Recent purchases - Part II

[Abraxis]



interesting. it is replacing my mark levinson no.390, which up until i heard the bcd-1 i havent heard anything under 10k that sounds better. you may not have heard the bcd-1 in the right system ... it is one of the best cd player i have heard and i have listened to many.

Yeah price point is a little silly to discuss in audio since there is so much crap that has insanely high price points due to all the voodoo in the industry but I'm pretty familiar with the field from entry level to high end. I've listened to APL hifi modded sources, zanden, various emm stacks, esoteric stacks etc and I currently own an Esoteric UX-1, Spectral SDR-2000 Pro, Esoteric D-3 (Not the D-03 but have heard the D-03/P-03 combo), and various 90s vintage dacs and have listened to turn table rigs of similar quality.

The bryston is an op amp based (not fully discrete) solution and uses decidedly mediocre crystal dac chip for its digital to analog conversion. The CS4398 which used to by a few other players of similar rep (Classe/EC etc) but also a lot of mass market targeted home theater front ends. What I've personally found to be the best deals for source components are designs that use and are designed around really excellent R2R resistor ladder dacs like the Burr Brown PCM63, 1702, 1704 and the AD1862N-J which were in vogue in the 90s/early 2000s when the focus of audio design engineering was still focused on excellent sound.

 

[ceoceo]

Marry Xmas and Happy Bday to you Drew

 

[whatever123]



Yeah price point is a little silly to discuss in audio since there is so much crap that has insanely high price points due to all the voodoo in the industry but I'm pretty familiar with the field from entry level to high end. I've listened to APL hifi modded sources, zanden, various emm stacks, esoteric stacks etc and I currently own an Esoteric UX-1, Spectral SDR-2000 Pro, Esoteric D-3 (Not the D-03 but have heard the D-03/P-03 combo), and various 90s vintage dacs and have listened to turn table rigs of similar quality.
The bryston is an op amp based (not fully discrete) solution and uses decidedly mediocre crystal dac chip for its digital to analog conversion. The CS4398 which used to by a few other players of similar rep (Classe/EC etc) but also a lot of mass market targeted home theater front ends. What I've personally found to be the best deals for source components are designs that use and are designed around really excellent R2R resistor ladder dacs like the Burr Brown PCM63, 1702, 1704 and the AD1862N-J which were in vogue in the 90s/early 2000s when the focus of audio design engineering was still focused on excellent sound.

cool. i actually tried the esoteric sa-50, which i hated and then the k-03, which was okay but nothing special. if cost was no object i would get the audio research cd-8, simply because i have yet to hear anything that even comes close to the performance. but i love ultra revealing, warmer sounding player (which is very hard to find). that was the whole reason i went with the levinson. but in nov my dealer got in this bcd-1 and had us come over and we both thought it was incredible. it really is an amazing player.

what makes it sound so great is the fact that they replaced the oscillator in the transport (phillips - i believe) with its own in-house design, which reduces jitter by a large margin (more then anything i have seen or that has been measured) so the performance of the dac, although extremely important, doesnt have the same issues that other players have. the burr-brown dacs are great ... but what you will find, especially with redbook players, is its design is as important if not slightly more then the sum of its parts.

just as an fyi ... the bcd-1 is indeed a fully discrete class a output but it does use the crystal 192/24 dac and 128x over-sample. the reason for the choice of dac mentioned above.

but it was a gift and i will live with it for a couple years or until i hear something better. if you know anyone that wants a 9/10 mark levinson 390 let me know!

maybe pm to discuss further. i think these bitches might get pissed ... this is a fashion forum after all.

 

[Abraxis]

Yeah I mean what matters most is what makes you happy. Definitely hit me up though I think I have some things for you to check out that will make you very happy for 800 - 1k spent. Hrm the bcd-1 may have a discrete output stage but I don't think that it has a fully discrete circuit doing I/V. I remember reading about mods on the unit that involved swapping out opamps so reasonably sure there are some, but could be wrong. Yeah for sure design matters more so than the dac chip a lot of the time, but what dac chips people select can sometimes inform on what the designer designs for and values in design.

 

[grizzlybear]



got a CDG wallet from my wife and I bought myself the Lego Fallingwater. I got her a Lim dress, a Natalia Brilli Nolex, and a Trussardi camo tote for her to carry to work. Got my dog a few bags of chewy snacks. We went overboard with the gifts last year so not having to spend so much was a relief.
Was my birthday today too, and I think my poor old grandmother sent me some money, so I am gonna buy myself a watch After that I am gonna cut my hair off and wear MC clothes.

seamaster?

 

[whatever123]



Yeah I mean what matters most is what makes you happy. Definitely hit me up though I think I have some things for you to check out that will make you very happy for 800 - 1k spent. Hrm the bcd-1 may have a discrete output stage but I don't think that it has a fully discrete circuit doing I/V. I remember reading about mods on the unit that involved swapping out opamps so reasonably sure there are some, but could be wrong. Yeah for sure design matters more so than the dac chip a lot of the time, but what dac chips people select can sometimes inform on what the designer designs for and values in design.

yeah, the bcd-1 retails at $3,195 and my ml 390 was $6,900, but that was back in 03-04. i dont think there is anything under 10k that i would replace the bcd-1 with ... at least anything i have heard. thanks for your input though.

the dac technology is making huge improvements and i think very soon you wont need to spend a ton of money to get a decent sounding cd player anymore.

 

[impolyt_one]

something dressier, and 18k maybe...

 

[habitant]



sweet brother. how old r u

28....

 

[cyc wid it]



something dressier, and 18k maybe...

Which watch?

 

[jet]

xmas baby happy bday my nukka

 

[impolyt_one]

thanks jet-dawg, may your 2012 may be filled with cops

 

[WhoKnewI]

Did you decide on what watch you're going to get?

 

[grizzlybear]



something dressier, and 18k maybe...

stainless steel FTW

 

[impolyt_one]



Did you decide on what watch you're going to get?

got some money for my birthday and my people want to chip in on a present for my 30th think I might get that VC 82172 recently posted in the p0rn threak.

 

[whatever123]

trying to buy a ******* pair of lanvins. not sure which ones to buy. i like several pairs.