Advice required on next upgrade ....

[Mikeoz]

Not the order I was thinking but a nice secondhand CD8 came up last week so I'm going for it. Will try it with the LS26 and 302e for a while - sure I will be happy with that combo until a reasonably priced Ref5 comes up.

[New guy]

Originally Posted by Mikeoz

Not the order I was thinking but a nice secondhand CD8 came up last week so I'm going for it. Will try it with the LS26 and 302e for a while - sure I will be happy with that combo until a reasonably priced Ref5 comes up.

The CD 8 is an excellent player. It will go very well with your system. I had a CD 8 and it was recently replaced with a CD9.

Rich

[Yashu]

How did you go about breaking in your cd9?

I have just been playing and listening to mine. Have been turning it off when not in use.

[New guy]

Originally Posted by Yashu

How did you go about breaking in your cd9?

I have just been playing and listening to mine. Have been turning it off when not in use.

My CD9 had 500 hours on it when I got. You can play cd or use it as a DAC with a computer to break it in. The capacitors are breaking in either way.

[microstrip]

Originally Posted by Mikeoz

Not the order I was thinking but a nice secondhand CD8 came up last week so I'm going for it. Will try it with the LS26 and 302e for a while - sure I will be happy with that combo until a reasonably priced Ref5 comes up.

IMHO once you try the CD8 in your system you will not let it go away. A good friend of mine went sometime ago from the CD3 mk2 to the CD7 and found it much better. Yesterday he part-exchanged his CD7 for an used CD8 just on my advice, without listening to it in his system - he called me today as is astonished of how much better the CD8 is. Better bass, great voices, much more air and detail. My friend has a REF3 preamplifier.

The CD8 was a great buy at full price - now that people are buying the CD9's and selling them at reduced price they are an high-end bargain. Specially if you own an ARC preamplifier.

[Harlequin]

Originally Posted by New guy

The CD 8 is an excellent player. It will go very well with your system. I had a CD 8 and it was recently replaced with a CD9.

Rich

Rich ,I would be most interested in your impressions with regard to what the CD9 may imparts over the CD8 .

[New guy]

Originally Posted by Harlequin

Rich ,I would be most interested in your impressions with regard to what the CD9 may imparts over the CD8 .

The CD 9 sounds very similar to the CD 8 with lower background noise, a bit more dynamic and slightly more extended high frequency. The upsampling also adds a bit more air to instruments. The DAC is also very good with computers. I prefer the sound of a Berkeley USB to AES converter rather using the USB input of the CD9.



If you can stretch your budget, I highly recommend the CD9.

Rich