Conrad Johnson Premier Nine

[Hatzudokiseizo]

Hi, which is a member or owner had had this DAC Conrad Johnson Premier Nine in his possession or? What experiences were with this DAC? I find almost no information about this DAC is relatively seldom think of it? Since there is now a new digital DAC HD3 from CJ's and has no tubes, it is something else again .... 16-bit versus 24-bit ...2 Worlds apart....Greets Chris:music:

[rthomeint]

I've heard the Premier 9 I have a DA2B which was it's baby brother. The two were very close and I couldn't justify the difference in price. Mine has a Tice power replacing the stock cord and that improved the performance greatly. They are very musical, easy to listen to for long periods on time. They both throw big sound stages. The bass is good, midrange is glorious The top end lack a bit of sparkle, but it wasn't fatiguing like some of the other dacs at that time.Not the most detailed devices but I used my DA2B up until 2009. You definitely hear the differences between transports. I got an Ayre D1 in 2003, this took the sound to a new level. Also using a Genesis digital lens outputing a 20bit signal improved it as well. These pieces are roughly 15 years old now. They also can not accept anything higher than a 48K sampling rate they could take 24-bit. I current use a HD3 it blows the DA2B out of the water. Much better in every parameter. It took a long time to burn in but it's worth it. I never saw any reviews of the Premier 9 nor the DA2B. I seem to remember the entry level solid state DAC got reviewed in HIFI News around 1998.

[Myles B. Astor]

The only magazine that I think reviewed the cj digital piece was Audio Adventure (but that was so long ago, I might be mistaken and all my copies are in storage!).

[rthomeint]

Audio Adventure I don't remember that one but there has been so many over the years. I lost most of my dead magazines in a basement flood including a complete runs of FI, sounds like and Listener.

[Myles B. Astor]

Audio Adventure was published by Tom Miiler (you may remember him from his TAS days) and was out at roughly the same time as Fi.

[rthomeint]

I think I would need to see a cover to see if it jars any memories.

[Myles B. Astor]

3 Back Issues, THE AUDIO ADVENTURE, Full size magazine, 1996-7 - Canuck Audio Mart (http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/169130-vintage_magazine_the_audio_adventure_3_issues_1996 7)

[rthomeint]

Now I remember that I had a least a couple of those issues. Thanks I think those issues were some of the ones that got wet.