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February 17, 2014 - 6:45pm
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wadia 581i-SE
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That is basically an obsolete unit. So is practically any CD player that costs over $1200.
You will get better sound quality from CDs and SACDs with an OPPO BDP-105, which is the state of the art. It is only $1200. Its SABRE DAC chips are simply the best; period.
I had the Ayre C5xe/MP, which was arguably the best, for a number of years and cost me $6000.
When I got the OPPO BDP-95 I got rid of the Ayre, because it sounded better.
The BDP-105 is the same exact player as the BDP-95, except one or two features have been added.The SABRE DAC chips and all playback circuitry is unchanged.
The BDP-105 is the deal of the decade. It has sound to die for and features galore for both audio and video.
Until it came along you had to spend 5 to 10 times as much to get sound quality as good.
OK, thank you. The good news here is that this is iminently testable in my system as I have the BDP-105 as part of a different system. I was in fact planning to test it with the Triton III and the NOLAs next week. I can let you know how it all works out if you are interested!
I will be interested in your result.
Thank you.
So, I did run the test for a few days now. I compared my Ayon CD2 with my Oppo. I run the Ayon CD2 both direct to the power amp function of my Ayon Triton III, and also via the preamp (the direct connection is better, as has been also explained in several reviews). I run the Oppo BP105 to the Ayon Triton III, as this is the only way to listen to both red book CD and SACDs without any rewiring needed. And the results are:
Listening to red book CDs (and hence using the Oppo as a red book player), the Ayon came clearly on top with an overall richer sound, bigger and better defined sound stange, and overall clarity. The difference is quite obvious. Playin SACDs however, it was a somewhat different story. There were minor differences when listening to several different SACDs (all Classical music, as that is all that I have on SACD for now). I had a hard time deciding between the Oppo and the Ayon. Therefore, it appears, that at least for SACDs, the sound quality is pretty comparable between the Ayon (which is strictly red book) and the Oppo (which can read either CD or SACD format).
I would be curious to know if anyone else out there has done a similar comparison.
(My current set up: Ayon CD2, Ayon Triton III, NOLA KO, and Eficion F300 - I listen to the NOLAs except when I go really high volume. Currently aquiring higher quality cables.)