Best 3D sounding CD player / source

[Purité Audio]

I suppose you might try placing a mattress upright and on its side in front of your face directly between your loudspeakers.
If you have the chance to hear the Bacch system grab it , Edgar will measure your SHTF there is an eye movement tracker it is fascinating on a par with the Smyth ‘realiser’ which unfortunately appears to have stalled.
Keith

 

[adamdea]

I suppose you might try placing a mattress upright and on its side in front of your face directly between your loudspeakers.
If you have the chance to hear the Bacch system grab it , Edgar will measure your SHTF there is an eye movement tracker it is fascinating on a par with the Smyth ‘realiser’ which unfortunately appears to have stalled.
Keith

I was wondering about Smyth. The website is still there, but it says to contact them before ordering.

 

[Gervais Cote]

When I was looking for a new CD player the best natural sound and 3d imaging came from a Naim CD5x which I bought. I am mainly vinyl so it was nice to find a cd player that presented in a similar fashion.

It replaced a Marantz CD63 KI Signature and I tried it against a Meridian, Ayre and Naim CDX2.

Haven't added any power supplies to it.

I went through a similar process when I wanted to upgrade my CD player which is for me my main source.
Marantz CD 63 MK1 : easy to listen to but not really exciting for my taste.
Ayre CX7 : Nice female voices, very very good treble but slow bass that almost removed the rythme of a few fast playing electric bass tracks.
Naim CD5XS : very groovy, fast, dynamic without being harsh, good soundstage and just makes me want to listen to another song again and again.
I added a Flatcap to feed it a year later. That improved the human voices a bit but it’s not a major step up.
I am a rock and jazz fan so no Stradivarius violin for me so this may orient my choices of hi-fi gears, I guess.

 

[Purité Audio]

I was wondering about Smyth. The website is still there, but it says to contact them before ordering.

I read the other day of unfulfilled pre paid orders, it would be a pity because their demonstration was also spectacular.
Keith

 

[Alexh]

Perhaps just actually read what it can do before making any more thoughtless posts.
Keith

I did, hence my post

 

[Tarzan]

if a CD has been well mastered/recorded you may have a 3D Effect.

 

[Alexh]

if a CD has been well mastered/recorded you may have a 3D Effect.

Even the not so well mastered CD`s have a good 3D effect with my system at long last

 

[chartz]

I can get how this can work with specifically recorded tracks and headphones. But with ordinary stero and loudpeakers? How should stereo sound?

You should get a 3D picture, with sounds far left and far right and way behind your wall. Sometimes voices in front of the speakers. A nice illusion. A notion of height too.
I'm talking mainly about classical recorded with an artificial head, or a V couple, like they used to. Jazz too.
Anything compressed or multimiked won't do that. Don't expect any depth then. Not interesting, just listen on a kitchen table radio or one of those horrid Bluetooth speakers my kids love so much (almost kidding).

 

[Tarzan]

Even the not so well mastered CD`s have a good 3D effect with my system at long last

Also partnering equipment and positioning of loudspeakers.

 

[sq225917]

Room and speaker placement, a good polar response and room treatment.

 

[Musicraft]

BB pcm63

and so far finest I've heard from PCM63 was/is used in the Creek DAC60 which had dual PCM63 K.

And although using DAC7 the Pink Triangle Oridinal is also top drawer.

 

[dreamer69]

Unison research Unico

 

[caine]

Esoteric higher end versions with the NEO:VRDS (used to sell it to other mfg’s) now they keep it for their own transports. MSB is another option. TAD do transport on a decent dac; equals the cd output of the esoteric, though esoteric betters it on SACD.

Most systems at shows sound awful.
If you’ve got decent dealer contacts start home demo of something tasty.

 

[Mike P]

The Rotel RCD-971 uses PCM63 DAC chips. I serviced one a while back and thought it was excellent.

Weirdly the 991 didn't quite excite me as much despite being the 'upgrade' model over the 971. Having said that, I never listened to them side by side so it could be that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind that day.

 

[sq225917]

Nope, 971 was better sounding, fuller less etched in the treble

 

[greygoose]

Have a listen to a proper old school R2R ladder DAC. Imo the BB pcm63 is probably the best. The imaging of these old dacs has always surprised me.

Check out a Theta Pro VA if you can find one.

There is a theta miles for sale not too far away, how would that compare?

 

[Minio]

I know they all sound the same but I'm now stuck between 3 CD players and one dac.

1 Arcam CD 8se... lush, luxury treble, bass slightly effusive, soundstage a little short on depth. A bargain, these days though, for that sort of performance.

2 Rotel 965BX... nice bright and breezy sound but a little scrappy in a digital noise/mush sort of way

3 Naim CDX2.2 TXPS... gets to the point in terms of timing and resolution but lacks a sort of empathy with the music as in 1 and 2

4 Cambridge Streamagic Upsampling dac... opens up soundstage but can sound a little vague(ish) with 1 and 2

I can't make up my mind as each player comes into its own with music that suits it best.

 

[Tim Jones]

I really would not get hung up on the whole "3D" thing. It's as much a function of your amp(s), speakers and room as anything else. My (£60) Sony 915E is at least as good in that respect,if clearly deficient in others, as my (£2100) Naim UnitiCore/Chord front end.

While vinyl is, on an "objective" basis clearly less likely to be good at this by many tens of dBs and crosstalk compared to digital, a good recording is key.

 

[Del monaco]

I know they all sound the same but I'm now stuck between 3 CD players and one dac.

1 Arcam CD 8se... lush, luxury treble, bass slightly effusive, soundstage a little short on depth. A bargain, these days though, for that sort of performance.

2 Rotel 965BX... nice bright and breezy sound but a little scrappy in a digital noise/mush sort of way

3 Naim CDX2.2 TXPS... gets to the point in terms of timing and resolution but lacks a sort of empathy with the music as in 1 and 2

4 Cambridge Streamagic Upsampling dac... opens up soundstage but can sound a little vague(ish) with 1 and 2

I can't make up my mind as each player comes into its own with music that suits it best.

Interesting. I find the Rotel refined and analogue-like in my particular set up. But it also had detail. It has the widest soundstage I’ve heard from any CD player I have owned and it sounds almost valve like in some recordings. I’d never describe it as scrappy and it bettered the Marantz 63 KI SE I used to own. Beat the Apollo is this particular area.I played a Chesky test disc the other day and it rendered it beautifully.

 

[cromodora]

Chord Mojo.
I get shards, globs and expanding wall of synthesizer sounds coming at me eg.playing Depeche Mode and Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”.
Effect enhanced the better the preamp though.