I'll reveal the true identity of X-10D in a moment. But I'll say straight off that for those of you with such CD players as the Marantz CD 63, RadioShack Optimus CD-3400, etc., this may be the most cost-effective CD upgrade ever to come down the pike.
Digital processors?
Nah. Do you want to spend $500…
Now I think there's a DAC that makes sense—the British Musical Fidelity X-DAC for $499.95, available exclusively by mail order from Audio Advisor, Inc. The unit is built into the same cylindrical chassis as the X-10D tubed whatchamacallit (some people call it an analog output stage), but the X-DAC is tubeless. If you want tubes, combine the X-DAC and the X-10D...all this stuff in this month's column does work beautifully in concert. If you want to complicate your life digitally, there are plenty of ways to do it!
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The conventional wisdom states that the more electronics one inserts into an analog signal path, the worse the resulting sound. This wisdom is true only to a point: Taking simplicity too far can result in a cure worse than the disease. At one extreme you have many excessively complicated circuits, far more than you'd ever really need to get the job done; by the time the music makes it through this tangle of electronics, it's been mangled. At the other extreme is a circuit so bare-bones it can't even accomplish the…
CD Transports & Players: Rotel RDD-980, NAD 510, Denon DCM-360.
Jitter-Reduction Boxes: Audio Alchemy DTI Plus, Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor, Theta Timebase Linque Conditioner.
D/A Converters: Audio Alchemy DAC-in-the-Box, Rotel RDD-980.
Preamplifiers: Audio Electronics AE-2 (The Bride of Zen), NAD 1600.
Power Amplifiers: home-built Zen SE MOSFET monoblocks, NAD 2100X.
Loudspeakers: B&W 804, Signet SL 256.
Loudspeaker Cables: Straight Wire Maestro, TARA RSC Reference Gen.2
Interconnects: Sound & Video (…
It's an appealing idea, using a purpose-built buffer to isolate the possibly wimpy output stages of inexpensive CD players. Many of the op-amp chips commonly used have only a limited ability to source current, for example, even if they can swing the necessary volts. In fact, back in the early '80s, I experimented with using first a discrete class-A headphone driver, then a class-A line-stage buffer, both designed by John Linsley Hood, to isolate my preamp from the very long interconnects I was then using.
I also tried reducing the…
Although it could be conjectured that the presence of tubes in the X-10D might add a certain thermionic something to its sound, there was nothing in the measurements that would confirm that hypothesis. In fact, the Musical Fidelity appears to use a well-engineered circuit, with no compromises that could be laid at the feet of its tubes.
The A-weighted S/N Ratio, for example, was an excellent 95dB (ref. 1V output), though this did decrease to 68.4dB, unweighted, across a wide 10Hz-500kHz bandwidth. The buffer's input impedance was high, at least 320k ohms,…
Description: Tube line-level buffer stage. Inputs: one pair on RCA jacks. Outputs: one pair on RCA jacks. Tube complement: two 6DJ8s. Input impedance: 470k ohms. Output impedance: ±200 ohms. Frequency response: 10Hz-100kHz ±0.2dB. S/N ratio: >112dB (A-weighted). THD: <0.005%, 10Hz-100kHz.
Dimensions: 4 3/8" (110mm) W by 4 3/8" (110mm) H by 8 5/8" (220mm) D.
Serial number of unit reviewed: XY00194.
Price: $199.95 (1997); no longer available (2003). Approximate number of dealers: mail-order only (1997); 55 (2003).
Manufacturer: Musical Fidelity,…
Rare indeed is the audiophile who has not experienced—at least momentarily—the strong desire to make a high-quality recording of something. Many audiophiles are not only music lovers, but musical amateurs as well, or at least have family members or friends who sing or play an…
Schoeps microphones, Denecke AD-20 preamplifier-converter, and The New Stereo Soundbook, Second Edition, available from: Jerry Bruck, Posthorn Recordings, Inc., 142 W. 26th St., 10th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 242-3737.
Audio-Technica AT-825 stereo microphone, Sony PCM-R300 DAT recorder, K&M KM-201A2 microphone stand, Avenger AVG-A635B light stand, Sony MDR-7506 headphones, custom Canare digital cable, Tascam DA-P1 portable DAT recorder, Sony CDR-W33 CD recorder, and Marantz Professional PSD-300 CD-R recorder available from: Markertek, 4 High St.,…