another view .... nDAC & CDS3
Posted by: rich2513 on 29 July 2010
Well, i got my dac (already run in) today and have been listening to it with XPS against CDS3/XPS.
I want the dac to work so much. My plan was to get a unitiserve for it or even a used HDX. I can't think of anything more appealing that having 1000's of albums stored on an array that's no bigger than a shoebox and all available at the touch of a button in any order one so chooses.
The fact is though after a days listening I am more into my CDS3 than ever and its made me realise just how incredible it is. All I want to do now is treat it to a 555ps.
I could try and deliniate the differences technically but very quickly words and my own powers of analysis will fail me. Initially the DAC with the XPS is impressive with very solid grip, wide and spacious soundstaging and a very strong upper bass giving overall a very full and big sound. I can imagine is doing VERY well in demos.
But then, I put the same music on the CDS3/XPS. Initially the sound almost seems a little narrower, not compressed just smaller and less split apart. Then you immediately notice that its more laid back and less forward. The sounds of instruments are a lot subtler and have more grace, more delicacy about them and more beauty. Everything feels more considered and careful.
Then after a few tracks comes the big one. I could not explain it even if i sat and listened to the same songs 100 times over but somehow, the mixture of instruments, sounds and notes is just so much better. They play off eachother and relate to eachother in a way which is so much more meaningful, musical and delightful. This is something I find amazing about hifi, a slight altered balance of the different parts can mean that the whole track sounds another plane musically and can draw you in like nothing else and invoke emotional response by the bucketload.
The CDS3 is beautiful, organic, beguiling and flowing. The simplest metaphor I can use is to say that the nDAC/XPS sounded to me like good hifi that is being thrown at you whereas the CDS3 is like an beautiful instrument that is being PLAYED to you right in your living room.
The very biggest acid test in all this though is what it does to your body and your heart. I like to try to get a rough appraisal of what's going on technically but the big picture is always about what's going on inside me and after a while i just listen and see what happens globally. Well the fact is on my favourite music the CDS3 just draws me in more and more and drifts me off into this land where hifi doesn't exist. It almost feels like I am in another place, almost hypnotised and a part of me cannot analyse or study the sound anymore because I am just all at sea, swimming in sound and emotion, completely lost in it and drunk on it. That's what the CDS3 does. It did it today on Angus and Julia Stone's album, on some Kate Bush, Pat Metheny and Norah Jones too. Its an amazing experience and it's incredible that Hifi can do that to you. Tears, pure joy, goosebump, spine shivers.... the CDS3 did it all today but sadly on the dac it was just 'listening to good music'.
So there you have it. Just another persons findings.. It's not what I was expecting (My CDS3 is up for sale) and perhaps not what you want to hear but I am now sticking to CD replay for the for forseeable future.
Question is, can say an HDX over wavs in the rear USB port close the huge gap. Personally I think no, because for me the DAC needs to fundamentally change a whole load of stuff to make it a true rival to my CDS3.
I want the dac to work so much. My plan was to get a unitiserve for it or even a used HDX. I can't think of anything more appealing that having 1000's of albums stored on an array that's no bigger than a shoebox and all available at the touch of a button in any order one so chooses.
The fact is though after a days listening I am more into my CDS3 than ever and its made me realise just how incredible it is. All I want to do now is treat it to a 555ps.
I could try and deliniate the differences technically but very quickly words and my own powers of analysis will fail me. Initially the DAC with the XPS is impressive with very solid grip, wide and spacious soundstaging and a very strong upper bass giving overall a very full and big sound. I can imagine is doing VERY well in demos.
But then, I put the same music on the CDS3/XPS. Initially the sound almost seems a little narrower, not compressed just smaller and less split apart. Then you immediately notice that its more laid back and less forward. The sounds of instruments are a lot subtler and have more grace, more delicacy about them and more beauty. Everything feels more considered and careful.
Then after a few tracks comes the big one. I could not explain it even if i sat and listened to the same songs 100 times over but somehow, the mixture of instruments, sounds and notes is just so much better. They play off eachother and relate to eachother in a way which is so much more meaningful, musical and delightful. This is something I find amazing about hifi, a slight altered balance of the different parts can mean that the whole track sounds another plane musically and can draw you in like nothing else and invoke emotional response by the bucketload.
The CDS3 is beautiful, organic, beguiling and flowing. The simplest metaphor I can use is to say that the nDAC/XPS sounded to me like good hifi that is being thrown at you whereas the CDS3 is like an beautiful instrument that is being PLAYED to you right in your living room.
The very biggest acid test in all this though is what it does to your body and your heart. I like to try to get a rough appraisal of what's going on technically but the big picture is always about what's going on inside me and after a while i just listen and see what happens globally. Well the fact is on my favourite music the CDS3 just draws me in more and more and drifts me off into this land where hifi doesn't exist. It almost feels like I am in another place, almost hypnotised and a part of me cannot analyse or study the sound anymore because I am just all at sea, swimming in sound and emotion, completely lost in it and drunk on it. That's what the CDS3 does. It did it today on Angus and Julia Stone's album, on some Kate Bush, Pat Metheny and Norah Jones too. Its an amazing experience and it's incredible that Hifi can do that to you. Tears, pure joy, goosebump, spine shivers.... the CDS3 did it all today but sadly on the dac it was just 'listening to good music'.
So there you have it. Just another persons findings.. It's not what I was expecting (My CDS3 is up for sale) and perhaps not what you want to hear but I am now sticking to CD replay for the for forseeable future.
Question is, can say an HDX over wavs in the rear USB port close the huge gap. Personally I think no, because for me the DAC needs to fundamentally change a whole load of stuff to make it a true rival to my CDS3.
quote:Originally posted by ROTF:
I never heard anything in the Azur range I thought was anything other than mediocre.
[...]
That said if the BR play would let me play SACDs through my nDAC then I might reconsider.
Ok, I see. Thank you for sharing your experience. I only own a DACmagic from them, to dip a toe in these distributed audio waters and front a nice S/H Nait2
, and it does a nice job for the price. Not the Naim sound though, and still burning in.As playing SACD directly to the nDAC, I'm afraid Patrick's solution seems to be the right direction to follow, as the Oppo BD-83 user manual states:
quote:Due to copyright restrictions, SACD audio cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital audio output. To listen to SACD, please use the HDMI or analog audio connections.
Due to copyright restrictions and bandwidth limitations, full resolution audio from DVD- Audio discs cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital audio output. To listen to DVD-Audio in full resolution, please use the HDMI or analog audio connections.