[bmichels]

Yes, I heard many top class CD players like Esoteric, Playback... And I bought the Vitus, (I had before the Linn Sondek CD 12), even because I do not have sacd but only redbook CD...

 
And do you also use the SCD-025 as your USB-DAC ? what source do you use to feed it with High-res music file ? 

 

[smial1966]

You mention a more 'reasonable price' than the Nagra HD DAC, but these things must be relative to you, as the Vitus SCD-025 is £17,500 in the UK! For that money I'd buy another DAVE (black this time) and spend the other £9,500 on a luxurious world cruise with additional DAVE as my transportable head-fi rig.

Very exciting comments.  I am looking forward listening to the SCD-025 paired with my BHSE amp + Stax SR009.  I hope it will offer good synergy with my Electrostatic set-up.

I am indeed looking for the Best DAC for my BHSE: a DAC that is very detailed, « non digital » and very engaging... like the NAGRA HD DAC but... a more reasonable price than the NAGRA. So I intend to use the SCD-025 not only as a CD player but also (and most of the time) as a USB DAC (have you heard also the Esoteric K-01x ?).

 

[Nik]

I do not use hi resolution files...

 

[bmichels]

You mention a more 'reasonable price' than the Nagra HD DAC, but these things must be relative to you, as the Vitus SCD-025 is £17,500 in the UK! For that money I'd buy another DAVE (black this time) and spend the other £9,500 on a luxurious world cruise with additional DAVE as my transportable head-fi rig.

 
well... as a matter of fact, I listened carefully to DAVE on 3 occasions and tried hard to convince me to like the DAVE but... It did not move me like the NAGRA.  Of course it's sound is 'perfect' but it did not bring to me the emotion I am looking for.  I do not know why but this is the fact.
 
Also, since I need anew DAC as well as a CD player, the price of DAVE + a decent CD player will reach the price of the VITUS SCD-025 which is a DAC & CD player.
 
So, within 10 days, I have appointments with a dealer all day, and I will bring my BHSE & Stax 009 to listen to :
 
- Metronome C8+
- Esoteric K-01x  (to be used as a CD/SACD and also as a USB DAC) 
- NADAC DAC
- Forzatto Music server
 
and also I am arranging a listening at home of :
- a VITUS SCD-025 mk2  (to be used as a CD/SACD and also as a USB DAC)  
- a BRINKMANN Nyquist tube DAC.
 
Any opinions about those other contenders ? 

 

[Nik]

Vitus = musical emotion

 

[bmichels]

Vitus = musical emotion

Like NAGRA HD DAC i hope )))    (you mean that Esoteric CD/SACD/DAC (the new x version) do not bring the same emotion ? )

 

[lovethatsound]

Like NAGRA HD DAC i hope )))    (you mean that Esoteric CD/SACD/DAC (the new x version) do not bring the same emotion ? )

your a hard man to please,maybe you should wait a while longer,till you can hear the blu 2 with Dave,just to make sure you come to the right decision

 

[smial1966]

Why not consider a music server with integrated CD ripper instead of a CDP? I have an INNUOS Zenith Mk.II with a 2TB SSD and it's sonics are fantastic. I too resisted computer audio and steadfastly stuck to my Nagra CDP and conventional Redbook replay, but thankfully an audiophile friend demonstrated his INNUOS unit to me. The sublime sound convinced me to eschew conventional CD replay and start ripping my collection and/or exploring high-res music.

Of course an integral part of my computer audio journey has been using DAVE as my reference DAC/headamp. As despite listening to comparable units from Goldmund, DiDiT and Ayre, I've yet to hear anything as musical and resolving as my DAVE.

well... as a matter of fact, I listened carefully to DAVE on 3 occasions and tried hard to convince me to like the DAVE but... It did not move me like the NAGRA.  Of course it's sound is 'perfect' but it did not bring to me the emotion I am looking for.  I do not know why but this is the fact.

Also, since I need anew DAC as well as a CD player, the price of DAVE + a decent CD player will reach the price of the VITUS SCD-025 which is a DAC & CD player.

So, within 10 days, I have appointments with a dealer all day, and I will bring my BHSE & Stax 009 to listen to :

- Metronome C8+
- Esoteric K-01x  (to be used as a CD/SACD and also as a USB DAC) 
- NADAC DAC
- Forzatto Music server

and also I am arranging a listening at home of :
- a VITUS SCD-025 mk2  (to be used as a CD/SACD and also as a USB DAC)  
- a BRINKMANN Nyquist tube DAC.

