[Chisum]

Last weekend I had the chance to compare these three CDPs for about 2 hours at my local hi-fi store. This is what I found out....

Background

I currently (since about 1 1/2 years) have a NAD C542 at home, which I am listening to with by beloved, now "classic" Sony MDR-CD3000 through a Meier Corda Prehead MKII. The Prehead MKII is my latest purchase, which I really love, especially (besides the excellent tonal qualities, of course) because of the multiple inputs and the discrete tone controls. But this thread is about CDPs, so I'll try and give this excellent amp a detailed review later on.

However, even thought I am really happy with my setup right now, I was caught by the upgraditis virus again lately, and began to wonder if my system would profit from a better source, even if I did not know what exactly this would mean....

People in the amps section are also stating that an high-end amp like the Prehead would "need" a mega- (expensive) source and would otherwise be "pearls thrown before swine". Discussion in this forum about "highest-end" sources, and the rants about players such as the Rega Planet 2004 and the recent FOTM, the Eastsound CD-E5, did not really make my curiosity disappear. Reading clearly new-toy-syndrome influenced comments like "player x makes player y sound like an AM radio" made me wonder if the so called "mid-fi" NAD would really be that bad, and if I maybe would miss the door to heavenly audio experiences that my amp and headphones would be capable of, if they hadn't been hold back by a source which is decent at the most

.

I decided I had to go out to my dealer and do a comparison between the NAD C542, the Planet (which cost almost twice as much as the NAD), and another one from the "real" high-end which again costs almost twice as much as the Planet. I had the highest expectations, and if the comparison would end up that clear, I already had intended to buy the Rega and to sell the NAD.

The comparison

Equipment:
I took my own equipment with me (Corda Prehead MKII and Sony CD3K). Decent interconnects and power cords (not that I believe in power cord sound

) were provided by the hi-fi dealer.

Music:
IMO a good cross section through my music collection, including CDs from Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Type O Negative, Tool, Queensryche, Exodus and Nile. You'll notice that I prefer so called "popular" music in a wide range from country to death metal. No jazz, no classic, sorry! Please, if you do not think that this is suitable for "serious" testing, or you don't think that this is music at all, stop reading here!! I made this comparison to decide if for me a source upgrade would make sense, not more, not less. But I think that all CDs I took with me are pretty well recorded for there style, and I'm certainly not (yet) deaf either. I would love to hear some day that the old prejudice that all rock/metal CDs are badly produced has finally been eradicated.

So, the sales assistant at the shop was very friendly, gave me a room for my own and provided me with all equipment that I wanted. Besides the NAD and the Rega, I decided to include a brand-new Cyrus CD8X in the comparison. I always loved Cyrus stuff for the looks and the built quality alone, and so I was really eager to learn how this CDP would compare with the other ones sonically, especially regarding the not really low price tag. The shop guy did not have enough interconnects of the same type, so I could not benefit from the multiple inputs and the source selector of the Prehead, and had to change the interconnects to the CDPs during the tests. I switched back and forth between the players during one piece of music, then took the next CD and so on. Here are the results:

NAD C542:
The build quality is good for the price, OK you do not have tons of polished metal and thick front plates here, but look and feel are quite solid. I like the kinda neutral, unspectacular design approach. Sonically, this player rocks! Very dynamic, punchy bass, a smooth midrange and lots of details without getting sharp or too analytical. The overall rather warm, balanced sound makes me smile while I am listening to all different kinds of music. Johnny Cash's old mans (sometimes breaking) voice gives me goose pimples just as much as RHCP make me groove, Exodus give me some "good friendly violent fun", or the mighty Nile simply kick the **** out of me and leave me annihilated on the ground. I can throw everything out of my collection at it - it is handled with the same sovereignty. I believe that you will not find many CDPs with an equivalent price-performance ratio on the market today.

Rega Planet 2004:
Now this was a huge disappointment! First, the built quality: at different places in the internet or in magazines I have read statements like "built like a tank" or "craftsmanship in best British tradition" and so on... well, if that's how they build tanks in Britain....

Yes, the aluminum case is sturdy, and the design is very nice, and has an individual, exclusive touch! But come on, the cheap looking plastic front- and back plates are a joke for a player in this price range! This one already costs some serious money, and does not even has a remote control. OK, I could live with that, but also the lid of the top loading CD transport does not look really stable, and I don't like the fact of having moving parts outside the CDP when playing CDs. And the sound? Compared to the other two, to me the Rega sounds bland, or even boring. I did not detect the famous, outstanding PRaT others are talking about in connection with this machine. I found the bass to be blurred, and the treble to be rolled off, which leads to a lack of details. The midrange was sweet, though. Sorry, IMO this player is absolutely no good if you like your music presented lively and dynamic. If you want rock - stay away from the Rega! But I can very well imagine that jazz/classic listeners come to other conclusions.

