Absolute best source?

[kennyt]

The CD12 is a classic piece, assuming CD's stay around, and I think they will, these will command high prices for years to come. Hopefully my DV-50 will as well, but it is already dropping.... Still I will keep it as it does so much so well.

[Brian]

Kenny,

My the CD player that has sounded the best in my systems is the Classe CDP-202. There may be something better out there but so far this is my favorite.
Brian

[kennyt]

Brian,

I have no first hand experience with the Classe CDP-202, in fact I have never yet had any Classe' gear in my rig. I have pined for some but not seemed to get it yet.

I want to get some serious sources when I get a new job, maybe the EMM Labs rig or the Nagra player, there are some other new ones out there I've not heard but to date these two always seem to amaze me.

[Vinyl Rules!]

Ok, the title of this thread is "Absolute best source?

Let's clean the 0's and 1's out of our ears and be a little more objective:

IMHO, the absolute best SOURCES, are, in order of best sound:

1. Analog studio 16 or 32 track master tape played back on a modded Scully studio tape deck - As close as one can ever get to the original source.

AND THEN

2. Pristine vinyl played on a good turntable like the Michell Orbe or SME30II; and this source is

TIED with:

2. The analog broadcast of the BBC Proms played back on an updated Leak Troughline tuner or an American Public Radio Station live studio broadcast played back on on a McIntosh MR71 or MR74, or Accuphase T100 (refurbished and aligned, of course).

3. Any of the really well-recorded Redbook CD's with HDCD encoding played back on a Philips (or Marantz) CD-80 CD (this had the super expensive and Philips best transport ever made) feeding an Adcom GDA-700 DAC with HDCD decoding.

4. Same as 3. above, without an HDCD disc.

IMO, SACD an DVD-Audio sound no better than a properly-mastered Redbook CD with or without HDCD encoding, but to my ears, the HDCD's always sound better.

As always, YMMV, of course. But remember, not all of the world is digital.

[JerryDelColliano]

Pristine analog master tape is something truly special. REALLY fantastic.

I go to high resolution digital after that (perhaps before). 24-192 stereo on DVD-Audio was pretty special..

j

[kennyt]

OK guys!

Let's get back on topic here....

I asked what was the best CD player....

I mean hell if I had my way I'd have the flippin' band in my room playing but that just isn't always practical!

Vinyl rules,

I would actually put any XRCD I have against any HD CD I own and think it would clearly be a win for XRCD. Try the Gino d'Aurio Flamenco Passion XRCD and tell me if you can find a better guitar disc than that! It blows away any SACD or DVD-A for guitar I own, with the only other ones running in contention the AIX records DVD-A's of acoustic guitar.

Now to add a new source I'm looking to hear, the AMR CD77, and it has a USB input for your computer audio........