Decent front end for active ATC?

Reccommendations appreciated from more experienced listners....

For a front end to go with active ATC50's. Best I've heard so far is Opus21 cd, using it's built in pre direct. Also heard chord choral dac into my dvd spinner (cyrus 8q), and the full choral front end (transport, dac, pre) but it felt slightly flat / cold by comparison to opus. Not interested in the naim route or valves either. Wadia / MF any good? Must be natural, not cold......

Thanks, Paul

 

My AS Dax Decade teamed up well with Dunkyboy's active ATC20s.

 

Is there a particular opinion that you wish to exclude?

 

How much do you want to spend?
If you're up for £2k 2nd hand then you can't get much better than the Advantage S1. Incredibly natural and detailed sound that trounces, say a Wadia 301. It's almost up with my Clearaudio! It's also got a pre-amp section, complete with digits in/out and 24/192KHz upsampling should you want it, as well as a balanced option.
And the remote is ideal for home defence..

 

Again, what cost do you have in mind?

The Advantage is good player, even more when used direct, that said I prefer the sound of my Wadia 20/25 that I use directly in the power amp. Do MF have a player that can output directly? Mark Levinson stuff is built well and if the sounds works for you then the 39 or 39s can be had second hand.

 

If you want to stick to studio technology, the Funk MTX Monitor costs about 1,400 quid and has received rave reviews by a number of German high end magazines.

 

Up to about 3 or 4k I guess for cd and pre. Advantage looks ok. However, it seems a few people are getting staggering results with this studio dac/pre box. Very tempting to build something around this - read the reviews!....

http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/

 

In that case the £3000 Linn Unidisk SC (standing for source and control) should be on your shortlist. I feel the review at http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2805 is about fair enough - not as exaggerated as single-brand linnies, naimees, etc can be

 

I'd also check out the Quad 99 CD-P - cracking little CD player with built in high quality pre-amp and all for £1K (and you should be able to get a 10% discount).

Yes it's a bit cheaper than some of the others mentioned but it has a lovely natural sound that lets the music flow through.

Definitely worth an audition.

Matt.