Any opinions about those other contenders ? 

 

[Music Alchemist]

Why not consider a music server with integrated CD ripper instead of a CDP? I have an INNUOS Zenith Mk.II with a 2TB SSD and it's sonics are fantastic. I too resisted computer audio and steadfastly stuck to my Nagra CDP and conventional Redbook replay, but thankfully an audiophile friend demonstrated his INNUOS unit to me. The sublime sound convinced me to eschew conventional CD replay and start ripping my collection and/or exploring high-res music.

Of course an integral part of my computer audio journey has been using DAVE as my reference DAC/headamp. As despite listening to comparable units from Goldmund, DiDiT and Ayre, I've yet to hear anything as musical and resolving as my DAVE.

 
I've got my eye on this network player and music server since they were able to beat so many far more expensive ones:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/787020/review-comparison-of-5-high-end-digital-music-servers-aurender-n10-cad-cat-server-totaldac-d1-server-auralic-aries-audiophile-vortex-box/315#post_12575069
 
Ripping isn't a factor for me since the cheap drives I already have can easily rip perfect copies of the audio from any CD. (Which can be verified by analyzing the data from countless other drives via the AccurateRip database.)
 
As for storage...gosh...I got a 12 TB hard drive array years ago that worked fine until this year. Now it's a hundred times slower and I can't figure out what the problem is. I'd rather not send it out to a third party. Spent $1,100 on the darn thing and I'm paranoid... If I'm not able to fix it, it would probably take weeks on end to transfer all the data to other drives.

 

[miketlse]

   
I've got my eye on this network player and music server since they were able to beat so many far more expensive ones:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/787020/review-comparison-of-5-high-end-digital-music-servers-aurender-n10-cad-cat-server-totaldac-d1-server-auralic-aries-audiophile-vortex-box/315#post_12575069
 
Ripping isn't a factor for me since the cheap drives I already have can easily rip perfect copies of the audio from any CD. (Which can be verified by analyzing the data from countless other drives via the AccurateRip database.)
 
As for storage...gosh...I got a 12 TB hard drive array years ago that worked fine until this year. Now it's a hundred times slower and I can't figure out what the problem is. I'd rather not send it out to a third party. Spent $1,100 on the darn thing and I'm paranoid... If I'm not able to fix it, it would probably take weeks on end to transfer all the data to other drives.

Is the problem with indexing of tracks - can you recreate the index?
If your 12 TB array is made up of several smaller drives (eg 6 drives of 2TB each), could you copy one drive to a new drive, and see if the problem disappears. If the problem remains, just repeat for each of the remaining drives, until you find the root cause.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Is the problem with indexing of tracks - can you recreate the index?
If your 12 TB array is made up of several smaller drives (eg 6 drives of 2TB each), could you copy one drive to a new drive, and see if the problem disappears. If the problem remains, just repeat for each of the remaining drives, until you find the root cause.

  There are a number of possible causes for the slow-down, but one that immediately springs to mind is it a mirrored or a striped RAID? Possibly one of the drives may have failed.

 
I appreciate the info. To help stay more on-topic here, I replied to you in this post on my thread. Feel free to continue the conversation there.

 

[rkt31]

I am not into high end gear but imho spending on expensive cd transport is not required these days. a good usb implementation via a bit perfect player can easily beat an expensive cd transport . in case of both cd transport and usb , the length of digital interconnect is the common factor but the difference is the two way communication between the source and dac in case of usb asynchronous transfer. in case of cd transport the communication is one way and any jitter caused by the interconnect can't be addressed. frankly speaking I have not used any expensive cd transport but imho even a very cheap windows tab via and asio driver will easily beat even the most expensive dedicated cd transport.

 

[analogmusic]

on this topic, has anyone used Microrendu as a source into Dave?

 

[Nik]

The integrated CD player (one box), for those who have a big CD collection, is still the best way to go, IMO... So the highest quality CD player is my choice...

 

[x RELIC x]

on this topic, has anyone used Microrendu as a source into Dave?

Yup...

http://www.head-fi.org/newsearch/?search=Microrendu&resultSortingPreference=recency&byuser=&output=posts&sdate=0&newer=1&type=all&containingthread%5B0%5D=766517&advanced=1