[OneMalt]

Well, I decided to go with the 963SA. J&R "gave" it to me for $360.00.

 

[john_jcb]

Quote:

Originally posted by OneMalt Well, I decided to go with the 963SA. J&R "gave" it to me for $360.00.

I think you will be happy with it. One tip that Tuberoller passed on was that if a CD sounds a bit harsh try turning off the upsampling. I tried this on Led Zeppelin's BBC Sessions and it improved the sound. You will also find that it has great video if you use it for DVD.

 

[OneMalt]

Quote:

Originally posted by john_jcb One tip that Tuberoller passed on was that if a CD sounds a bit harsh try turning off the upsampling. I tried this on Led Zeppelin's BBC Sessions and it improved the sound.

Will I be able to do that if the player isn't connected to a TV?

 

[Gopher]

Quote:

Originally posted by springofdark How would the philips (on redbook) compare with a computer using the m-audio revolution 7.1 and a plextor 48/24/48a as the transport?

Very much in favor I would hope. Though I don't claim to know as much as a hobist should about what goes on under the hood, there is more then just the transport and dac that affect sound reproduction. The inside of the computer is a noisy envoriment, the powersupply and other such factors come into play. Also from what I've read, CDRom drives aren't meant to be used as CD players and will burn out if you attempt to use them as such.

 

[LobsterSan]

Quote:

Originally posted by springofdark How would the philips (on redbook) compare with a computer using the m-audio revolution 7.1 and a plextor 48/24/48a as the transport?

The 963sa should trounce the computer setup. Even through my crappy Technics CDP, the standalone system sounds a fair amount better than my computer system's lite-on 32/12/40 through an M-audio Audiophile 2496.

 

[dd3mon]

I would think the hard drive (wav files) would prove a better transport than the average computer cd-rom..

This summer I'm going to try and obtain a really nice standalone CDP to compare to my Revo, it seems very few people are willing to compare a soundcard to a CDP fairly (eg: EAC ripped wavs vs. original CD on cd player, same interconnects, amp, cans, etc).

Recently someone did suggest that they preferred their Revo to the Music Hall player. I'll find the thread when I have some time.

-dd3mon

 

[LobsterSan]

Interesting. I'd like to see what your results are like.

I've done a little bit of testing in that manner -- EAC .wav files from my audiophile 2496 vs. my technics CDP, same cabling, same amp, same headphones -- and I'd have to say the Technics CDP won out for me. Detail and space seemed to be lacking a bit with the computer setup in comparison to the technics setup. It wasn't necessarily night and day, and I was a bit hard pressed to make out which I really preferred at first, but differences in the sound characteristics were readily apparent from the first listen.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally posted by OneMalt Will I be able to do that if the player isn't connected to a TV?

Yes!

 

[OneMalt]

Quote:

Originally posted by JaZZ Yes!

Very cool...thanks!

 

[dd3mon]

Quote:

Originally posted by dd3mon ... Recently someone did suggest that they preferred their Revo to the Music Hall player. I'll find the thread when I have some time. -dd3mon

I tracked the thread down, here it is (2/3 down). Apparently Solude prefers the Revo to his Music Hall.

-dd3mon

 

[springofdark]

Thank you all for your replies. In another thread I found, someone claimed that the revo had better microdynamics than the shanling s100 (isn't that the same as a music hall cd25?)

That is pretty impressive for a $90 soundcard. However, what seems to limit such a setup is the limitations of having a computer with which to listen to music. They are noisy, even after spending a lot of money to quiet them down a little. No matter how quiet your computer is, the newer, high speed cd rom drives tend to make quite a racket too. Computers also tend to be large boxes that need monitors to do simple tasks like playing cds. On top of all this, computers can't really play the newer formats with any pride (audigy and dvd audio?).

I also remember the president of nOrh claiming that there is no longer a reason to need stand-alone cd players. Considering that in the coming months, we will have computers that will operate quietly and even play cd's without needing an external monitor, the only thing standing in the way of such a vision appears to be the new formats.

Then again, such a small computer would be very expensive (I already have two at my desk, I really don't need another one) The philips player sounds good to me.