CD player for my system

[thevortex]

Asit, Psychotropic:

I would agree with most of what Suhas say's. The Oppo is an excellent player for both video and audio. The Oppo 980 and 983 have special circuitry designed by a audio specialist company (unnamed by Oppo), and because of this are as good as most CDPs for Redbook CD.

In terms of direct comparison, I have heard the 340C and the 540C, and the Oppo 983 that I have beats them straight away. I am sure the 980 that has the same circuitry would also fare with equal gusto. There is no special mention in Oppo site about the audio capabilities of the 981, excepting the VP saying 'it performs equally well'.

640C? I have listened to the 640C (with the 640A and Quads 12L) for a few hours as part of a audition at home. Keeping all else the same, the Oppo could put up a valiant fight but may lose out in complicated tracks, and may not be able to create the soundstage, for say a Beethoven number. It certainly cannot compare with the 740C and 840C that have advanced DACs and up-sampling technologies.

Asit, if you are looking for a CDP with the capabilities of a 740C or above, no universal player will work for you. Though you can see a movie in a 2.1 setting, I do not see any value in a DVD Player unless that is the first step in your building a complete HT system within a specified time. If music is more important to you, and you watch just 1 movie in 2 months, a simple DVD player such as a Samsung, Pioneer, or a Philips should suffice for that.

Psychotropic, I believe I have answered your question.

Cheers

That is most helpful information, Venkat. While I have already got the Oppo 980, it is yet to arrive from the US. What is the Oppo 980 priced at here in India?

And about the Quad 12L - are there any dealers for Quad in Chennai? How did you find the speakers?

 

[venkatcr]

That is most helpful information, Venkat. While I have already got the Oppo 980, it is yet to arrive from the US. What is the Oppo 980 priced at here in India?

Well the 981 priced at $229 is sold in India at 17,500. So using the same conversion factor, the $169 980 will be priced at 12913.29 or roundabouts there.

And about the Quad 12L - are there any dealers for Quad in Chennai? How did you find the speakers?

The 12L sounded very good with the 640 combination as if they were made for each other.

Regarding dealer, Quad is being distributed by designer Audio. Please contact Pro Musicals. He may not be able to give you a demo, but may be able to point you to some owner of the 12Ls.

PROMUSICALS (for Wharfedale, Vanguard, DAC)
25 Casa Major Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600008.
Tel: 28193445, 28193607

Cheers

 

[Asit]

Hi everybody,
I ultimately bought the CA azur 740c CDP from SKS Traders in Kolkata.

Before buying, I went to the Nakamichi shop on Camac Street to find out about the Marantz SA7001. However, I found out that the only CD player they had was the Marantz 5001 which was not in my shortlist ( I already preferred the 740c to the Marantz 6002 player). They also could not tell me anything about if at all they could get the 7001 for auditioning. There was no discussion on price.

I also called up the ProFx store in Kolkata to find out whether they had the Denon DCD 1500 AE which, although a bit outside my budget (around 50K), has extremely good reviews. This also plays SACD. However, they did not have it, only had the DCD 700AE which is in the same group as 640c v2, 6002, 525 (NAD) etc.

The only options then were the azur 740c and Creek evolution CDP which was available at SKS. None of the Arcams were available in Kolkata and since there are advices in the forum by a lot of knowledgeable people in the forum that one should not buy without proper auditioning), I had to then choose between these two. I did not go to myriad's place to audition the ARCAM Diva CD73 because his amp-speaker is very different from mine. However, if the invitation stands, I still would like to hear his set-up one of these days.

The auditioning was set up with the NAD C320BEE amp (mine is very similar, but slightly better C325BEE, sorry dinyaar, I do not agree with you here) and Quad 11L2 bookshelfs. By the way the 11L2 seemed to have a significant improvemnt over 11L which lacked in bass slightly. The new one also had a better soundstage.
The azur reference interconnect and VDH clearwater speaker cables were used.

The Creek evolution had a great sense of timing and very lively. It was good, but not good enough for my likings because certain things were a bit too bright for me. It no doubt was a very capable player. Price was also a bit higher than the azur 740c.

On the insistence of SKS, I also auditioned the Cayin tube CD player in this set-up. It did not not perform anywhere near the Creek or the azur in this setup.