Cyrus CD8X:
Simply put: Great! Built quality is astonishing, as is the sound. I love the sturdy case, the overall design and the small green dot matrix display. If had the money, I would seriously consider to buy a complete Cyrus stereo system. Sonically, the Cyrus was not that far away from the NAD sound, but did everything even a tad better. Dynamics and balance are the most impressive factors which come to my mind when thinking about the Cyrus sound...I really love it. Well, you would expect that from a player which costs about three times the price of the NAD, won't you? And this exactly is the crucial point - are the differences in sound great enough to justify a purchase? Well, although I think they are obviously there - they are so small, that it's already not easy to spot them after the short period of time that is needed to change the interconnects from the NAD to the Cyrus during the test. And would I put my all money in a bet that I could absolutely unshakeable distinguish them in a double blind test, with exact volume level adjustment? Uhhh, no way!!

Conclusion

For me, this comparison was really an eye-opening event. It helped to save my money, and I can really only recommend to all people which are considering to buy a new CDP not to buy anything before having listened to it, and to compare as much as possible before you purchase. Of course, personal preferences play a major role here as well. As I said, from what I have read from the "source first fetishists" here and elsewhere, I had the highest expectations towards the Rega, and I already had reserved the money to go out of the store with it - but it simply didn't work out for me. I left the shop without new equipment, but with a full wallet and the knowledge that for me the NAD is nothing like a "bottleneck" in this audio chain at all. It did very well compare even to a highly praised player that costs thrice as much, and the other candidate that was FOTM some time ago over here didn't do it for me at all.

In fact, the difference between the NAD and the Cyrus were much smaller than between the Rega and the other two. I have the feeling that the Planet is kinda "sounded" to meet the requirements of vinyl freaks, who prefer an "analoguish", very smooth tone (i.e. who cannot cope with the dynamic range that modern CD recordings are able to offer, but that's another story

). And to team "source first": Yes, I believe that there are differences in sound of CDPs. But, I personally think (and have validated for me during this test), that they are so small that a lot of people will have hard times to distinguish between quality players, if they sonically have a somehow similar, neutral balance. And yes, even if there is a huge difference in price. For me, it does not make much sense to go any further up the price range for only minimal improvements. I will invest my money in music instead.

.
.
.
.
Hey, or maybe in the new AKG K701???

Cheers

Chisum

 

[Ferbose]

Nice review.
How about lisitng the street price of each player so the reader can get a better perspective of performance/value?
I do think classical and jazz music places greater demand for the source's soundstage, ambience retrieval, timbre accuracy and transparency. For me a major difference between digital sources is how much digititis it exhibits for classical recordings, but that's just me.

 

[recstar24]

Great review and concise comparison, this forum could use much more cdp shootouts such as yours, so head-fiers would have a better idea of what the different sources can provide.

After headphones, sources are the component that have the mst varied and distinct flavors. That's why once you nail the headphone sound you like, or a couple of headphones, its good to find that cdp whose sound you enjoy the most with your music and that synergizes quite well with the rest of your rig. People get too caught up in amp flavors when most of the high end amps are not too different sounding from each other, the top amps all measure pretty flat and do a good job of capturing your source's sound and transfering to your cans. One can gain bigger dividends and improvements by going to the source, and finding a source whose sound one can be happy with is crucial IMO.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chisum (entire review quoted here)

You might gain some by trying out Eastsound. I have compared it the much more expensive Shanling S100 and found Eastsound surely hold its own against the best of the best. But you are on the right track with buying more music, which is after all what all those expensive equipments are made for.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by recstar24 Great review and concise comparison, this forum could use much more cdp shootouts such as yours, so head-fiers would have a better idea of what the different sources can provide. After headphones, sources are the component that have the mst varied and distinct flavors. That's why once you nail the headphone sound you like, or a couple of headphones, its good to find that cdp whose sound you enjoy the most with your music and that synergizes quite well with the rest of your rig. People get too caught up in amp flavors when most of the high end amps are not too different sounding from each other, the top amps all measure pretty flat and do a good job of capturing your source's sound and transfering to your cans. One can gain bigger dividends and improvements by going to the source, and finding a source whose sound one can be happy with is crucial IMO.

I would split source into 2 groups, one is the hardware the other is the software. It is IMHO more important to have the better software vs hardware as we all know garbage in == garbage out. 2c

 

[Chisum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose Nice review.

Thanks! This was my first one. Writing reviews is fun, but very time consuming also...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose How about lisitng the street price of each player so the reader can get a better perspective of performance/value?

The street price here in Germany is about 500€ (ca. 600$) for the NAD, 800€ for the Rega (+50€ for the remote, together about 1000$), and the MSRP for the Cyrus is about 1.700€ (ca. 2000$, didn't ask for the street price because I couldn't afford it anyway

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose I do think classical and jazz music places greater demand for the source's soundstage, ambience retrieval, timbre accuracy and transparency. For me a major difference between digital sources is how much digititis it exhibits for classical recordings, but that's just me.

A could agree with that. Althougt there are recordings in the progressive metal genre (and even within some death metal) with really complex song structures, which can have quite alot jazz elements (e.g. Atheist, Cynic , Spiral Architect etc.), or influences from classical music respectively. Adequate playback of e.g. a fast Nile song so that you can distinguish all instruments and notes (and there are lots of them) properly is a challenge for every source I guess..

