Weekend shootout results - CD5i vs CD5/hicap vs Quad 99
Posted by: Mr_Sukebe on 09 February 2004
Chaps,
Thought you might be interested in some views on the results of a bake off that happened this weekend at a zerogain forum members place.
I thought it worth adding particularly after the comments made during early Jan ref the CD5 vs CD5i. Those initial comments pretty much slated the 5i. As an owner of a 5i, I actually think that it was almost certainly down to the fact that most players at the time (including dealer dem units) were probably running in. I'd like to suggest that my own has only just finished running in after nearly 6 weeks.
During running in it initially sounded veiled and a little slow, followed by harsh and in your face, before finally settling down to it's present state.
The basic system was:
CD5/hicap, 82/hicap, 250 and B&W (don't ask me what they were, I have no idea. Fairly big floorstanders, 3 way, sounded pretty good to me).
In short, we tried the base CD5/hicap that is standard within the system, then substituted the CD5i and also the Quad 99. No more than one piece of kit was connected to the pre-amp at any point in time.
My personal opinion was:
- Quad had the best tonal texturing and the most bass.
- CD5i was the most synthetic sounding, had more bass than the 5/hicap (but in a more overblown way), but was a lot of fun to listen to
- The CD5/hicap was similar in style to the 5i, slightly less fun, but had easily the best bass control and general focus.
My thoughts afterwards I guess came down to cost/performance. I really can't say that I thought the 5/hicap combination was anywhere near to justifying the cost difference (assuming all units were bought new). The CD5i is £850, the Quad £1000 and the CD5/hicap would be a whopping £2100. Now clearly hicaps can be bought for £400 s/h, and CD5s for around £700. Having said that, when the market stabilises, I'm gessing that the CD5i will be available for around the £550 mark, still meaning it's half the cost of the CD5/hicap combination. I certainly think the CD5i has a better price/performance ratio and I think I'd want a good deal more than the 5/hicap is offering for the increased cash.
The Quad came out of the shoot out rather smelling of roses. If you want a better textured CDP and aren't too bothered about the slight loss of life and involvement (my personal opinion), the Quad is a stonking buy, and that's before you add on it's extra functionality of a digital input capability and the possibility to completely do without a pre-amp.
Between the Quad and 5i, I'd quite happily take the 5i, but it really isn't that the 5i is better (or worse), rather that it's more suited to my own listening tastes.
Thought you might be interested in some views on the results of a bake off that happened this weekend at a zerogain forum members place.
I thought it worth adding particularly after the comments made during early Jan ref the CD5 vs CD5i. Those initial comments pretty much slated the 5i. As an owner of a 5i, I actually think that it was almost certainly down to the fact that most players at the time (including dealer dem units) were probably running in. I'd like to suggest that my own has only just finished running in after nearly 6 weeks.
During running in it initially sounded veiled and a little slow, followed by harsh and in your face, before finally settling down to it's present state.
The basic system was:
CD5/hicap, 82/hicap, 250 and B&W (don't ask me what they were, I have no idea. Fairly big floorstanders, 3 way, sounded pretty good to me).
In short, we tried the base CD5/hicap that is standard within the system, then substituted the CD5i and also the Quad 99. No more than one piece of kit was connected to the pre-amp at any point in time.
My personal opinion was:
- Quad had the best tonal texturing and the most bass.
- CD5i was the most synthetic sounding, had more bass than the 5/hicap (but in a more overblown way), but was a lot of fun to listen to
- The CD5/hicap was similar in style to the 5i, slightly less fun, but had easily the best bass control and general focus.
My thoughts afterwards I guess came down to cost/performance. I really can't say that I thought the 5/hicap combination was anywhere near to justifying the cost difference (assuming all units were bought new). The CD5i is £850, the Quad £1000 and the CD5/hicap would be a whopping £2100. Now clearly hicaps can be bought for £400 s/h, and CD5s for around £700. Having said that, when the market stabilises, I'm gessing that the CD5i will be available for around the £550 mark, still meaning it's half the cost of the CD5/hicap combination. I certainly think the CD5i has a better price/performance ratio and I think I'd want a good deal more than the 5/hicap is offering for the increased cash.
The Quad came out of the shoot out rather smelling of roses. If you want a better textured CDP and aren't too bothered about the slight loss of life and involvement (my personal opinion), the Quad is a stonking buy, and that's before you add on it's extra functionality of a digital input capability and the possibility to completely do without a pre-amp.
Between the Quad and 5i, I'd quite happily take the 5i, but it really isn't that the 5i is better (or worse), rather that it's more suited to my own listening tastes.
quote:
Bearing in mind the usual improvements that a hicap adds, my guess is that things would be even closer, and the price difference would be just as difficult to justify.
Yes, my experience tells me that a HiCap brought about a very substantial improvement to my CD3.5 .
Based on your findings, it might be interesting to compare the bare 5 with the 5i, to see if it sounds any 'better' at all or just different.
David
quote:
Originally posted by Mr_Sukebe:
Dom,
Please go out and re-read my initial post on this thread. My own CD5i sounded truly awful whilst it was running in. If the unit you were listening too was also running in (pretty likely bearing in mind that your dealer probably go his at roughly the same time as me)
No, I realise it was still not fully run in, but I doubt the sound would have improved massively between what I heard there and what the stone cold CD5 produced straight after it. Actually, barring impatience of wanting a new CDP there and then, the slow loading time on CDRW discs put me right off the CD5i, since I'm a person who often just dips into CDs rather than playing them all the way through, so that usability thing popped up too.
I didn't find the 5i "fun" at all to listen to to be honest; the 5 was more fun because I could hear all the guitar work on "Alone again or" and the stereo panning in Air's "La femme d'argent" - the 5i lost the plot completely on these tracks. That said, a run-in one would be nice to hear in retrospect
__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.