CD player comments please....

Bow/Dac 64

As someone who traded in a Bow CD player for a DAC64 and a Tag transport I may as well weigh in....

Julian, do some research about the current status of Bow and their uk importing/service arrangements. From memory I think the transports Bow use are heavily modified versions of the basic Philips unit, so you may not be able to get an off the shelf replacement from somewhere else. I had a Wizard (their other player) with a transport problem and it took a couple of months to sort it out.

Last time I spoke to Path Premier, who were formerly the UK distributors for Bow, they told me that Bow were refocussing their product line and going downmarket, so long term support may be a problem. I think Path actually stopped formerly distributing the range, but when I dealt with them (about 18 months ago) were still offering tech support. There may be a new UK distributor by now.

Ignoring all that.... I've not heard the ZZ-8 but I understand it's a couple of notches up from the Wizard in weight and presence, so I'm sure it would be very good indeed. As a (completely biased) point of reference, I listened to a CDX when I bought my Wizard, and the Wizard was, to my ears, a much better player.

BUT - sticking a DAC64 on the end of the Wizard was a big jump again (all IMHO obviously), although in the end I couldn't justify having a £3.5k CD player as a transport and swapped it for my Tag and a turntable. My dealer's view was that the transport end of the Bow players (and the build quality) is top notch, and they were raving about the ZZ-8 WITH a DAC64, but that's probably not the world's most cost efficient option!

For what it's worth, I'd tend to agree with Michael that for £2k a used DAC64 and a decent transport has got to be worth a listen - and yes they do make them in black.

Steve

 

It may sound fantastic but it looks like a piece of lab equipment :newbie:

 

you jest sir!

she has delicacy subtlety and grace!!

If she were a woman, she would be a YOUNG elizabeth taylor, to the dolled up kappa slapping Jordan-esque Bow!



We are talking....

]

VS




no!.. I dont know why elizabeth has a tit on her.... chest.

 

there was / is a bow for sale in welwyn (a bit closer than glasgow and about 500 quid cheaper too) which i enquired about today. unfortunately it wasn;t at the shop (the other partner in the business is using it as their personal player at the moment) so the guy's going to call me back when / if it gets back into the shop.
i'll have to get hold of the current importers and see what the deal is with replacement transports.

the dac 64 is another serious contender not least because i could get a cheap transport and use that, plus i could also stream stuff wirelessly over a wi-fi network from a mmpc. (uncompressed of course). the dax would also accomodate this but i'm not sure how it fairs with 'lesser' transports.

the other alternative is a tube technology fusion which is an integrated player with most of a dac 64 in it but with as tube output stage. i've yet to hear one in anger but it was making music under adverse conditions at bristol. the only thing is that compared to the bow it looks like a bulldog chewing a wasp.

there are also the sim and the cds on the back burner too but they really are pushing the budget too far.

thanks for all the replies so far especially steveh
cheers


julian

 

Don't worry, we don't seem to shun mooks here.

 

It does. I have owned both a CD5 and a CDX. I sold one to buy t'other. Have you heard the two in direct comparison?

Following your logic, if I were you, I'd sell that CDS2/XPS of yours for about 3.5k, get my hands on a s/h CD5 for about 600 quid and spend the difference on a shit load of Mana.

The Linn Ikemi tends to sound broken outside of all-Linn sytems - might have something to do wit its switch mode power supply.

I borrowed one of those too. Yep, I heard it in my system and in my room. The CD3.5 trashed it.

Meanwhile, try to speak only of what you know.

 

I upgraded from a CD3.5 with hicap straight to CDS2 because the CDX wasn't quite as good as the 3.5. YMMV.

Did Stallion sell his NAP 135s?

PS I already have a not inconsiderable amount of Mana.

 

Julian,

Have you seen the CDX/XPS on hififorsale for £2100? Thats the cheapest I have seen these anywhere.

 

I know I have said this before

James

Buy yourself a CDS3, it is the most analoguey and beautiful sounding CDP that you will ever hear.

Regards

Mick

 

robbo,
bugger, i might have to have another think about this - i was all set to go for the bow and you muddy the waters with the cdx + xps.
aesthetically the bow wins hands down, plus there are a few cd's with interesting printing that i'd love to see spinning away. however that is one mighty good deal on the cdx + xps.
unfortunately i'd be buying either blind - oh calamity. the bow i could return under the 7 day cooling off malarkey but the cdx i'd have to try and sell on if i didn't like it.

there's also a levvy #39 for 2.5k aaaaarrrrghhhh what was that shooting pain.... tony stop attacking me through the 12th dimension.

cheers


julian

 

Re: I know I have said this before

Mick, I'd beg to diff on the strongest terms old bean

 

A well respected player no doubt but ML stuff is probably about as far removed from any kind of groove as it's possible to get so I doubt it would be your thing.

Michael.

 

Yes the No 39 isn't the best, the CDX + XPS would almost certainly be more 'sir'.

Thanks Mick, it's on my 'to do' list, but fairly low down it.

 

i wasn't actually that serious about the 39 i heard a 390 at heathrow and it didn't actually blow my socks off.
unfortunately it's looking like the bow isn;t going to happen (or at least not any time soon). Audio salon wasn't willing to do a 2 week home trial, and they'd pretty much sold it anyway so fair enough, jack there is going to keep an eye out for one though but it may not happen. the guy in welwyn hasn't got back yet so i'm assuming he's not too interested in making a sale, if the other guy is enjoying it more than the cash then fair enough, i think it was an old one without the i2s bus anyway which means lots of jitter!
i've e-mailed about the cdx/xps and the sim but nothing back yet.
i think radlett audio are tube technology dealers so i might see if i can set up a demo there some time soon. also i'll probably try to get in contact with john robberts and have a listen to the ecm-1 and maybe an accuphase too.
cheers


julian

 

did you speak to him about returns Julian?
ive still not heard back from him

 

penance,
he said he didn;t normally do a home trial but if he found another one he'd let me do one.
cheers


julian

 

FWIW I liked the Bow I heard. I also prefer my Densen 400XS @ 2.5K (with Eupen cable) to my old CDS2, let alone a CDX/XPS, let alone alone a stand alone CDX - I preferred my CD3 to that.

 

hi,
does anyone know anything about cec transports and dac's. in particular the tl51 and the dx71? i've tried a web search but googles translator is less than ideal and the cec website is mostly bitmap text which won't translate.
so far the front runners are the bow (back on thanks to the man in welwyn) and the TT fusion 64. the 2 box cec looks quite nice and any comments on how it sounds / reliability, etc. would be much apprieciated. thanks for all the suggestions so far.
cheers


julian

 

Julian,
i would suggest you to do something (but don't tell that to anybody, they wouldn't like it)
:duck:

Try and get a demo of he lower model of Metronome technologies. You know, just for fun. It won't hurt.

:duck:

 

Julian,

The CEC website is also available in English

I heard their one box player, the TL51 Z recently and was mightily impressed . It's a belt drive (as they all are) top loader but surprisingly affordable (less than £2K ISTR). It completely blew the doors off a much more expensive Copland (CD822 I think it was) that was at the dem.

Defintely a flat-earth player but one I could live with.

Michael.