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Budget Source Showdown

Mar 15, 2004 at 1:32 PM Post #31 of 83
Oh, hmm, it's not in the review. Oops.

I did about 100 hours on each. The amp was burned in for about 100 hours as well, and the Senns have about 200 hours on them. FWIW, the cables also got 100 hours.
 
Mar 15, 2004 at 11:49 PM Post #32 of 83
Wierd... I have about 50 hours on the Toshiba and much much more on the Pioneer. I still cant hear any difference redbook between them.
confused.gif
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 3:29 AM Post #33 of 83
Really? That's wierd, I would think that with 650s and a PPA would show the differences more so than 580s/Pimeta/fusions. Out of the box the players sounded different to me, although I didn't really listen for very long before I left them to burn in. . .

edit: err, 650s, not 600s. Wow i'm tired. Off to bed with me.
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 3:41 AM Post #34 of 83
Quote:

Originally posted by dSquared
Really? That's wierd, I would think that with 650s and a PPA would show the differences more so than 580s/Pimeta/fusions. Out of the box the players sounded different to me, although I didn't really listen for very long before I left them to burn in. . .

edit: err, 650s, not 600s. Wow i'm tired. Off to bed with me.


Yeah dude... your review really inspired me to give the Toshiba a shot and so far, I cant hear any difference worth talking about. I dont have my PPA yet though... it will be here tomorrow, so we will see what happens with that. As far as your review though, thanks! It was very well done and I certainly have no doubts on what you discovered. I just think I need to train my ears a little more.
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 10:14 PM Post #35 of 83
Quote:

Originally posted by TMC
Amen to that. It's great that it sounds good for the price, but I am really interested how it will stand up to the cheaper NADs and Cambridges that people think are real bargains too. When looking up comments in AA they talk about how the 3950 should equal $500 players in several areas and that's really surprising to me.


Actually, the hype says it sounds ridiculous for the price, since the 'price' part of the ratio is so low. I haven't heard it, so it could sound as good as they say. If I had $60 disposable income I would buy it for kicks. But I don't. It's not that I have qualms about the sound, I have qualms about the heat, the stories of DOA's, the cheesy screen, possibility of failure later on, etc etc...
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 10:31 PM Post #36 of 83
You know, I was seriously considering buying this player, and then i realized that this thing is really just the FOTM (flavor of the month) and for all we know, in 5 months or so, this player might just break down. After all, no one here has had it for more than a month or so, right?

Plus i have major space issues, and with this so called heating problem that the 3950 has when its in tight places and when stuff is put on top of it, it just flat out wont work for me. I need to be able to stack stuff on top. (for instance, my amp)

I think that this thing is so cheap because the manufacturers justed totally cheated out the power supply. And in my book, thats a big no no. The power supply is essential to a player.

Anyway, i plan just to save up and get a better player, one that may sound just as good, but one that wont overheat when you merely put a piece of paper on top of it.
wink.gif
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 10:47 PM Post #37 of 83
Dan,

Saving up for a better source is probably a wise choice. It definetly is the FOTM, but deservingly so. It performs well beyond it's price point. I've used it to source a 20k+ system and my own ~15K system. I ain't sellin my meridian, but I was impressed enough to buy 2 of 'em.

also, two things:

1. I've never expereinced any over heating problems. It gets warm to the touch after continued usage, but certainly not hot.

2. speculate all you want, but until you hear the unit its not right to make assumptions about its sound or long term survival.
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 11:10 PM Post #38 of 83
Dan,

Sounds like a smart decision considering you already have a Pioneer that you like! When you've gotten the cash, please do post. I've gotta start planning the first source upgrade, after all.
biggrin.gif


PS It was a really big stack of papers; I let things slide a bit
wink.gif
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 11:13 PM Post #39 of 83
Gopher, what exactly impressed you? Was it the analog out, digital out, or both?
 
Mar 16, 2004 at 11:22 PM Post #40 of 83
Quote:

Originally posted by dSquared
PS It was a really big stack of papers; I let things slide a bit
wink.gif


LOL

Nevertheless, im not a man to take chances.
biggrin.gif

Quote:

speculate all you want, but until you hear the unit its not right to make assumptions about its sound or long term survival.


True. I shouldnt have said it like that. Allow me to reword:
*Due to the low price of this player, it would not be a surprise to me if it suffered long-term problems.*
 
Mar 17, 2004 at 3:33 AM Post #41 of 83
Quote:

Originally posted by Lando
Gopher, what exactly impressed you? Was it the analog out, digital out, or both?


I only listened to the analog out. Perhaps it is only fair to re-iterate my listening was done with it sitting on $300 isolation bearings, plugged into a power conditioner, using a $60 dollar cd mat, and wearing $500 interconnects, so it's not a totally fair evaluation of it as a stock unit.
Just the same, switching to it from the sony ns500v (which used cd mat same ics and conditioner) to my ears was like going from crappy FM radio (did a bit of listening to my dads McIntosh MR-78 this break... not too shabby) to CDs.
There was a huge, immediatly apparant difference in the sources' signatures. In the NS500s defense, due to the sporadic nature of the underside of it's chassis I was unable to use my Aurios with it. The soundstage the Toshiba threw was comparitivly much bigger and imaging was a bit more percise. The resolution was substantially greater as I heard many subtle things NS500V did not convey. It was a significantly 'faster' source to my ears. Cymbals & snares for example seemed better defined (I guess this goes along with resolution). It definelty sounds pretty descent, but it's not as emotional a player as some I've used. Definetly not as sexy with vocals as my meridian for example, nor does it as acurate at imaging and certainly doesn't handle the same at the frequency extreemes--but hell this is $60 dollars!

I think this is the magwire of CD sources. You can certainly do better, but there are no glaring faults--for the price, why not? If thats not enough convincing, the picture using S-Video to my JVC television seemed pretty descent too last night when I watched Face/Off.


*shrug* I went for it. I enjoy it, do as you will, I don't want to push this thing anymore. Just offering some backing to my statements.
 
Mar 17, 2004 at 5:45 AM Post #42 of 83
gswpete, do you mind testing the toshiba as a transport only with your art dio just to see how it compares to the nec?
 
Mar 17, 2004 at 7:59 PM Post #43 of 83
Well, I finally gave it a try last night. To tell you the truth, I couldn't really find any big differences. At least not as big as comparing the analog out of the Toshiba to that of the DIO.
One thing that really annoys me however, is the inability to see the track number if the player is not hooked up to a monitor.
 
Mar 17, 2004 at 11:23 PM Post #44 of 83
Quote:

Originally posted by gswpete
Well, I finally gave it a try last night. To tell you the truth, I couldn't really find any big differences. At least not as big as comparing the analog out of the Toshiba to that of the DIO.
One thing that really annoys me however, is the inability to see the track number if the player is not hooked up to a monitor.


its on the remote. read the manual
 
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