[ton1313]

I am currently running my IA-7 with an Ipod as the source. A friend brought over an older Rotel CDP for comparison, & there was definitely more life to the music. So the big questions are Which CDP should I consider, should I consider the IMOD from RedWineAudio, and just how good it the OPPO?

Thanks

[stingfan]

See my review on the Oppo from earlier this summer, http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=28749.0

I must say, for the price, nothing can touch it.  And trust me, I didn't realize the perks of this universal player till I started buying some good SACD's.  I considered a modded Oppo, but by far the best angle for the price, was to go outboard DAC.  CIAudio's DAC2 is outstanding, especially with their upgraded power supply.   The combo here rivals anything I've heard lately. 

[ton1313]

Anyone else?

[SET Man]

Hey!

   I think I would go with an outboard DAC Acturally that is on my wish list right now. I have a Sony SCD-C2000ES 5 discs SACD/CD changer of which sound great much better than I expected at $300 I got it for.

  So, with outboard DAC I still have disc changer and SACD player!

I don't know how many DACs out there at $1K or less. But I've been eyeing these two Audio Note tubed DAC kits.

Kit 1.1 at $729

http://www.audionotekits.com/dac.htm

Kit 2.1 at $1300+

http://www.audionotekits.com/dac2_1.html

No $$$$ right now but I maybe next year I will have money for the Kit 2.1

Take care,
Buddy

[rustydoglim]

We think AVP-16's internal DAC (see another thread in this circle about the 2 channel analog and digital mode) is better.
Please feel free to give AVP-16 a try (it is kind of BIG if you're only using it as a DAC  ) and if you don't find the DAC as good or better than standalone DAC, return it for a full refund. But if you do, please provide your feedback/review here.
We are going to run a promotion with AVP-16 and 2 Ref 9 for $3000.

[beachbum]

i am using a onix modded cd x88, modded by underwood, around 800us, mike

[timothyharnett]

I have used a Perpetual Technologies P1/P3a (Modwright level 2) which is good but the state of the budget art for red book must be the Benchmark DAC1.  One of the things that mark them out as better than Perpetual is that they are still developing their DAC.  It's a shame about Perpetual DACs; they seemed to have massive potential but little that is useable for the average audiophile actually came of it.  They certainly should have incorporated what the modding community was doing with their product and the ready made market for a DAC/Preamp should have been exploited as there were clearly a lot of people willing to throw money at them.

A second hand P1/P3a would likely be a bargain.  The P3a is a very sturdy piece of kit.

[ton1313]

Thanks for the responses, but I want to keep it simple with a 1 box unit, so no external DAC's. This
is for a system in my Living Room, and I dont have the room for the extra boxes.

[opnly bafld]

You might also want to look at the Sherwood Newcastle single disc player ($500 list) and the Cambridge Audio players ($599 and down).

Lin

[ton1313]

I settled on a refirbished Cambridge Audio Azure 640C (ver. 1) from Spearitsound.com
It was $349 shipped with a 2 year factory warranty. VERY happy with the sound quality!

Thanks

[avta]

ton1313:
In the future you may want to consider computer based music using something like a Squeezebox. I made the switch about a year ago and am impressed with the quality of the sound which I believe exceeds what I had heard with a cdp of modest quality. I also think it's a lot of " bang for the buck ".
Guy

[rustydoglim]

Another review we just found about that pointed out the little known secrete with Oppo player. The sound quality is comparable to other CD players costing 10 times its price.
http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=1701