Come on you digitalians!

Ian, The Jupiter we've heard at great length, better than the planet for sure (sorry bud it's bad, never mind thin, it can' get the bass or timing right, can be a touch hard at the top too., although the clock-psu et al improve things a good way, it still falls short in the basics, but as you pointed out £500 new £275 used I spose is a good deal I think also my unfairiness towards a great deal of kit my seem harsh to you lot, I really haven't had much experiance of the kit from the ground up, and rely on Timpy judgement on these matter, as he's seen far more equipment of this ilk than I and has a more 'realistic approach' to it, but we back the planet up (before modding) and after again a fair few players in that price region, used it as a stand alone player and as a transport (using the same mains/i/c's speakers )
It just didn't cut at all, the mids are as Ian says thin and recessed, the bass isn't the most accurate, it does have an open top end, not too digital either, it does like mains leads for sure, however bear in mind the price .
If I was spending £700, i would be looking for a quality used 18 month old or ex-demo player, more for your dosh, but thats just me, and a fair few to choose from as well. WM

 

WM, I agree with you about s/h or ex-dem, but as I mentioned somewhere earlier, the trade-off is not being able to live with something for a while first before making a decision. It's a bugger on-selling ATM, and something I'd like to avoid, which is why I'm starting with things I can try at home for a good length of time (SAT included).

I may yet decide to not go for any of them, and go the s/h route. We'll see.

[Edited to add]

Oh, and timpy likes both the Cyrus CD7 and the DAC20, so he's clearly deaf.

[Edited again to add]

Just thinking about it, the only things in my current system bought new are the cartridge (for which I paid half the UK RRP), the preamp (which I got for an ex-dem price) and the speakers (for which I paid full whack). So, I'm aware of the benefits of s/h and ex-dem gear. Doing the sums, the vinyl rig (TT/arm/cart/PSU/phono stage) comes to about £4.2K RRP, for which I reckon I paid £2.2K. Not a bad deal, all in all.

-- Ian

 

That'll probably be the review in Hi-Fi+ sometime ago. They actually reviewed it twice, well they got a second sample anyway a few months down the line from the original. Apparently, there was a design flaw in the original which had been ironed out in an updated version that they had recently released, so the updated version was also sent out for another appraisal which did better. The update/difference was mainly in the transformers used which hummed alot.

I was certainly impressed with the original version I heard at a hi-fi show run by the UK importers, Metropolis Music aka (JJ) Sounds of Music, that I bought one straight after the dem at the show. It seemed to do a very good job for the money going on my (limited compared to now) experiences of players at that price bracket, at the time.

That'll be the one I just sold to him then.

 

when tony and i visited jj's. if i recall correctly we heard a sat fix fronting a krell 300i and new small pro ac floorstanders. the sound was save, nice, unnoffensive and could be talked over with no problem, ultimately boring and uninvolving. now i'm not saying this is all down to the cdp but....
ian, shame you didn;'t like the cd5 but i had a feeling you wouldn;t after wanting to get shot of the 3.5 as aparently they are quite similar. i don;t suppose there's any use in trying to sway you with the possibility of warm up (naims ARE infamous for the amount of time they take to warm up) and the fact that it';s the only cdp you've tested capable of being upgraded without open heart surgery.... no thought not.
cheers


julian

 

I had a 3.5 for two months and didn't notice much, if any, warm up improvement to be honest.

I'm skeptical about warm up mostly. "Warming up" = "Getting used to the sound" in most cases I suspect.

Sorry, add Naim CD players to Naim speakers in the list of Naim things I don't like. (Not strictly true, I liked the CDX2 I had at home for five days a few months ago, but that's possibly because I couldn't hear any difference at all between it and the Meridian.) I do like Naim preamps, however.

-- Ian

 

Warm up from brand new for Naim gear is IME five days tops, in reality it's more like 48 hrs. The nonsense on the Naim forum about this 'burning in' has to be seen to be disbelieved.

Ian, I can't stand Naim speakers either. You'll probably quite like my system if you ever make it up this way.

 

Bells

I thought the CD Fix was an Advantage with the bells off. The pricing structure would suggest that this is the case...

reg

 

Reg, is right if the prices are to be believed, however being inside both, may tell a slightly different story. maybe the A to D and room correction slots, plus stable platter mech+ Vol control are worth double the price however the S1 is a good a player for sure

 

I too was a sceptic (possibly because most of my equipment was used or demo) but it does happen and I have proof

A few weeks ago I borrowed a Marantz DV8300 highish end universal player for home demo for a few days. I liked it enough to order one. Then the dealer says ah we will sell you the updated model the DV8400 (mainly video changes, e.g., DVi-D )

When it came, I had both at home for a week, alongside my Ikemi. The new model sounded shite straight out of the box. But over the next few hours and days of continuous playing it came good. All through this period we could swap the same disc between the 3 players, or even play a couple of duplicate discs simultaneously. There was no doubt about it. At the end of the period I couldn't distinguish the 8300 and the 8400.

