[Tuberoller]

Buy a used Arcam CD72 or 92 and wait a few months for the upsampling cards to come out. Arcam players have been going for super cheap and some dealers are unloading still new CD72and CD92 really cheap. Arcam has delayed the cards as a business move to keep the new players selling well. The difference in sound is not small.

BTW, the Azur 640C does not upsample but does sound amazing.

 

[rsaavedra]

Sorry for my wallet... Today I placed an order for a Cambridge Audio Azur 640C on Audioadvisor, should be arriving by middle of next week, can't hardly wait. Couldn't resist after reading all the great comments in Head-fi and in audio magazines about it. Joe in Audioadvisor matched spearitsound.com's price $449. This will be the source of my headphone home system, cans almost decided for 650's, amp still to decide... (Perraux? XP7? HR2? MicroZOTL?)

Cheers,
Raul

 

[Alex Altorfer]

Raul,

Quote:

Originally posted by rsaavedr Sorry for my wallet... Today I placed an order for a Cambridge Audio Azur 640C on Audioadvisor, should be arriving by middle of next week, can't hardly wait.

Congratulations! It's a great feeling when it finally arrives! It's all about listening to your entire CD collection again for the first time!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[rsaavedra]

Thanks Alex!!
Cheers,
Raul

 

[joejr]

RSAAVEDR,Hello I'am using the Azur 640C with the Senheiser Hd 650/Mobius Zu Cable and Berning MicroZotl Amp.
The sound is Excellent and very smooth.
The Azur 640c is a real sleeper!
Good Luck with your rig.

 

[rsaavedra]

Thanks Joejr, good to hear that. I think so far I have narrowed it down to the two extremes of my possibilities, going the least expensive route with the Perraux for starters, or going all the way with the MicroZOTL. Nothing personal, hope you don't mind I might eventually copy cat your rig

Cheers,
Raul

 

[TimSchirmer]

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood Don't forget the ghetto cheap route. NEC CD-rom (CDR-601, CDR-602, 3xp Plus) as a transport and a nice external DAC. -Ed

I've never realy liked these combos. If you want true high end digital playback you need to throw a clocking device/jitter filter somewhere in there. They come standard in most high end cdp's, but are lacking in thing like the art di/o. If you want something cheap, just get an older but nicer cdp which will have a better power supply and analog output stage. In the long run it will sound better. I used to actually own a di/o and an nec transport but found that a 150$ audio alchemy cdp had it beat by far. If you really want to get performance out of the di/o, have it modded and put a DIP before it and use a CDP with a digital out (quieter transport)

 

[rsaavedra]

Got the Azur 640C yesterday and it's going through break-in. But something bothers me. The transport is relatively noisy, actually noisier than for instance my NS500V, and a Pioneer 563AS that I'm trying, which are relatively cheaper players. This might become a deal breaker for me with the Azur, since I need this as source for my home headphone rig using open headphones, HD650's. Will wait till it fully breaks in to listen to how the Azur sounds anyway.