subhobh
Active Member
I wanted audition this SACD player from a long time and finally Last Sunday (5th Dec) me and Mr. Venu Nair (Gvnue from sec 15, ggn) gathered at Sids (Sidharth Trehan in this Forum) villa at Palam Vihar, Gurgaon at around 10:30 Morning for this purpose. Sid provided us a red carpet welcome. We started the session with a nice cup of tea and cookies at his basement especially AV treated room with our favorite tracks.
Here is the Sids setup was:
Power Conditioner: Shunyata Hydra 6
Power Cables: xlo reference3
Passive Pre: Promitheus Signature monoblocs
I/C: VDH D102 mk3
CDPs used: Cary 306 Professional version, Marantz SA7001 and Technics pgsl4
I/C: Cardas Golden Presence
Power amp: Quad909
Spkr cables: Cardas Golden Presence
Spkr: B&W 805S
Though there were two more CD players (Marantz SA7001 and Technics pgsl4) present on that setup, but I am not going to make a comparison with them, as it will be an unparallel one. Hence we started straight from the Cary one. It was already on a proper burn in stage, so I believe we got the optimum output in every respect.
The tracks we tried on this session from our collection ware:
Rebecca Pidgeons Spanish Harlem, Katie Melua, David Roth, Alan Taylor, Relaxed Footwear Album, Enya (May it be and Caribbean Blue), Song from a Secret Garden, and some other Demo Discs and Western light classics, and couple of Chinese/Tibetan folks.
Now here comes the review part from my side:
On the entire vocal based tracks like Rebecca Pidgeon, Alan Taylor, David Roth, Katie Melua, I felt the vocals ware very natural and clear and lively. While playing those tracks I felt the vocals ware at dead center of the stage and the other instruments ware in placed on their respective place. The soundstage was wide but not too much ot too far to loose the co relation between co-elements. No need to say that I could hear the singer breathing factor was absolutely clear there on each and every track.
In Relaxed Footware Album I particularly felt the tight, tuneful, powerful and endlessly deep Bass. The solid punch was noticeable but at the same time not too boomy. It was clear but enjoyably, guess thats how it should be.
On Enya and Secret Garden tracks it reviled every single details and small little elements present on the tracks. The soundstage crossed the boundaries of the speakers. When I closed my eyes, the speakers and the walls just vanished. And the music and vocals became absolute alive. I wish I could have brought the Yanni Live at the Acropolis CD.
The CD player also offers selectable sampling or up-sampling rates from normal 44.1 to 96/192/384/512/768 kHz for CD playback, and 44.1/96/192 kHz for the digital inputs, all at 16/20/24 bit depth. Increasing the sampling rate increased the feeling of air and resolution, but going too far created some anomalies which felt like subtle phase shifts within certain octaves. Often more up sampling was better and I preferred 512 kHz up sampling throughout all the tracks. One of the best part of this CD player is the accessible DAC part, so one can use best use of digital computer audio through it.
The remote control looked sturdy and very easy to use. However, the display present on the CD player was pretty difficult to read from a distance of say six to seven feet. I actually dont want to make a negative point with this, as its quite negligible.
As an ending note I would like to say this CD player swiftly deciphered all the tracks and laid them all in front of us, to enjoy every details and nuance. I was pleasantly surprised to discover those small little elements and the presence of wonderful soundstage in the tracks that I had never heard before!! It defines what an ideal CD player can and should do.
Must say that it was a great listening. I would like to thank Sid for offering his Sunday morning for the session and Mr. Venu Nair for taking out time from his busy schedule. It was a wonderful experience.
Cheers!!
Subho
Here is the Sids setup was:
Power Conditioner: Shunyata Hydra 6
Power Cables: xlo reference3
Passive Pre: Promitheus Signature monoblocs
I/C: VDH D102 mk3
CDPs used: Cary 306 Professional version, Marantz SA7001 and Technics pgsl4
I/C: Cardas Golden Presence
Power amp: Quad909
Spkr cables: Cardas Golden Presence
Spkr: B&W 805S
Though there were two more CD players (Marantz SA7001 and Technics pgsl4) present on that setup, but I am not going to make a comparison with them, as it will be an unparallel one. Hence we started straight from the Cary one. It was already on a proper burn in stage, so I believe we got the optimum output in every respect.
The tracks we tried on this session from our collection ware:
Rebecca Pidgeons Spanish Harlem, Katie Melua, David Roth, Alan Taylor, Relaxed Footwear Album, Enya (May it be and Caribbean Blue), Song from a Secret Garden, and some other Demo Discs and Western light classics, and couple of Chinese/Tibetan folks.
Now here comes the review part from my side:
On the entire vocal based tracks like Rebecca Pidgeon, Alan Taylor, David Roth, Katie Melua, I felt the vocals ware very natural and clear and lively. While playing those tracks I felt the vocals ware at dead center of the stage and the other instruments ware in placed on their respective place. The soundstage was wide but not too much ot too far to loose the co relation between co-elements. No need to say that I could hear the singer breathing factor was absolutely clear there on each and every track.
In Relaxed Footware Album I particularly felt the tight, tuneful, powerful and endlessly deep Bass. The solid punch was noticeable but at the same time not too boomy. It was clear but enjoyably, guess thats how it should be.
On Enya and Secret Garden tracks it reviled every single details and small little elements present on the tracks. The soundstage crossed the boundaries of the speakers. When I closed my eyes, the speakers and the walls just vanished. And the music and vocals became absolute alive. I wish I could have brought the Yanni Live at the Acropolis CD.
The CD player also offers selectable sampling or up-sampling rates from normal 44.1 to 96/192/384/512/768 kHz for CD playback, and 44.1/96/192 kHz for the digital inputs, all at 16/20/24 bit depth. Increasing the sampling rate increased the feeling of air and resolution, but going too far created some anomalies which felt like subtle phase shifts within certain octaves. Often more up sampling was better and I preferred 512 kHz up sampling throughout all the tracks. One of the best part of this CD player is the accessible DAC part, so one can use best use of digital computer audio through it.
The remote control looked sturdy and very easy to use. However, the display present on the CD player was pretty difficult to read from a distance of say six to seven feet. I actually dont want to make a negative point with this, as its quite negligible.
As an ending note I would like to say this CD player swiftly deciphered all the tracks and laid them all in front of us, to enjoy every details and nuance. I was pleasantly surprised to discover those small little elements and the presence of wonderful soundstage in the tracks that I had never heard before!! It defines what an ideal CD player can and should do.
Must say that it was a great listening. I would like to thank Sid for offering his Sunday morning for the session and Mr. Venu Nair for taking out time from his busy schedule. It was a wonderful experience.
Cheers!!
Subho
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