How would Chord DAC64 compare to RA Opus21?

Had an interesting session at the dealer looking for an amp to go for my PMC FB1s.

To cut a long story short, the biggest improvement I got was a Chord DAC64 and leaving my amp (Cyrus 7+PSX) alone.

How does the DAC64 compare to the Opus 21? It's rather difficult for me to get an audition for the Opus21, so it would have to be a blind purchase, although there is a 30 day return period.

 

I would go for the chord without a doubt, but it is overrated, though IMO, still a very good bit of kit.
Why not get the chord and the opus on trial, and sell either the chord or send the opus back after?

 

True, the DAC64 is actually quite expensive here in Oz (about 2400 GBP street price). It's balance suited my config better than the Arcam FMJ CD33 i was originally listening with.

I was hoping to get some idea what the subjective differences are to make the Opus21 trial worthwhile... after all, there is a 5% restocking fee.

 

yogus, now long now, and you can have a cyrus dac X for £1200. add another £1000 and u can have the XP, adds a preamp section. i have more info, not to hand, need to update my site.

dac X coming soon .....

 

Have the Opus 21...

...and wouldn't change it for the world. It's easily the best cd player I've ever had in my system, and the second best I've heard (after the Naim CDS3, which is over 2x the price).

Certainly better than the following (that I tried in auditioning, albeit nearly 2 years ago):

CDX
CDS2/XPS
Wadia 301
SimAudio Moon Eclipse (with & without HDCD)
Copland something or other (I think)
A MF cd.

And others I forget.

Great player - gets the music right first and the hifi bits as an optional extra, unlike most pricey players I've heard. Haven't heard a DAC64, though my dealer at the time suggested it was more hifi than music - but then he was probably biased.

jtc

 

I have heard the Opus 21 at length at a friend's house, who runs it direct into Sugden power amp.

It's not bad, but I can't hear what all the fuss is about. Certainly OK for a mid budget product, quite fun to listen to, but for me it doesn't stand out.

There are certainly to my ears and others, better available from the likes of Burmeister, Wadia, Audio Research and others, whilst I think the Dac64 is very musical for the money.

But do bear in mind that the differences between CD players at this level are marginal at best in reality.

 

Problem...

Say no more.

You emphatically MUST use the DIN output with this player if you can. Otherwise you're throwing away 10% straight away...

Can't argue about the Burmeister or DAC64 as haven't heard either, but have heard AR (a bit hifi) and Wadia (awful - the 301 was simply the worst £3k cd player I have ever heard - hatefully bad! No wonder they replaced it so quickly - it was musically bereft, barren and soulless and couldn't articulate staccato cymbal taps properly - which is not that a difficult thing to do...

I suspect your friend hasn't got his system setup optimally, or perhaps his Opus is a bit of a dud (they have had some serious QC issues IME, and the fact remains that I've yet to hear two Opii sound exactly the same...

jtc

 

Re: Problem...

That's a shame. I don't know of any decent amp manufacturers using the old Din standard, only Naim and that really cannot get close to the musical rightness of the Sugden to my ears. Sorry.

 

Two others...

DNM and Quad

Never heard a decent Sugden - only a little integrated Sugden a few years back - didn't pay much attention to it.

Why not have three sets of outputs on a cd player? Choose between DIN, RCA Phono and balanced? Very handy...

jtc

 

Re: Problem...

i have the 301, having auditioned it against the CDX2 and a number of other machines (copeland etc.) i'm sorry, but i thought it was better than all else i heard (at this price point at least). i have never heard the 21, however i have heard plenty of good things about it, but i have to say from the machines i did audition, there was actually only relatively small differences. at this price cd players are kind of like fine wines that have characters that you may or may not like, but they all taste like wine, just variations on the same theme. (i do of course exclude bad wines from the analogy)
for me the 301 had greater detail, whilst still having most of the drive and energy of the cdx2. and the reason they "replaced it" was because the pioneer stable platter mechanism was no longer available, the rest of the player is relatively unchanged. the power supply is now a switch mode unit, which i have to say i have reservations about, so i continue to be very happy with the 301. just go listen, it's all down to personal preference anyway.

 

must admit i've not been bowled over by the sugden's i've heard (mind you they've been at shows so it hardly counts) still getting a din to phono lead is hardly the most difficult thing in the world is it - unless you have a propensity for elephant cock like girth in your cables of course.

oh yeah, all those cd players you mention are toss by the way, my cd5 / hicap will see 'em all off still that's subjectivity for you

<insert hiding behind sofa smilie here>

cheers


julian

 

I would be surprised if any Naim user HAD to be honest Julian. Chalk & Cheese me thinks.

 

Not getting involved here

my list

Opus 21 average <> OK bland almost, build suspect
wadia 301 not one of my faves too nice and rounded, needs help to preform, but can be cured
dac 64 crude and wrong, forward too (valves help a lot)
CDX2+PS did nothing for me what so ever
Copland (822) showed promise but fell at the second fence
Eclipse does a lot of things very right
all of the above depends on the system installed in, however all the players/dacs have their own 'take' on the music that does shine through and if you like what it's take is, then thats the player for you.
I use a 7 year old player, that I find does music well. Wm

 

Hmm...record...broken....sounds like You're the only person that I'm aware of who's heard a DAC64 and doesn't think it's at least "very good" and you're in a minority of about 3 people who think it's forward.

Michael.

 

Thats a serious enough issue for me to immediately cross it off the list.

I still dont get it about the CDS3 being so special. Have heard it a few times in a variety of systems and it doesnt seem to do anything the Eclipse can't.

 

Must be my physcologicaly defective hearing as I can tell a difference from it and a £280 reclocked marantz.
I've always said it's good, and its fun, but wrong is an apt word
Broken record Mike, nah not yet although we did prove last week we can fix without to much blunt traumor, even the owner was shocked

 

I say "ee"ther, you say "eye"ther...

Yogus,

JTC and I have disagreed about this before...and no doubt will so again...but the Opus21 was quite simply the worst 3k player I have ever heard (even worse than something from Naim). I managed to listen to it for all of about 10 minutes before I had to turn it off to save my ears. So maybe it was a bad one (it was about the first to be imported into the UK) but....no chance. The 301 on the other hand had soul, presence, believability like nothing else I heard in its price bracket. And I'm sorry Michael, but I thought the DAC64 was only just about OK, but didn't offer enough over the Meridian 508.24 I was upgrading from to justify its purchase price (and I much preferred the NuVista, although that fell down fairly badly when it came to detail)....whereas the 301 would have done it without question if it weren't for that abortion of an ergonomic design. Still, big bruv solved that

Chacun's got the gout!

 

Re: I say "ee"ther, you say "eye"ther...

That bad huh? Looks like I'll have to avoid the Opus21 since there's no way of getting an audition.

May check out the Ayre CX-7 as another option.

 

Re: Re: I say "ee"ther, you say "eye"ther...

You may wish to solicit other opinions - and remember to shade them by how closely their tastes match your own. The Opus21 seems to go down farily well with Naimees - who generally hate anything MF (as does W-M) and Wadia. I could hear it did the speed thing pretty well, and soundstage too, but at the expense of just about everything I value in the music (my tastes are predominantly classical but not necessarily, as some others here can confirm , of the pipe and slippers variety!). As these were the two CDPs I really liked in that price bracket, we clearly have an ongoing chalk-and-solidified-milk-solids situation here. I have not yet heard Robbo's (now, was Merlin's) Sim though, but by the reps here seems to offer a good compromise position.

If you tend towards the values Naim hold dear, your assessment would maybe tend more to that of jtc than with mine.

 

Graham, you know the SE is calling you