I ended up paying the $299 and then $99 for shipping. So, $398.
Now that I have had it for a few days I can better describe the differences I am hearing. Oh, there is definite difference too, let me tell you. At least with my system. In my listening environment, I have both stereo playback and hometheater in the same room. For hometheater I have (2) Parasound HCA-855's, an outlaw 950 and a denon 1600 dvd player. For stereo playback I have a Cayin TA-30 and now the ShengYa CD-S10. The speaker wires for the tube amp and the Parasound run into a Niles amplifier selector and then one set of wires to my SVS 16/46 pci's and then to the Martin Logan Aerius i's. Since i have two subs, the left channel goes to one sub and then to the speaker and the right channel goes to the other sub and then to the speaker. For the .1 of the DD sound of home theater, I have the LFE channel going to each sub so I don't loose that information.
With the addition of the tube cd player the margin of difference between the Parasound/Outlaw compared to the Cayin/ShengYa greatly increased. My wife had absolutely no trouble picking which one I was playing the cd through. Our equipment is in another room so she could not see which system I was playing the cd through. The Parasound/Outlaw sounded very harsh, not nearly as clear and the bass was good and pronounced but not as defined as the ShengYa/Cayin combo. When played through the Cayin/ShengYa, it was so smooth. The voices were not harsh and the bass was INCREDIBLE. I had to readjust the bass in my SVS's! It was so quick and pronounced. Big difference in my system.
To try and see what the difference between my Denon 1600 and ShengYa, I hooked them both through the Cayin Tube amp. The Denon became much more pleasant to listen too, but I did not think it was up to par with the ShengYa. When we switched player, my wife and I both agreed that it seemed someone pulled a blanket off of the speakers. It cleared up greatly! The depth of the player also really increased. It became apparent that there was a layer of music, not a wall of music. It is quite incredible. I am so jazzed as to what I am hearing that I am sure it is having an effect on what I am typing. This player is definetly a keeper.
Jeff Aguilar
