[OvidiuDanut]

Hi! Has anyone heard how this cd-player sounds? If so....how would you describe its sound? And comparaisons with other cd-players within its price range and with DAC's like lavry DA10....

 

[BigEar]

I finished the Tentlabs CD player a week ago, so it does not have long playing hours yet. However, it really is magnificent already. By far the best I ever heard.
Tonal balance is neutral and yet very musical. Probably the tube output stage helps on that. Instruments feel natural and you can feel the air around them.
It has a very good resolution with ton's of low level detail. The ritmic timing is very accurate and it has a very high resolution also at low frequencies.
Also the sound is very dynamic and involving.

I used to use a CEC TL5100 transport with a Benchmark DAC, but this combination is blown away by the Tentlabs. I can hear all my CD's again and I notice an overall musicality, including instrumental details, space and rythms I never heard before.

I must mention I upgraded the standard ECC88 with a NOS E188CC (Valvo) I had lying around and added JAN-tubecoolers.

 

[velogreg]

How long did it take to build the Tentlabs CDP? Relative to simple amp building (PTP soldering and such) like a Bottlehead Single Ended Experimental or the like, how difficult was it to build?

I hope you can keep us posted with some additional head to head comparisons with other cdps or transport/dac combination. The TentLabs product is interesting but without comparisons to players I have heard I am hesitant to take the leap. I am beginning my search for a new source and need something to keep up with my EC/SS.

 

[BigEar]

It took me a couple of evenings and a sunday afternoon, so approx. 8 hours. It's not really difficult to build, but I guess you must have some DIY experience. When you follow the manual Guido wrote, little can go wrong.
And in case you get stuck, Guido's support is very good.

Unfortunally I had not yet the chance to compare it to other real high-end players, but there are already some very positive reviews on the web that compare this player to players with a 2 - 4 times higher price tag and find it at least equal in performance. From what I have heard sofar, I tend to believe them. It is definitely much better then the CEC TL5100 / Benchmark combination, which costed me in the past (in Euro's) about the same.

 

[velogreg]

Thanks. Please do keep us posted if you have an opportunity for some head to head comparisons with other CD players. I am interested in this player but as you can guess I am really skeptical of professional reviews and the so called "unbiased reviews" posted in forums.

 

[fkclo]

Just want to revive this thread as I am looking seriously for one.

Any one who can offer professional assembly service, or have one used available for sale, please let me know.

BTW, apart from BigEar has anyone else listened to this DIY player ? I google it and all reviews have been very very positive.

F. Lo