Okay friends, firstly, thanks for all the inputs you’ve provided. I’ve been processing them as well as discussing in one on one conversations with some of you. And I see some light emerging.
I started this thread with the intention of exploring upgrades to my amplifier and speaker assuming those were the bottlenecks. And as it has become clearer, I couldn’t be farther from truth! A number of you (
@ONEMANARMY,
@jls001,
@prem,
@Hari Iyer,
@arj) with your experience, insights and solutioning approach have helped me realise that I was looking at the wrong end. That my amp-speaker combination (Lyrita DHT-Audiolab 8200A-Castle Knight 2) is pretty well-regarded and capable of even better sound, while it’s my source (CXC-CXN V2) that could be the end to focus upon. Initially it was kind of saddening as the sources were latter additions to my system.
(I shall henceforth refer to the CXN V2 as CXN in this post).
But then with learning as a core value, I decided to be objective about it and explore that possibility further. Currently I use the CXC transport for CD and CXN streamer as inputs that both get processed by the DAC in the CXN. So I had to establish which one of them (the CXC transport or the CXN DAC) was the limitation. Or both.
So I decided to try by elimination. And I needed assuredly better source to do that. So I requested a nearby audiophile friend to bring his vintage Sony CDP 222 ESD along. Now this one has the highly regarded KSS lens and sound which I’ve liked in his system that has higher end amp and speakers than mine. Here’re the results and conclusions from the experiment:
First we played few tracks (Allan Taylor with orchestra, Mark Knopfler, Sur, Stairway) on the current CXC (transport) - CXN (DAC) combination. Most people will like this sound and I too don’t find any obvious flaws in it. It’s clear, enjoyable, balanced and rhythmic. But I know I can get better sound with slight upgrade - the objective of this experiment was to find out which.
Then I changed over the transport to the Sony so it was Sony (transport) - CXN (DAC). And right from the first song to the last in that test list the change was palpable and consistent. This sound was perceivably better than the former in terms of - musicality and focus. The extensions were superior leading to the musicality. So there was that distinctly more emotion (urging his beloved whom he metaphorises as dawn to come to him) in Lucky Ali’s ‘Aa bhi jaa’. Sunidhi’s voice was clearly different - it sounded more layered and not merely high-pitched. One could also hear the added sweetness in both the violin and the flute. And similar observations in the other tracks.
And though all of this was caused by the Sony’s superior CD transport (lens), it was equally true that my CXN’s DAC supported it too. There was this first confirmation that the CXN’s DAC, as has been widely reviewed (and was one of the reasons for my selecting CXN over its competitors) was competent.
And that an upgrade in the transport could fetch me high dividend.
Now we had to look at the next experiment. Can the Sony’s DAC do better justice to it’s own superior transport than the CXN’s did? So now we played both the transport and DAC parts of the Sony CD player. And to our surprise, the sound deteriorated. Not just that most of the previous improvements were lost in a fuzzier sound, but the sound was poorer even to my CXC-CXN combination. We just couldn’t listen to it for long. This was the second bit of confirmation that the CXN’s DAC was competent and not the bottleneck in my system, and that paired with a better transport, it shines well.
Then I decided to bring the Schiit Bifrost DAC from my desktop system and couple with the Sony’s transport. Though the sound was good enough, it was overall of the level of satisfaction of my CXC-CXN combination. The added melodiousness, sweetness and airiness of the Sony-CXN was not to be found.
This further reconfirmed that my CXN’s DAC wasn’t just ok, it was good. Paired with a better transport, it can produce better sound than a well-regarded dedicated DAC (the Schiit) priced at 40k.
I repeated the same experiments as above separately with my wife (good aesthetic judge) and my nephew (keen young ears and music lover) and their assessments were exactly as above.
So, in summary, now I know where I need to upgrade. It’s the transport - the first point in the whole chain of sound.
I need a transport that is more musical, has better focus and airiness, and is more organic than the CXC while (at least) retaining its detail, balance and rhythm. And distinctly and substantially so, not just marginally better. That the rest of my system is capable of supporting that improvement.
So this is where I need help. Firstly, what do you think of the experiments above. Do you agree with the conclusion based on those observations? And then,
I need your help and inputs on what/where to look for a CD transports with above mentioned advantages . Of course I have to have a budget limit. Something between 50k-1 lakh. Unfortunately I don’t see any transports apart from CXC in the budget audiophile segment. Almost everything out there is north of two lacs. Anything you know? If not, then I’d have to look at the preowned stuff here.
Please do give suggestions on models/makes that I can look out for. Yeah, there’s Cyrus CD t at $750 (don’t know the Indian availability/price) but not sure it’s known for musicality as much as for dynamics, detail and rhythm (which the CXC is decent at).
The other alternative is to go for a CD player with all those properties. The first that comes to mind (based on reviews, I haven’t heard it) is the Naim CD 5SI. This has been around for a long time and known for its musicality and transparency. Any experience or views on it?
What are the other decidedly musical audiophile CD players below/around a lakh out there?
(I am definitely not going to rip my CDs and put them on a drive to access from the CXN as I love the CD using experience and also feel the CD sound is more organic than the corresponding FLAC. So a transport/CD player is essential in my system)
Thanks for reading through.