Now, I know it's a great player, especially on SACD, but if I had had a demo stright from the box I would have missed a fine opportunity for saving money (compared with the Linn multiformat players) .

SteveC

 

I think there are two issues. One is "running in" which I do believe in, that's what SteveC is referring to. I'm sure it applies to most bits of kit.

The other is "warming up", ie. kit that doesn't perform to its true potential until it's been left on (and possibly "playing music") for an hour or five That I'm more sceptical of, especially when people talk about days I mean, what kind of component is not going to be at full operating temp. 10-20 minutes after it's turned on??

Michael.

 

Well, I did say "mostly" skeptical. Mealy-mouthed, moi?

I have heard burn in with cartridges, which always seem to change as the suspension warms up a bit, and valves obviously take half an hour or so to get up to speed. I've never experienced protracted warm up effects with anything, however, but I wouldn't claim to have particularly golden ears.

I'm glad this SAT job doesn't have bells on, BTW. If I wanted bells I'd buy a tambourine.

-- Ian

 

I run my TT for at least half an hour* before playing anything on it. I think the bearing needs to warm up.


*This is the "CD half-hour"

 

My TT inverted bearing requires 8,500 hours for adequate running in. I can't bring myself to listen to it until this process is complete. I just leave it running. Roll on September 2004!

My W-M modified and re-clocked cd player however (report later) only needs another week or two.

I had to drive my speakers to the middle of Wales just to listen to some music (Soul power amplifier - report later).

Lucky I kept the old ghetto blaster in the kids' room. It's an Aiwa. Tone, any chance of reclocking it and changing the ICs, diodes. etc. ?

Steve

 

The SAT CDFix is the latest player under test, thanks to a loan from WM.

Swedish Audio Technology is apparently connected in some way to Advantage, but I know nothing about them other than what's on their website, so I had no preconceptions about what this thing would sound like.

It's certainly very well built, and extremely heavy. Probably too hefty for my tastes, the remote control alone probably weighs more than my preamp. 24/96 upsampling dac, the ability to turn off the upsampler, and a Sony transport.

With upsampling on, it's the least fun player I've heard for a while. Uninvolving and cerebral, I just couldn't get on with it at all. Seemed to drain the energy out of everything I played. Does all the airy soundstaging thing of an expensive player, but a bit gutless. Turning the upsampler off gives a noticeable improvement and gives the music a lot more life (as WM would say, less "hi-fi" sounding). But I'm still not convinced. The Sonneteer leaves it for dead, IMO.

Tomorrow will play with the posh kettle lead WM lent me (Acoustic Zen Tsunami) and see if that really does make the night and day improvement some people have noticed with power cords. Since I've never heard a power cord do more than make things sound slightly different rather than hugely better, I'm not optimistic, but will leave my skepticism at the door.

-- Ian

 

Upgrade to Planet 2000

I did promise to report on the results of the "clock & damping" mod that W-M has done on my Planet 2000.

Unfortunately, it's very hard for me to give an accurate account. This is because, since I've put my system back together (the speakers were on a trip to Wales to party with the Tom Evans Soul amp), I've taken the opportunity to replace my passive preamp with a valve preamp that I had. This is a 'made in China - modified in the US' pre that cost me about £500 in total (including shipping). It's got a remote control with volume up & down and mute . Actually, it's surprisingly good.

I've also retired the twin Crimson monoblocks that were driving my subs and after rummaging in the garage (pushing aside the crates of vintage wine, champagne and 'borrowed' beer ) I dug up a VTL 30-30 valve power amp. I replaced a single valve and then pressed the thing into service. Much better bass and much better bass integration.

So with all the changes to preamp and sub amps, it's not easy for me to tell exactly what has gone on with the Planet 2000.

However, I can say that it's much closer to the sound of my record player. Also, my system is sounding better than it ever did before so I'm more than happy.

My conclusion? Well, for the £450 that the Planet 2000 has now cost me (in total including mods), I'd say I've got a real bargain. Thanks Tone. Incidentally, I would like to hear that mains lead that you brought round. It seemed to make another big improvement. Next time you're in Surrey?
:beer:

 

warming up - I'm sceptical too. my era gold phono stage deffo sounds better after an hour although it could something else in chain changing , who knows.

 

The decision of the Norwegian jury is...

Today I did the deed, and ordered one of these (the top box, obviously):



Easily better than anything else I listened to. Highly recommended.

http://www.sonneteer.co.uk/

-- Ian

 

ian

how does it compare to the meridian?

John

 

Ian, good choice sir Still a tenner you owe me WM

 

Re: The decision of the Norwegian jury is...

Here's wishing many happy listening hours, Ian.

Incidentally, I've been accused on another forum of having a good cd player tucked away in my garage - a Marantz CD80.

Is it any good?