Finally the azur740c was played (my second auditioning of the player). From the first few movements of the very first track that was played it showed a kind of sophistication that the other players lacked.

I now see quite clearly why it was a class B choice of Stereophile 2007 among many CDPs worth more than twice the price. It is particularly very good for my kind of music.

I also bought the azur interconnect and the VDH clearwater cables because I needed the interconnect and some new speaker cables. The only other choice around that price point among speaker cables available in Kolkata was the QED silver anniversary.

How many burn-in hours are required for the CDP and the cables? The combination is already awesome in my home set-up.

 

[SuhasG]

Congratulations!! Very good choice. What is the price you paid at the end?

I once auditioned 740C at my friends place in with CA 640A and liked it. Very nice and balanced presentation and like any other CA product, it has a typical British sound signature.

Now be patient for next 50-100 odd hours while the gear is new. Enjoy the kit and post a detailed review of the same some times later.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi dinyaar,
I called SoundNvision, Pune last evening to find out if they had any Cyrus CD6s left, but unfortunately they didn'y have any.

Could you please let me know how to get in touch with a reseller in Mumbai who may have a Cyrus CD6S at 40/45K as you said in your post before ?

Hi Asit,
Sure. Call up Boomerang in mumbai on 022-26194452 / 98209 49395 and speak to Grattan Vaz. Ask him for the Marantz 7001 and the older cyrus CD6s. If he has any they will be 35K and 45K respectively.
Regards

 

[dinyaar]

Hey Asit,
Sorry for the delay. Anyway congrats on the set up. Have been caught up with work and barely get to check the forum.
Good luck.
Rgds

 

[psychotropic]

Sorry venkat for not responding earlier, this is exactly what i wanted to know!!! muchos gracias

Asit, Psychotropic:

I would agree with most of what Suhas say's. The Oppo is an excellent player for both video and audio. The Oppo 980 and 983 have special circuitry designed by a audio specialist company (unnamed by Oppo), and because of this are as good as most CDPs for Redbook CD.

In terms of direct comparison, I have heard the 340C and the 540C, and the Oppo 983 that I have beats them straight away. I am sure the 980 that has the same circuitry would also fare with equal gusto. There is no special mention in Oppo site about the audio capabilities of the 981, excepting the VP saying 'it performs equally well'.

640C? I have listened to the 640C (with the 640A and Quads 12L) for a few hours as part of a audition at home. Keeping all else the same, the Oppo could put up a valiant fight but may lose out in complicated tracks, and may not be able to create the soundstage, for say a Beethoven number. It certainly cannot compare with the 740C and 840C that have advanced DACs and up-sampling technologies.

Asit, if you are looking for a CDP with the capabilities of a 740C or above, no universal player will work for you. Though you can see a movie in a 2.1 setting, I do not see any value in a DVD Player unless that is the first step in your building a complete HT system within a specified time. If music is more important to you, and you watch just 1 movie in 2 months, a simple DVD player such as a Samsung, Pioneer, or a Philips should suffice for that.

Psychotropic, I believe I have answered your question.

Cheers

 

[Asit]

Now be patient for next 50-100 odd hours while the gear is new. Enjoy the kit and post a detailed review of the same some times later.

Now what exactly do you mean by being patient for 50-100 hours? I have been playing the CDP whenever I had the opportunity and so far it's been about 10-15 hours of run-time in about 2 days.

There is a click sound whenever I power the CDP on. There is a on-off switch at the back. First one has to turn that one on. Then a light blue indicator comes on next to the power stand-by button on the front panel. Now one has to press this power-standby button to actually power the CDP on. The"click" appears whenever this second button is pressed. I am wondering if this is normal.

Another thing happened. This morning while having tea I had a sitar on in the CDP. After about 20 munutes of playing, the sound suddenly stopped. I discovered that the CDP has gone to the standby mode. when I powered it back on, it read the CD information of total no. of tracks and total time. Then I went to a particular track and it started operation normally. Now I am wondering what this could be caused by. I checked the power cord and it was already pushed in to the limit to the back of the CDP. The other end goes to a power strip which was a bit inaccessible and I did not investigate that end before coming to work. I am going to do that in the evening. Please advice if anybody ever experienced anything like this.

