wolume pot settings...

imo, it is still a worthwhile endeavor to mod one of these.  the info is still out there, and it is not all that difficult to do...

doug s.