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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: Re: CD/SACD Player Shoot-Out; Bottom line: It's all about system integration (long) posted by westcoasting on August 21, 2006 at 23:22:31:
If this makes sense, I thought the NAD was just as smooth sounding, or very close, but:(1) it lacked some of the detail in the high frequencies. That's not to say the treble sounded rolled off, but in one Beatles song with castanettes (sp?) you could immediately tell what they were on the UDP-1 and almost picture the band member shaking them. On the NAD, you had to listen for a second or two before identifying the instrument, but then the sound fell into place and it sounded quite real. On my Rotel, you could also tell they were castanettes after a second or two, but only becaues they obviously weren't anything else (if that makes sense). Slight advantage - UDP-1
(2) it lacked some of the detail in the low frequencies. That's not to say the bass lacked authority. Quite the opposite. If anything, the NAD sounded slightly stronger in the bass than the UDP-1, as did the Rotel. However, on Mars (Holst Planets) the kettel drum was most pronounced on the UDP-1, a bit more blended on the NAD, and even more blended on the Rotel. Slight advantage - UDP-1
(3) it seemed a bit more dynamic to me, which I particularly enjoyed on recordings that were already smooth sounding (e.g., Stan Getz Bossa Nova; Helen Merrill). Frankly, on the UDP-1 these discs were just a bit too sugary for my taste. In fact I preferred them on the Rotel, which brought out more immediacy, but the NAD worked a great compromise. Slight advantage - NAD
Also, I like the fact that the NAD has the HDCD chip, and thought the HDCD discs I listened to (Beck Mutations and Best of Dire Straights) sounded slightly better on the NAD, though it was close.
Finally, I would give the slight nod to the NAD on SACD. Somehow that format sounded a bit more robust to me on the NAD without losing it's open, airy quality. Too bad the output is lower than RBCD on the NAD so you have to crank the preamp up a bit for SACDs and then back down on CDs. I could get used to that, but it's the kind of operational glitch I don't like and don't think you should have to tolerate.
I didn't try DVD-A discs. I have only a handful for my HT system, but don't want a TV hooked up to the two channel system.
Again, I would be thrilled with any one of the three players I auditioned. On balance, if I could have them for the same price, I would probably take the UDP-1 first, but almost as much for the looks and ease of operation as for the sound. I loved the sound of the Krell too, but my wife nixed it outright because of the mongo size and loud transport.
If NAD does come out with the M5, and if it sounds identical to the M55 but has nice two channel CD player ease of operation, I'd pretty clearly go with it. But not sure if it's ever going to be released.
I do have two vinyl rigs, but neither is high end. In the two channel system, I have a Rega Planar 3 with Goldring cartridge (1022?) and Rotel phono stage. In the home theater system, I have an NAD 533 and Grado (Blue?) cartridge. They both sound great, and I prefer them slightly to my CD players for the most part, but I don't think the Rega/Rotel is a great synergy and am considering a better phono preamp next.
Hope that helps.
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Follow Ups
- Re: CD/SACD Player Shoot-Out; Bottom line: It's all about system integration (long) - JoshT 07:04:19 08/22/06 (1)
- Re: CD/SACD Player Shoot-Out; Bottom line: It's all about system integration (long) - westcoasting 15:55:41 08/22/06 (0)
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