UHES interesting day out to hear some distributed audio

I was not able to stay for the whole day, but for some very enjoyable hours. Thank you to Norman, Ian and Ian’s mum for their hospitality and organising an interesting event. Those present were JN, RL, JH and me - it was very good to meet some fellow forum members.

We compared several digital players using the Beatles Get Back from the Love album and a Kate Bush track from Aerial. The players I heard included the Sneaky, Majik, Accurate, CD5i, CD5X, CD5X-FC2, CDX2, MacLavry 16 and MacLavry 24.

The system in which these players were tried used a NAC552 into some Adam active speakers with built-in power amps. How much this influenced my perception I cannot say, but all things were equal. I didn’t get to hear the HDX on this occasion.

From my perspective it was just about which player I liked the most. Others are far better at describing differences. There’s also a psychological element of being with very pleasant company and sharing views. Mine is an opinion I think was not inconsistent with others, but please wait from them to post to read their views. Also take in to account that I use a system that I chose carefully to suit my budget and favoured presentation of music that in itself may colour my judgement.

So I shall definitely be keeping, using and enjoying my CDX2. Of the players we tried it was the clear winner for me. There is no implication that the other players were bad, far from it. But the CDX2 just made me listen more intently, got my foot tapping the most, made me want to join in and sing-a-long (I didn’t as that would have spoiled it for everybody). So for my particular taste I feel lucky that I have the player that best suits me.

So if I wasn’t allowed the CDX2 then what would I choose. Well without any doubt it is the CD5X, I’m not sure I’d want the FC2 in the context of this set-up. Again I’ve heard this player a fair few times and always liked it and so my continued liking of this machine is no surprise.

And in third place, as a main player, I would have to put the CD5i. It’s presentation reminds me of the Rega Apollo. These players do not sound the same, but they share something that makes it easy to enjoy the way they play music.

For a second system to sit in my small office then the Sneaky is certainly an option. I thought this player was good value and fun to listen to. It doesn’t completely suit though because I would need to drive it from a hard-disk store across a computer network, but it would be hard not to like it. It does what it sets out to do very well without ever threatening seriously good sub £1k CD players like the CD5i or Rega Apollo IMHO.

I preferred MacLavry when the Mac was set to output in 24-bit mode rather than 16-bit mode, which is odd because the CD that supplied the music for ripping was, of course, 16-bit. This combination certainly produced an acceptable sound and I would again suggest it is good value for money. It is not quite the office system I’m looking for, but I can easily understand why so many folk like it. It is very smooth in its presentation. I found I preferred the MacLavry to any of the Linn DS players.

So all in all a very interesting day - what did I learn? Well I re-affirmed that I have a system at home that is very right for me. I also learned there are other viable choices that are highly enjoyable if different from what I have grown into. It is a good situation and to be honest you can’t really lose. You just choose whichever suits you best and enjoy the music.

The only time I didn’t enjoy what I was hearing was when it was playing music that I didn’t personally like - ironically that was with the very best player I heard, but was not used in the comparative tests.

Sorry that is the best I can do fo a write-up; no doubt some will say they could have predicted I would prefer the CDX2, but that is the way it turned out - I am nothing if not boringly consistent.

Thanks once again to those who made it an enjoyable day

ATB Rotf