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i want a decent source - which to get ?

Jul 10, 2004 at 9:16 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 15
boodi

boodi

Headphoneus Supremus
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I ahve the opportunity to get an s100 mkI for 200$ , this is my budget and i don't want to spend more .
I0'm eyeing some nad 521 / 541 on ebay .
wich source should i take to be satisfied and not want to upgrade soon ?

thanks
 
Jul 13, 2004 at 6:17 AM Post #2 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by boodi
I ahve the opportunity to get an s100 mkI for 200$ , this is my budget and i don't want to spend more .
I0'm eyeing some nad 521 / 541 on ebay .
wich source should i take to be satisfied and not want to upgrade soon ?

thanks


In this price range you would be hard pressed to beat am 1212m (soundcard) even if you buy on the used market.

<Puts on anti-flame suit and runs out of Dedicated Source Forum>
tongue.gif
 
Jul 13, 2004 at 8:00 AM Post #5 of 15
i personally dont feel comfortable getting stuffs like CD players on ebay.
they may sound great or new,but who can actually tell that the lens had been dirty and cleaned before, or the inside parts have been serviced before, etc... not to mention delivery cost, etc...
 
Jul 13, 2004 at 8:11 AM Post #7 of 15
i just recently skipped an auction for NAD player in eBay, because its quite expensive one (C540), and when i asked the owner about the condition, he honestly told me it has been lens-cleaned once.
i might sound paranoid, but the last thing i want from a decent CD player is the one with bad lens...

well, at least the owner was honest, and didnt say cliche stuffs like "in perfect working condition, 99% brand new" all sort of BS...
 
Jul 13, 2004 at 8:40 AM Post #8 of 15
Yes, players that retail for $499 sellf or $199 on ebay makes you wonder of their condition..
 
Jul 14, 2004 at 6:02 PM Post #9 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZI
Yes, players that retail for $499 sellf or $199 on ebay makes you wonder of their condition..



Not really, consider the list price on a pair of HD 280 Pros, $200. Yet the street price is typically $99 and you can actually get it for as low as $60. Consider the markup on cables... Do you really think it's possible to make a 1 meter cable actually cost thousands of dollars to produce? I think not, the price of silver is outrageously low compared to it's typical retail price. In jewelery, the markup on silver tends to be between 500 and 1000%. From what I've seen of most Audiophile products, the markup goes above the typical 100% that you find on most retail products. If you consider this, then it's not hard to imagine why someone on ebay could sell you a $500 player for $199, most likely he/she's still making $20-50 or more on it. Since there's no retail store to pay for, actual overhead for them is very low, they can get by on the low mark up.

-EDIT-

Now this doesn't mean I'm vouching for the quality of things you buy on ebay, but my misgivings about ebay is that you don't know who you're buying from much of the time and they could be sending you the wrong thing or scamming you completely. They could also go out of business tomorrow and then what...
 
Jul 14, 2004 at 6:56 PM Post #10 of 15
tell me about it, i almost bought a Sony CDP D-500 today on ebay, and this Akai digital sampler has a cdrom drive - probably could be used as a CDP-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3735089114

this kind of stuff drives me batty. huge heavy pro equipment sounds like a bargain, but S&H is a bear, and no guarantee on quality control. ugh. i think i'll wait until i'm richer for my home setup after all.
 
Jul 14, 2004 at 9:00 PM Post #11 of 15
Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZI
I`m wondering why NAD Cd Players are soo cheap on Ebay, should i get one?


Because a lot of people buy NAD, and a lot of people have upgraded to the newer players.

I have a minty NAD 521i that I haven't been able to unload locally for $150. Too many NAD CDPs on the market right now.

Jeffery
 
Jul 15, 2004 at 7:52 AM Post #13 of 15
Yup, the Panasonic DVD-S75 - so far, it seems fairly good to my ears. I haven't personally compared let alone heard the 521i and 542, though - however, Stereoplay rates the DVD-S75 a tad better than the 521i for redbook, Stereo rates it a tad lower. So, all in all, it seems to be in the same range - not too shabby for ~ 160 Euro (incl. 16 % VAT) new.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: Oh, and just btw, Cambridge Audio has just extended the Azur series with the new entry level amp 340A and the cdp 340C (more info over there: http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/340c_cd.html) - so that might be worth a try, too, if you're willing to stretch your budget a little...
 
Jul 15, 2004 at 4:43 PM Post #15 of 15
For CD playback can't help but recommend the budget Toshiba DVD players SD-3950 and SD-3960, particularly if you like DIY and you would do the mods on it. Even fully modded it remains within your budget, while the sound gets waaaaaaaay beyond...

Overall, for a large collection of recommended digital sources recently gathered from many headfiers, check the first post in this thread.
 
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