4 CDP's

[ajay124]

sonus faber please!

http://www.vintagemusic.ca/photos/sonus_faber_concertino_domus_speakers.jpg

My dream speaker

 

[ajay124]

Dream scenario 1 for medium sized room.MidFi Dreams
Sonus Faber Domus Concertina x Bryston 100 SST x Bryston BCD 1 x Kimber IC's and speaker cables.
Dream scenario 2
Sonus Faber Domus Concertina x Jadis Orchestra Amp x Meridian Go6 x VDH IC's and speaker cables.

 

[suri]

Dream scenario 1 for medium sized room.MidFi Dreams
Sonus Faber Domus Concertina x Bryston 100 SST x Bryston BCD 1 x Kimber IC's and speaker cables.
Dream scenario 2
Sonus Faber Domus Concertina x Jadis Orchestra Amp x Meridian Go6 x VDH IC's and speaker cables.

may all the gods in the pantheon make your dreams come true - i will break 101 coconuts in the local muthappan temple - very powerful god -

 

[ajay124]

may all the gods in the pantheon make your dreams come true - i will break 101 coconuts in the local muthappan temple - very powerful god -

I would be happy with just the SF Domus Concertina.Perhaps 11 coconuts would be enough

 

[ajay124]

Bryston Limited - Music For A Generation
The Bryston BP6 has a 'hybrid multi bit delta sigma' Dac.If I was to connect a Mac with lossless files directly to the BP6 pre-amp,would it's built in dac be able to make me .Would it rival the sound of the Arcam CDP?For transferring data from the CDP to the Pre I have a Transparent Audio Premium IC which is superb IMO.Would the humble dac IC from Designer Audio which I use for transferring data from the Mac to an amp be a spoilsport?Can someone recommend a good IC for data transfer from Mac to amplifier?Something better than Dac and Monster.
Still waiting for the professor emeritus of digital audio conversion to stand up and demystify jitter,word clock,sampling and the merits and demerits of various transports and dac chips.

 

[arj]

Still waiting for the professor emeritus of digital audio conversion to stand up and demystify jitter,word clock,sampling and the merits and demerits of various transports and dac chips.

while we wait for him/her..you would have already picked up most of what it means from reading those articles


A simpler way of representing the same in a Q/A mode is here

hope this makes things clearer hyeah:

but in the end, unfortunately, even after reading all this you can still go wrong and the only way to get it right is listening :sad:

 

[ajay124]

The ghost in the machine
The dac chip being used inside different brands of cdp's and dac's.
Xin's Cool Talk - What Dac chips are our DAC/CDP using? (Useful)

 

[ajay124]

Bryston Limited - Music For A Generation
The Bryston BP6 has a 'hybrid multi bit delta sigma' Dac.If I was to connect a Mac with lossless files directly to the BP6 pre-amp,would it's built in dac be able to make me .Would it rival the sound of the Arcam CDP?For transferring data from the CDP to the Pre I have a Transparent Audio Premium IC which is superb IMO.Would the humble dac IC from Designer Audio which I use for transferring data from the Mac to an amp be a spoilsport?Can someone recommend a good IC for data transfer from Mac to amplifier?Something better than Dac and Monster.
Still waiting for the professor emeritus of digital audio conversion to stand up and demystify jitter,word clock,sampling and the merits and demerits of various transports and dac chips.

Apparently there are three models of BP6 Pre Amp.BP6 C(The one I have.No Dac:sad,BP6 DA(With Dac),BP6P(With phono stage).
The digital audio converter used in the BP6 DA,BCD1 CDP and BDA 1 DAC is Crystal CS 4398.According to Cirrus Logic,the manufacturer of this chip,
"The CS4398 is a complete stereo audio 24-bit/192 kHz digital/analog converter (DAC) system.This D/A system includes digital de-emphasis, half dB step-size volume control, ATAPI channel mixing, selectable fast and slow roll off digital interpolation filters followed by an oversampled multibit Delta-Sigma modulator, which includes mismatch shaping technology that eliminates distortion due to capacitor mismatch. Following this stage is a multi-element switched capacitor stage and low-pass filter with differential analog outputs."
The four major manufacturers of Digital audio converters seem to be Cirrus Logic,Burr Brown(now owned by Texas Instuments),Wolfson Microelectronics and Analog Devices.
Any experts on the sonic qualities of these 4 brands of digital audio converters?

 

[arj]

Think there is AKM and ESS Sablre as well ..new generation .

But frankly unless you are into DIY,better not to go into this..it is the implementation if the design and the design itself which will govern this and each can be bettter or worse than the other.

 

[square_wave]

Any experts on the sonic qualities of these 4 brands of digital audio converters?

There is no answer to this.

At best you can gauge the potential (technical) of each DAC. The final sound is all in the implementation and the design of the component.

It is like the difference in sound from a Leben and a superb measuring digital amplifier.

Standing alone; Spec and technical data is as useless as toilet paper in audio.

