Cd 306/200
 

I started with a Cary 302/200 and found it blew away the Lavry DA10 DAC I was using at that time. When I had an opportunity to upgrade to a Cary 306/200, I could not believe the improvement. The presentation was so open with great detail and very refined bass. I now have two Cary 306/200s.

I have compared the Cary 306/200 to the MVP861 and the Oppo 83SE and found the Cary to be in a different league.

Has anyone had a chance to compare the Cary 306/200 to the Cary 306 SACD Pro, McIntosh MCD500, MDA1000 or MCD1100?

Chad.......I had the opportunity to audition the Cary 306/200 at a friends home, but that was at least six or seven years ago, so there's no way my memory could recall enough of the experience to make a comparison to the MCD500's that I own. What I do remember is being impressed with it's performance, and thought it sounded better than the McIntosh MCD7009 that I had at the time. My MCD7009 had a plastic drawer, and I remember being very impressed with the Cary's aluminum drawer. The 306/200 also decodes HDCD discs, a feature I like very much. My Linn Ikemi had that capability, as does a Denon DVD-2800 that I still use as a source for my HeadAmp headphone rig. I remember the Cary as being a heavy player, too, definitely not a box full of air. Cary was one of the early adopters of R-core power transformers, used for their lower noise.

As nice a player as the 306/200 is, I have to believe the DAC is getting a bit long in the tooth. Eight years of advances on the digital frontier makes any eight year old DAC a bit of a dinosaur when compared to what today's technology produces, although the 306/200 does use Burr-Brown DACs, and offers selectable 24-bit upsampling to either 96kHz or 192kHz.

It would be very interesting to compare the Cary 306/200 to the MCD500 or MDA1000. The Cary may not be on the pitchers mound, but I suspect it still plays the infield.


http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue2/images/cary.jpg

My MCD7009 has a metal drawer.

Dmitry.......That's right, the Teac drive in the MCD7009 did have a metal drawer. I was mistaken about it being plastic. Thanks for the update.

Besides McIntosh, the other brand I buy is Cary. I have the 805AE mono block and the SPL-98 preamp. Love them both!

That is quite an endorsement. I would expect it to be better than the Oppo, and possibly Mac's dvd player. Can you elaborate on the improvement?

I have not performed a direct A/B comparison but I have heard the McIntosh MCD500 and Cary 306 SACD Pro playing the same discs on separate occasions. Both are very competent, smooth and coherent players.

I would never call the Mac warm or rolled-off but it is fuller sounding than the somewhat lean Cary. The Mac miraculously restored body to Claire Martin's slightly raspy, thinly recorded vocals on Make This City Ours [1997 LINN RECORDS AKD066]. The Cary excelled at providing 3D images, bass texture, and is still somehow smooth.

I never heard the 303T but from what I read I'm hoping it would provide the best of both worlds.

Stefan DR3... Welcome! :wave:

Stefan DR3, welcome aboard! :wave:

Stefan_DR3... Welcome To AA!!!

:welcome2.: