kahchun

Me finish exams last week (part time studies) and workload have finally reduced. Super siok. Now waiting to go to Hongkong next Wed.

i love "AIR" on G-string by Bach, use it for my revision everytime. I normally go for conductors or orchestras when buying my cds, my preference conductor for baroque or romantic pieces will be Karajan and another Japanese conductor (which I forgot who). As for orchestras, will normally go US based orchestra (such as Chicago, New York) or Vienna.

Hi, I have done an AB of the 1072 with Marantz CD17MKIII and CD63SE at KEC before. I agreed with your findings and it's definitely better than the CD63SE by some miles. But compared to the CD17MKIII, it is too closed and muddy for my liking. But given that the DT880 is open sounding, it should be a good match.

Hi digi01, I like this one with the silver knob much better.

yup cheers for you.

OIC. The CD80 is an older model of CD85. Their transport is slightly different. CD80 uses the Philips CDM1 while CD85 uses CDM1 MKII. Both are die cast metal design, but the CDM1's tray is also metal. So, CDM1 is slightly better than the CDM1 MKII in terms of built. Both are by far the best Philips mechanism next to the legendary CDM 0. So using them as a transport for a DAC upgrade is a good idea. As for the DAC, CD85 uses the TDA 1541 Single Crown (TDA1541 comes with 3 version, TDA1541, TDA1541 Single Crown, TDA1541 Double Crown, the more crown the better, ). The CD80 uses TDA1541 too but I'm not sure which version. Have not heard the CD80 but based on specs, it might be slightly superior.

Sorry for the mistake, not good in remembering models. It should be the CD-X3000. Agreed that it is very well-built.

1) Teac VRDS P700 This uses the renowed VRDS mechanism from Teac, it has the same mechanism as the famous Teac VRDS 25.Have no reading problems, very good in bass, pace, dynamics. Mine comes in gold colour, with the remote. Condition: 8/10 Price: $550 2) Philips CDC 935 5 disc CD changer. Not sure of the age as I bought 2nd hand, but in great working condition, no tracking problems. This is a great sounding CDC, much better than the ones available in the market right now, it is actually the top CDC from Philips and it sound better than my previous Marantz CD63SE. However, it has molds on its cds holder, it doesn't affect the sound or spolit the cds though. No remote Condition: 6/10 Price: $100 3) Nad S100 Preamp Top of the line Nad pre for sale. Still in excellent condition. Smooth and dark sounding. Refer below for details. Comes with remote. Condition: 8/10 Price: $750 http://www.nadelectronics.com/hifi_amplifi...100_framset.htm Interested parties, can email or call kahchun@pacific.net.sg, 98781687

Actually, I think the new Marantz player transport mechanism are not very good. That's why you have such problems. My ex Marantz CD17MKIII also have the same problem as you but only on a few CDs, especially on copied CDRs/CDs. Having owned the CD72SE, CD85, I would said the older players are more reliable, with the exception of CD63 though

The internal is about the same, but the Marantz is full copper inside. The vocal from Marantz is more fluid, though both are as warm. Both are very heavy as well. The Philips is more balanced sounding as compared to the Marantz.

What I meant is, all those players are better than CD17MKIII in my opinion. They are cheaper because they are old. If new, they will be more expensive than CD17MKIII. That's why CD17MKIII is a good buy if you want to buy a new player at below $1000. The Arcam Alpha 5+ and Sony CD3000 are my choice if I'm looking for a used player. They are significant younger than the Marantz CD85 and Philips CD85. And they can be repaired if spoilt. For the CD85 and CD880, once spoilt, especially on the transport mechanism, you won't be able to find spare parts.

