[RipcordAFF]

Has anyone seen this Bel Canto all-in-one unit? 
 
http://www.belcantodesign.com/Belcanto_C5i_DAC_Integrated_Amplifier.html
 
I have always lusted after their stuff and this unit seems to be perfect for a desktop set-up. I have a peachtree Decco2 that I love, and I was thinking about replacing it with a Anedio D1\A1 set up. But this Bel Canto unit seems to be slightly cheaper...any thoughts about how they might stack up? 

 

[billbee]

I have bought a C5i just over a week ago.  So far all is well, the sound is clean and smooth showing excellent detail.  The operation  is very simple.   The only thing that this unit lacks is a moving coil input. 
 

 

[melomaniac]

hm... I was wondering when they'd put all their recent tech offerings into one box. I used to run a Bel Canto integrated at home - s300iu, which accepted USB as well as analog inputs, though not, as this new unit does, toslink/spdif. this new integrated offers less power (120w into 4o, while the s300iu and its siblings put 300w into 4o), but it shares the same "form factor" (such an ugly phrase, huh?) that was a good amp, and I'd recommend Bel Canto for anyone except people like me who want to use insensitive speaker that can dip into realms below 4 ohm, where the s300iu generated noise and didn't sound nearly as good as it did with relatively speaking easier loads. the curse of the vintage full-ribbon magneplanar... I've upgraded to another amp, but I think this new integrated is likely to benefit from several years of R&D and testing and real-life deployment of its predecessor units. I know the USB in this new unit is an upgrade over what I had, although I'd bet that if USB is your main use, this might not be the very best amp to go with.

 

[estreeter]

I cant believe that there isnt more buzz about this - a Bel Canto all-in-one with a headphone-out at a price not too far away from the Peachtree Audio offerings. I dont know if audio snobbery works the other way, and the higher end brigade just wont look at something this tightly integrated, but it looks very good on paper. No, I dont have 2K AUD (thats the local price), but thats a lot less than you would pay to buy separate components with the Bel Canto name on them.

 

[melomaniac]

fwiw there were at least two in all-day use at this past weekend's THE show in the hilton newport beach...

 

[project86]

I hadn't seen this yet - I too am surprised there is not more buzz about it. As a big Anedio fan, I'm still willing to bet this thing is very nice.
 
How would it stack up against the D1/A1 combo? I'm not sure. There is the obvious argument that separates have advantages, but I don't necessarily buy that. I confess though that I don't know much about the current Bel Canto DAC lineup... I wonder if the C5i shares its DAC section with the DAC 1.5, or 2.5, or 3.5VB? For that matter, I don't really know the major differences between those models. The 1.5 and 2.5 both have headphone sections, so I suspect the C5i is related to one of them. 
 
Somebody try it out and give us more impressions!

 

[estreeter]

project86, I guess thats the hard part - its still a lot of cash for most of us to throw at an unknown quantity, and it will remain an unknown quantity until someone plugs a pair of phones into it and gives us some solid impressions. Catch-22.

 

[btrain]

Anyone else have hands on experience with this unit? Also very interested in how it compares to the Peachtree iNova.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Anyone else have hands on experience with this unit? Also very interested in how it compares to the Peachtree iNova.

 
No hands on experience, but the current issue of 'Australian Hi-Fi' has a very complementary review : biggest concern for me is that they only review samples provided by advertisers and said 'reviews' rarely seem to stray from the 'good to excellent' rating. From memory, its priced identically to the iNova here in Oz.
 
 

 

[project86]

So I actually came really close to pulling the trigger on the Bel Canto C5i last week. My wife has been asking me to figure something out for a spare bedroom that she's been using for her projects, kind of like an office. It's not often that I actually get permission to spend money on audio gear so I was rather excited! First I considered something simpler like a NuForce icon, but that only has USB input for the DAC. Since a Squeezebox Touch would be the frontend, I needed something that accepts toslink or coaxial digital. Then I was looking at the Peachtree offerings like Nova, as well as the Bel Canto C5i. But all of those seemed like overkill for my little room. I ended up going with an unknown - the Lead Audio LA-200. 
 
http://www.lead-audio.com/leadaudio_products_dac_amp_image1.html
 
For less than the price of the Peachtree Decco, it does everything I need and more. I'm interested in how the pure digital amplification will sound; I've had good experiences with that sort of thing (Panasonic XR55, JVC RXD701, and others). It should be arriving shortly so I'll find out soon enough. I still wish I had the funds for the Bel Canto but the Lead Audio is intriguing enough that I've gotten over it.

 

[estreeter]

project86, you really are going to send me to the poorhouse
 
As I explained in another thread, when I finally got enough cash together for the Anedio D1, I realised that I would need the LCD-2 to do justice to a source/amp of that calibre. Now you've put more temptation in my path - sigh.
 
I followed the link to the Aussie distributor for Lead Audio, and they have the Minimax right in my face on the main page, with Lead Audio's DAC below it. I'm hoping I can drink enough beer this weekend to put all this audio tomfoolery out of my mind. 

 
http://www.i-enjoy.com.au/
 
Seriously, I love your reviewing style - keep em coming. Even cheapskates like myself like to read about nice kit.
 
 

 

[project86]

Quote:

project86, you really are going to send me to the poorhouse
 
As I explained in another thread, when I finally got enough cash together for the Anedio D1, I realised that I would need the LCD-2 to do justice to a source/amp of that calibre. Now you've put more temptation in my path - sigh.
 
I followed the link to the Aussie distributor for Lead Audio, and they have the Minimax right in my face on the main page, with Lead Audio's DAC below it. I'm hoping I can drink enough beer this weekend to put all this audio tomfoolery out of my mind. 

 
http://www.i-enjoy.com.au/
 
Seriously, I love your reviewing style - keep em coming. Even cheapskates like myself like to read about nice kit.
 
 

Thanks! I'm having fun with it right now. If we add another baby to our family next year (as in a real baby, not a euphemism for more gear!) then I'll probably stop the new acquisitions for a few years. There does seem to be a cycle around here - if you dig up some old threads you'll see members who have crazy huge collections of expensive headphones, and used to be very active, but are no longer posting these days. Circle of life I guess.
 

 

[estreeter]

Circle of life ? More like the circuit of insolvency ! 

 
The scary thing is the number of people who have as much, if not more, in other hobbies such as photography. Cubic moneypits, but I guess its only money.

 

[tkteo]

Quote:

Circle of life ? More like the circuit of insolvency ! 

 
The scary thing is the number of people who have as much, if not more, in other hobbies such as photography. [snip]

That would be yours truly for one. 

 

[project86]

Don't get me started about photography.... I took a small step last year by picking up a Nikon D5000 with the 2 kit lenses. I like it a lot. When my wife inquired about some different lenses, I decided to look into prices. Holy cow! we were thinking of getting an 18-200 lens so we would not have to swap our current 18-55 and 55-200 so often. But it costs more than I paid for the whole kit! And it is not even considered that nice of a lens! I can see how people could easily spend more in that area than their music rig.