New CD Player Alert
Nov 22, 2003 at 3:22 AM Post #16 of 35
That black amp is hideous, they should've gotten a good looking knob, ya know!!...anyway, 'gotta love the ghetto connector that is on it
tongue.gif
 
Nov 22, 2003 at 5:13 AM Post #20 of 35
Belt driven? What?

I thought belts were for vinyl.

--Chris
 
Nov 22, 2003 at 1:14 PM Post #22 of 35
The engineering case for belt driven CDs is quite weak, it must be admitted. Even super-cheap CD drives seem to be able to adequately retrieve bits without using a belt drive. But I think there is always something to be said for "pride of ownership" from using a more elaborate device.
 
Nov 22, 2003 at 11:42 PM Post #23 of 35
Quote:

Originally posted by D-EJ915
That black amp is hideous, they should've gotten a good looking knob, ya know!!...anyway, 'gotta love the ghetto connector that is on it
tongue.gif


I think it looks cool as hell, different but cool. BTW, it's obvious that the "ghetto connector" you refer to is a stock HD580 cable.
















 
Nov 23, 2003 at 4:22 AM Post #25 of 35
What is belt drive?
confused.gif
 
Nov 23, 2003 at 5:07 AM Post #26 of 35
Oh yeah, as somebody reported in a post a while ago, the headphone out of CEC 3300 may be quite decent. I may have a chance to try it out with CD3000 in December. Gonna report the results.
 
Nov 23, 2003 at 6:03 AM Post #27 of 35
I thought long and hard about this befor plunking down money on a DSD player. In the final count, high rez ability is always a plus. Arcam/Panasonic/Onkyo have DVD-A solutions while the Sony-phillips-Marantz have their SACD solutions. All this in a package that are more than capable of handling redbook. Whichever format wins out in the end, in the interim it is nice to have more than just redbook now.
 
Jan 21, 2004 at 4:07 PM Post #28 of 35
So I couldn't resist and picked up the CEC 3300 because A.A. had a demo/return for $349 and free shipping. So judging by AA's claim that it's the best sounding sub $1000 player out there, that's what I judged it against. Some of the sub $1000 players that I'm pretty familiar with are the Arcam CD72, Rega Planet 2000, the Exposure 2010, and the Marantz CD 6000 OSE.

First thing was that this seemed to be a very heavy and solidly built unit. It appeared to be pretty well made for a $500 player. I think it's also heavier than the other players that I made mention to above. Looks were nice (although it's kind of a champagne color) with a nice display and a functional remote.

Upon listening, the first thing I noticed that it had nice tight bass- not overdone, but definitely present. The top end was a liittle rolled off and a little grainy, but not terrible for a $500 player. I like the top end of the Marantz 6000OSE a little better than this player, but I liked the bottom end of the CEC better. Dynamics were adequate, but a bit on the soft side- I think both the Arcam and the Exposure are better if you like a bit of snap in your music. A friend of mine that has a Rega Planet 2000 listened to it and he really liked it, but felt that the warmer smoother top end of the Rega was a little better than the CEC. Mids were good and not overly "fat" or forward.

I also listened to the headphone jack on this unit with my Grado RS-1's- it had more punch than the line outs, but even more emphasized the grainy top end of this player.

I ended up returning the unit, but despite some of my negative criticism, it wasn't an easy decision- I wouldn't mind having this as a spare because it's easy to listen to. Most of my criticism was because I was expecting to be better than the $1000 players I put it against- it wasn't. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this player over the $500 players out there in the market. If you're looking for a decent entry level player, it's defintely one to consider. It's also a good choice if you're looking for a player for your home theatre system- I think the CD playback on this is better than most of the CD playback on even the $$$ universal players- buy a DVD with good picture quality and use this for 2 channel CD.
 
Jan 22, 2004 at 1:07 AM Post #29 of 35
Greatly appreciate your comments. So far audioasylum is the only place this unit has been discussed.

Welcome some add'l comments comparing the 3300B vs 6000OSE. Though realize you have already pretty much summed up the main difs.

Also, curious which model you tried gold or black? Recall that the black is newer with some small changes, it costs slightly more in Japan about $25-$40.

I am considering the Marantz and CEC as a temporary->office CD player.

I live in Japan where CEC goes for closer to $300 while the 6000 OSE is approx $250. New. Used 6Ks can be found readily for less but not much. So not going to skimp $50.

I have not been able to do a A/B comparison yet. Have heard both at different times. My initial impressions were similar to yours, I was using CD3Ks and a Dr Head portable amp(cheap but convenient). But this will likely be my office setup. Or just using direct headphone outs.

I did some brief A/B comparisons with the CEC vs Marantz 8260 and 8400, they were all next too each other, but just the headphone outs. Found them to be very close, with Marantz a little more fwd-on the highs, perhaps a little to much with the CD3Ks. CECs were more neutral.

Also in the running is a neat little tube unit, TU-878CD $250-approx, might be less if I go with DIY kit.
 
Jan 22, 2004 at 11:45 AM Post #30 of 35
Just fyi, the CEC has already been reviewed over here in the most recent issue of Audio - competitors were the Marantz CD7300, the NAD 542 and the Teac C-1D. Audio's sound quality ratings: 95 points each for the latter three, 90 points for the CEC (= the same rating the CD6000OSE got some time ago...). There wasn't very much further insight, though - they just found the CEC nicely detailed, but a bit artificial and glaring (especially with higher signal levels). The Marantz was described as smooth with nice soundstage and depth, while the NAD seemed more dynamic and energetic sounding to them - whereas the Teac sound represented a good balance somewhere in between the Marantz and NAD. They also mentioned that the CEC sounded better via symmetrical XLR than with single-ended RCA connection - and that it sounded best to them via headphone (with direct headphone connection, I assume - but that wasn't really clear...).

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
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