 

[drarthurwells]

I owned NADs and other mid-fi CDPs for many years, at first waiting to see if high end SACD players would come down in price, and later to se if SACD would get off of the ground (it never really caught on).

I bought an Eastsound E5 months ago after seeing about it on this site.

The E5 made my NAD 542 sound bad by comparison.

CDs suddenly were not only listenable but actually sounded good to me, and after years of just occasional listening, the E5 has caused me to listen every day to at least one CD.

You could spend $3000 USD and not get a better CD player than the E5. Some comparative listening on the Eastland thread supports this as well as my own listening to a friend's expensive Classe' CDP.

 

[Rhydon]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh crap.

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells I owned NADs and other mid-fi CDPs for many years, at first waiting to see if high end SACD players would come down in price, and later to se if SACD would get off of the ground (it never really caught on). I bought an Eastsound E5 months ago after seeing about it on this site. The E5 made my NAD 542 sound bad by comparison. CDs suddenly were not only listenable but actually sounded good to me, and after years of just occasional listening, the E5 has caused me to listen every day to at least one CD. You could spend $3000 USD and not get a better CD player than the E5. Some comparative listening on the Eastland thread supports this as well as my own listening to a friend's expensive Classe' CDP.

What's more, I found Eastsound to reproduce Piano and violin with such accuracy, timber, attack....dare me say it!!!....I don't think you can find a better sounding CDP for those 2 instruments for any money!! ..OK..if you are are willing to spend $6k for a wadia transport and pop another few thousands for DAC..and maybe another few thousand for interconnect...but that's really outa my leage....

 

[murrmax]

I can understand you liking the NAD, it is a good rock player and if rock& metals all you listen to then I can see your point -(I have the 542 as well and it is good) but if you listen to jazz,classical, vocals, acoustic I can EASILY see why an Eastsound e5 would be beneficial.. If all I listened to was rock and metal then a NAD 542 would be more than enough.

 

[dj_mocok]

Now you know why I am staying put with my NAD 542.

Although I really need to try some Linn Genki if I could someday.

 

[Bosch]

Hey interesting overview, nice one. I am in exactly the same situation as you are. My Arcam 8 is probably the weak link in my equipment chain, so I am looking to upgrade it to one of the "new breed" of up-sampling players. In fact I might be going to a local hi-fi shop tomorrow to checkout the Cyrus CD8x ($3000 AUD) and the Arcam CD192 ($2298 AUD).

I'm already expecting perhaps small (but definitely noticable) improvements compared to my old 20-bit Arcam. You have to remember that CD players can also benefit from burn-in. This makes it hard to judge performance based on a short listening trial, but I suppose you can still compare players that all have a similar burn-in. Comparing against your faithful and run-in NAD might be a bit unfair, but there are not many other options except buying a unit with a refund option if you're not happy after a week using it at home.

I read a review that said the Cyrus CD8x was excellent but light on bass. Can you offer more info? I'm also looking for players that have two RCA outputs....this is handy if you have more than one headamp.

I've got similar tastes in music too....I always take a death metal sampler too when auditioning any new gear!

 

[mysticaldodo]

It would be great if you audition the Cyrus 5. It is closer to the price range of the other 2.

edit: Sorry, I meants Cyrus CD6

 

[Bosch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticaldodo It would be great if you audition the Cyrus 5. It is closer to the price range of the other 2. edit: Sorry, I meants Cyrus CD6

Thanks. I considered the CD6, but my budget is $2000-$3000+ AUD, so the CD8x just makes it (this is also an attempt to cure CD player upgraditis, heh heh).

I'm looking into the Eastsound CD-E5 at the moment. It's cheap enough that if for some reason it's not perfectly ideal, I can still afford a second CD player, say for the lounge room, since I'm only using the Pioneer DVD player in there as a transport, with the Marantz pre-amp as a 24-bit DAC.

 

[Brunobiseu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chisum ...Yes, I believe that there are differences in sound of CDPs. But, I personally think (and have validated for me during this test), that they are so small that a lot of people will have hard times to distinguish between quality players, if they sonically have a somehow similar, neutral balance. And yes, even if there is a huge difference in price. For me, it does not make much sense to go any further up the price range for only minimal improvements...

I recently bought a new/mint Sony SCD-1, unmoded, to replace a Sony CDP-X3000ES, in my Prehead-1 MkI + HD650 setup, all connected with some top notch interconnects, and I must say the improvement felt was ... marginal. I'd go for a 10-15% (?!?) improvement in sound with a 8 fold increase in the source price (in my case).
I'm now out of the audio upgrade ladder and back to buying music (SACDs, CDs, Vinyl, whatever).

...I still plan to get a valve headamp/preamp in a couple of years (probably a Nagra PL-P), though

... and I probably won't resist the Meier Audio 5 Year Aniversary SE either

Bruno