The price I paid for the CD player was Rs. 42 K inclusive of all taxes.

 

[Asit]

Hi Asit,
Sure. Call up Boomerang in mumbai on 022-26194452 / 98209 49395 and speak to Grattan Vaz. Ask him for the Marantz 7001 and the older cyrus CD6s. If he has any they will be 35K and 45K respectively.
Regards

Well, unfortunately it has now come a bit late for me. But in a way I took your advice given in some other thread that one should not buy audio equipment without giving it a listening. That's when I thought no matter how good the SA7001 or the CD6S could be for the price, I was not going to buy either without auditioning.

That's the position I finally took. It could actually turn out NOT to be the wisest decision and I am aware of that. However, I thought I could not go very wrong with the azur 740c at whatever price (Rs 42K) I finally paid.

I like to thank at this point to all contributors to this thread. May the thread continue for a little while until things settle.

 

[SuhasG]

Now what exactly do you mean by being patient for 50-100 hours?

What I meant to say is that any brand new Speaker, Amp, CDP etc needs some run -in / breaking In time , so during that initial period the component may not sound at its best , so don't jump on any conclusion till that initial run-in period is over.

 

[dinyaar]

Now what exactly do you mean by being patient for 50-100 hours? I have been playing the CDP whenever I had the opportunity and so far it's been about 10-15 hours of run-time in about 2 days.

There is a click sound whenever I power the CDP on. There is a on-off switch at the back. First one has to turn that one on. Then a light blue indicator comes on next to the power stand-by button on the front panel. Now one has to press this power-standby button to actually power the CDP on. The"click" appears whenever this second button is pressed. I am wondering if this is normal.

Another thing happened. This morning while having tea I had a sitar on in the CDP. After about 20 munutes of playing, the sound suddenly stopped. I discovered that the CDP has gone to the standby mode. when I powered it back on, it read the CD information of total no. of tracks and total time. Then I went to a particular track and it started operation normally. Now I am wondering what this could be caused by. I checked the power cord and it was already pushed in to the limit to the back of the CDP. The other end goes to a power strip which was a bit inaccessible and I did not investigate that end before coming to work. I am going to do that in the evening. Please advice if anybody ever experienced anything like this.

The price I paid for the CD player was Rs. 42 K inclusive of all taxes.

Hi Asit,
If u like the cdp and continue to enjoy the sound it will be the 'wisest' decision. Dont bother about too much else.
The click when u power up seems normal. But the cdp going into standby while playing is not. See if it happens again before anything is attempted.
Please make/buy a good power strip and dont use the regular junk sold by most vendors.
Could be a loose contact at the power strip end which led to the shut down, could be a dud power cord, a faulty power strip...............
Is the voltage in ur area steady or are there surges/dips? Are u using a stabilizer?
Rgds

 

[Asit]

The click is nothing more than a "engage/disengage of a relay". U shouldn't worry!!

The Power in Kolkata is terrible. More than voltage drops, its frequency drops and cycle skips Must have been something like that which prompted the CA to activate its safety system - promptly shutting down replay & parking itself on standby.. Voila thank god it works...

Earlier, I used to leave my DAC on standby 24/7 but in the recent couple of months Kolkata power is the pits... I make sure everything is turned-off moment after listening is thru inspite of having top notch power conditioning system.

What sort of a power-conditioning system do you have? Is it a voltage stabilizer or a UPS?

I have my whole AV setup powered from an 15AMP line out from wall. Should I just add the total connected load to calculate rating of the stabilizer or the UPS?

Hi dinyaar, I am using good quality power strips bought in Germany. But they are old and looks kind of dirty. Since I have lived in different countries I have accumulated quite a few power strips fitting the plugs of that country. The German ones are the best fits for India.

Hi venkatcr, belated thanks for stating quite unambiguously that the quality that I was seeking from the CDP could not be easily available from any universal player. This made my decision a little easier.

Hi SuhasG, I recently read on the net that the burn-in period could be quite long for this player, upto 130-150 hours. Right now I am at about 20 hours, making it slowly up there. But already this morning I felt some improvement particularly on the vocals. I hope this was not an illusion (not completely ruled out).