I've always been grateful for people sharing their personal experiences with various audio gear and rarely have the opportunity to do so myself. So, for anyone who happens to be interested, I thought I'd share my thoughts about three different CD players that I auditioned this weekend.
I listened to a Rotel 1072, NAD C542 and the Rega Apollo in my local dealer's showroom. They were being played through B&W 802D's and were driven by a Bryston preamp with a Bryston amp (3B SST, I believe). All 3 players are between $500-$1000 depending on whether you buy new or used.
Disclaimer: No blind comparisons or level matching were involved in my audition. This is admittedly a non-scientific, subjective opinion based on the plug and play experiences of one listener. I do not consider myself a golden ear by any stretch of the imagination and I have what I consider to be a respectable middle of the road systema long way from HTIB and a long way for an exotic, price is no object system.
Well, that saidhere's my summary:
Rotel 1072 ($700?) - The most distinguishing characteristic of the Rotel was it's lack of midbass/bass. It just sounded really constricted compared to the other players, but it was only noticeable once I'd listened to the other two. Soundstage and imaging were both very good. The sense of width and height were very similar to what I'm used to hearing at home. Highs were accurate and smooth without a hint of sharpness or sibilance. Overall, the Rotel had a very clean sound without feeling dry or analytical.
NAD C542 ($500) - Much more robust mids/lows than the Rotel, but in no way was the bass bloated. I don't know if the NAD was artificially bumping up the bass and the Rotel was just playing it as is, or if the NAD was dead on and Rotel was just a bit thin. But, to my ear, there was a difference between the two. Which one is right, I don't know. Soundstage felt very similar to the Rotelmaybe a bit wider. The highs were accurate, articulate and without a hint of sharpness or shrillness. In general, it sounded quite similar to the Rega (see below).
Rega Apollo ($995) -Surprisingly similar to the NAD (considering the nearly 2x price tag), but had even tighter bass (in a good way) and I guess I would describe it as faster bass too. One of the most noticeable characteristics of the Apollo was the width of the soundstage. It clearly extended away from the center stage on both sides well beyond the borders of the speakers. Also, this was the first time that I had a strong perception of depth of soundfield. I didn't really get that with either the Rotel or NAD. The most noticeable difference, however, was the sense of both used space and empty space. I don't know how else to describe it. Voices/instruments were extremely well defined and had a sense of air and space around them that I was not familiar with in my setup and did not notice in the other two. This was probably the most noticeable characteristic of the Apollo.
Just for fun, I also listened to the Ayre CX-7 ($4000?) and a Meridian 808 ($14,000?). I didn't really listen critically to either of these since they are so ridiculously far out of the price range I was looking in. The Meridian was a really interesting experience. It sounded DRAMATICALLY different than anything else I heard. Most noticeable was the placement of voices/instruments in the soundfield. I don't know if the Meridian did it correctly and everything else had it off by a bit or if the Meridian was doing something not intended in the original recording, but this was the only player that sounded strikingly different from the others.
The folks here that say there are relatively subtle differences between most CDPs are pretty close to the mark. Maybe it was because I knew which one was playingmaybe it was because they weren't level matchedmaybe some other considerations came into play. I honestly don't know. I think it's mostly a question of what you consider subtle and how much it's worth to you. Is hearing more air in a recording subtle, or is it a dramatic improvement? Is it worth an extra $50 to hear it? An extra $500? Well, that's up to you.
I have the Rega at home now for a week long demo. I've already spent quite a bit of time going back and forth between my Denon 1600 (CD/DVD/DVD-A) and the Rega. Admittedly, it's not as big a difference as going from my old Klipsch speakers to my new Revels (or going from an old Yamaha receiver to decent quality separates), but as far as I'm concerned, the Rega has added a really satisfying improvement to my setup. Is the Rega worth the $1000 price tag? Well, to me the answer is a resounding YES.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Let the abuse begin...
Scott
I listened to a Rotel 1072, NAD C542 and the Rega Apollo in my local dealer's showroom. They were being played through B&W 802D's and were driven by a Bryston preamp with a Bryston amp (3B SST, I believe). All 3 players are between $500-$1000 depending on whether you buy new or used.
Disclaimer: No blind comparisons or level matching were involved in my audition. This is admittedly a non-scientific, subjective opinion based on the plug and play experiences of one listener. I do not consider myself a golden ear by any stretch of the imagination and I have what I consider to be a respectable middle of the road systema long way from HTIB and a long way for an exotic, price is no object system.
Well, that saidhere's my summary:
Rotel 1072 ($700?) - The most distinguishing characteristic of the Rotel was it's lack of midbass/bass. It just sounded really constricted compared to the other players, but it was only noticeable once I'd listened to the other two. Soundstage and imaging were both very good. The sense of width and height were very similar to what I'm used to hearing at home. Highs were accurate and smooth without a hint of sharpness or sibilance. Overall, the Rotel had a very clean sound without feeling dry or analytical.
NAD C542 ($500) - Much more robust mids/lows than the Rotel, but in no way was the bass bloated. I don't know if the NAD was artificially bumping up the bass and the Rotel was just playing it as is, or if the NAD was dead on and Rotel was just a bit thin. But, to my ear, there was a difference between the two. Which one is right, I don't know. Soundstage felt very similar to the Rotelmaybe a bit wider. The highs were accurate, articulate and without a hint of sharpness or shrillness. In general, it sounded quite similar to the Rega (see below).
Rega Apollo ($995) -Surprisingly similar to the NAD (considering the nearly 2x price tag), but had even tighter bass (in a good way) and I guess I would describe it as faster bass too. One of the most noticeable characteristics of the Apollo was the width of the soundstage. It clearly extended away from the center stage on both sides well beyond the borders of the speakers. Also, this was the first time that I had a strong perception of depth of soundfield. I didn't really get that with either the Rotel or NAD. The most noticeable difference, however, was the sense of both used space and empty space. I don't know how else to describe it. Voices/instruments were extremely well defined and had a sense of air and space around them that I was not familiar with in my setup and did not notice in the other two. This was probably the most noticeable characteristic of the Apollo.
Just for fun, I also listened to the Ayre CX-7 ($4000?) and a Meridian 808 ($14,000?). I didn't really listen critically to either of these since they are so ridiculously far out of the price range I was looking in. The Meridian was a really interesting experience. It sounded DRAMATICALLY different than anything else I heard. Most noticeable was the placement of voices/instruments in the soundfield. I don't know if the Meridian did it correctly and everything else had it off by a bit or if the Meridian was doing something not intended in the original recording, but this was the only player that sounded strikingly different from the others.
The folks here that say there are relatively subtle differences between most CDPs are pretty close to the mark. Maybe it was because I knew which one was playingmaybe it was because they weren't level matchedmaybe some other considerations came into play. I honestly don't know. I think it's mostly a question of what you consider subtle and how much it's worth to you. Is hearing more air in a recording subtle, or is it a dramatic improvement? Is it worth an extra $50 to hear it? An extra $500? Well, that's up to you.
I have the Rega at home now for a week long demo. I've already spent quite a bit of time going back and forth between my Denon 1600 (CD/DVD/DVD-A) and the Rega. Admittedly, it's not as big a difference as going from my old Klipsch speakers to my new Revels (or going from an old Yamaha receiver to decent quality separates), but as far as I'm concerned, the Rega has added a really satisfying improvement to my setup. Is the Rega worth the $1000 price tag? Well, to me the answer is a resounding YES.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Let the abuse begin...
Scott