 

[iaudio]

Apparently there are three models of BP6 Pre Amp.BP6 C(The one I have.No Dac:sad,BP6 DA(With Dac),BP6P(With phono stage).
The digital audio converter used in the BP6 DA,BCD1 CDP and BDA 1 DAC is Crystal CS 4398.According to Cirrus Logic,the manufacturer of this chip,
"The CS4398 is a complete stereo audio 24-bit/192 kHz digital/analog converter (DAC) system.This D/A system includes digital de-emphasis, half dB step-size volume control, ATAPI channel mixing, selectable fast and slow roll off digital interpolation filters followed by an oversampled multibit Delta-Sigma modulator, which includes mismatch shaping technology that eliminates distortion due to capacitor mismatch. Following this stage is a multi-element switched capacitor stage and low-pass filter with differential analog outputs."
The four major manufacturers of Digital audio converters seem to be Cirrus Logic,Burr Brown(now owned by Texas Instuments),Wolfson Microelectronics and Analog Devices.
Any experts on the sonic qualities of these 4 brands of digital audio converters?

Ajay, iirc the dac chip in my entry level marantz cd6003 is also CS4398. So I guess that alone is never going to really give you an idea.

Suri, What happened? I thought you stopped using the mac and airport express a while back.

Square_wave, I see that you have updated your signature with the new power amp and speakers. Nice.

 

[ajay124]

Think there is AKM and ESS Sablre as well ..new generation .

But frankly unless you are into DIY,better not to go into this..it is the implementation if the design and the design itself which will govern this and each can be bettter or worse than the other.

I intend to gradually browse various aspects of a CD Player:
Transport,Dac,Jitter,Word Clock,Sampling,Quantification,merely to satisfy my curiosity.
At the moment my focus is the Dac chip.
I found the Xin cool talk link interesting,as it mentions the dac chip being used in different CDP's and Dac's.
Arcam and CA in that list are using Wolfson.
Esoteric,Mark Levinson,MF seem to prefer Burr Brown.
Accuphase,Nagra,Weiss and Benchmark are using Analog Devices
Bryston prefers Crystal CS 4398 which is also used by Esoteric in the X-05 CDP.
Single Bit or Multi Bit?16 bit or 24 bit? Upsampling or Oversampling?
Early days,but the original list of 4 cdp's is now 7 cdp's!
Meridian GO 6/8
Ayre 5XE/7XE
Electrocompaniet PC1
Bryston BCD1
MF M6 CD
Accuphase DP400
Esoteric X-05
*iaudio,You are right about the Marantz using the CS 4398.

 

[prem]

Hi Ajay 124

The Esoteric X05 plays sacds. There are a whole lot of western classical pressings in sacds.

 

[anm]

you may look at this. I have this dac now, with tube output stage.
CD DAC Lampucera lampizator

 

[square_wave]

Ajay, iirc the dac chip in my entry level marantz cd6003 is also CS4398. So I guess that alone is never going to really give you an idea.

Suri, What happened? I thought you stopped using the mac and airport express a while back.

Square_wave, I see that you have updated your signature with the new power amp and speakers. Nice.

Thanks.

Now, I have to upgrade that cd player

The Quintessential question remains : PC based or not !

It took me 15 minutes to find one cd I wanted to play the other day These discs have to go. A nice screen with an easy to search interface beckons

 

[Asit]

Ajay,
I think the Ayon CDPs deserve to be in the list too. I have heard their CD1 (current model is CD1s). They have two above that (CD2s and CD5) and one below (CD07). Do not underestimate them and remember it's all about synergy. I think a CDP like Ayon with tube output stage will go very well with your Bryston amps. You will not see me much when discussions on brands come about. But I loved the Ayon when I noticed the difference it produced in Pratim's system.
Regards

 

[suri]

These discs have to go.

sell them to me

 

[square_wave]

sell them to me

Hey suri,

When the time comes, I'll let you know

 

[ajay124]

@Asit
I think Ayon is making wonderful products.I only ruled out the CDP because of the colour!I am looking for a brushed aluminium finish.Ayon is only Black!
In fact,another dream system would be
an Ayon CD1 + Ayon Spirit 2 Amp +Vienna Acoustic Bach Grand speakers.
An all Viennese waltz.
Playing Mozart,Beethoven,Schubert,Haydn and Strauss!
Paradise for 400K!
50K outta that is for CD's
20K for IC's/Cables
10K for a Rack
Spirit II : Ayon Audio
CD-1s : Ayon Audio
Vienna Acoustics - high end speakers and loudspeakers for your home theatre
@squarewave
It takes me less than 1 minute to find any of my 400 + CD'S.But I only take out 1 CD at a time and immediately after play,it goes back into it's cover and it's fixed place on the glass enclosed shelf.
And I have big,designated shelfs for Rock,Jazz (1 each) and Western Classical (3).Even in my youth,high on cheap rum (every evening!) I could find any of my 700-800 odd tapes pretty fast!
@Suri
If you are still hungering for CD's,for you,I can dig deep into the Rhythm House gold mine and discover some real gold nuggets at the prices of 'lead'.
@anm
Dilli door nahin hai!I can easily accomodate 3 audiophiles for a night of music,Singha beer and fusion (propreitary recipes) cuisine.Any Saturday.Consider that an invitation

 

[ajay124]

The last bastion falls!
Beatles music at last comes to iTunes - CNN.com
Will today officially be remembered as the d'day of CD's/CDP's and the b'day of Downloaded Music/Dac's?