Just to add on my opinions, I used to have the CD17MKIII, personally, like the CD17MKIII over the SA8400 in Redbook playback, the CD17MKIII have a very rich and fluid mid range. Since the CD17MKIII, I have played or owned a few other cdps which is much better than the CD17MKIII, that is, if you don't mind second hand. CD17MKIII has some problems, the highs are pretty harsh and cutoff and lows are cutoff too. It's a very musical player with vocals and slow jazz music. However, big orchestra and fast dynamic jazz music may not be as good as seperation is an issue. Nevertheless, for around $950 new, this is by far the best you can find. I have also owned or compared the CD17MKIII with the Philips CD880 (around $450 for 2nd hand), Arcam Alpha 5+(around $350 for 2nd hand), Marantz CD85 (around $350 2nd hand), Sony CD3000 (around $750 2nd hand). All of them have better transport than the CD17MKIII. However, you will not be able to find parts for the CD880 or CD85 as they are already very old (around 10 years). On the other hand the CD880 and CD85 are having the best transport mechanism of the lot and is said to be able to last more than 20 years (the transport is made of die cast metal while CD17's is full plastic.) The CD880 and CD85 is actually the same player, just that it's from different brand. The CD880 is tuned with more bass and the CD85 is tuned with more highs. Both are excellent in vocals(in fact the best of the lot, especially the CD85) that even the CD17MKIII can't beat. Since I like the Marantz house sound, I favoured the CD85 more. However same as the CD17MKIII, it's not very dynamic sounding(the CD880 is better in this area) though it is better than the CD17MKIII. The Alpha 5+ is a very good player. Very dynamic and lot's of bass, vocals is as good as CD17MKIII. It is using the Philips CDM 9 transport mechanism which is also better than the CD17's. However it has a noiser background compared to CD17MKIII and the highs are pretty cut of. One plus point is you can still find the mechanism in Sim Lim Tower if it's spolit. The Sony CD3000 (not sure I got the model name correct) is a very fast and dynamic player. Vocals are smooth but lean compared to CD17MKIII. Seperation is good but it's bass doesn't go down. Nontheless, it's still a very enjoyable player and the top feeding mechanism is very cool. It's the youngest player of the lot. I will go for the Arcam or Sony if age is an issue. If not I will definitely choose the Marantz CD85 over the CD17MKIII anytime. Above are just my comments. Think I saw some of the mentioned players on sale recently. Marantz CD85 - in Echoloft buy sell section for $330 http://www.echoloft.com/cgi-bin/buysell/Ya...&num=1098279736 Philips CD880 - SecondBeat in Adelphi 3rd floor for $550 (very expenisve I would said) Arcam Alpha 5+ - MemoryLane in Adelphi Basement, price not sure though, they also have a Marantz CD63SE for $160 if you are interested. If you are interested in DAC, you might want to try the Audio Research DAC 1 at Audiophile Triangle in Adelphi Basement, heard from a friend that it's a very good DAC but it's very old. Price is around $900. Alternatively, you might want to keep a lookout for Audiolab DAC, usually aound $400. Try it with all the above mentioned player, it add speed, smoothen the high and mids if all the player. I used to owned it with the Alpha 5+, it sounds fantistic, even better than most new sub $2000 players. Later I paired it up with the Teac P700 dedicate transport(which I'm selling now), it sounded even better than the Alpha 5+. These are all my experience, hope it helps. Super long post though. Haha

or you can go for the FPS1800. Should be around $50 - $80 second hand. If you want, I can sell you for the cheap because I have no space for 4 spks.

Yup, I still a horn player and I quite like the Canadian Brass. You can try "Ragtime" and "Swing Time". In fact most of Canadian Brass CDs contains a lot of easy listening tunes. You might want to try the website below for other brass music. http://store.yahoo.com/canbrass/audio.html I will also recommend you Empire Brass, this is another brass ensemble group which is as good as Canadian Brass, in fact, their CDs are more well-recorded.

Hey kakchun, welcome to our little community. Let's hope we don't pollute your mind with cans...........unless U choose to. Ha ha, I'm always polluted by you guys, first hifi, then vinyl, now cans. What to do, I'm prone to pollution. . Anyway don't have any headphone setup yet, waiting for my end-year bonus. haha

Franky speaking, think it's better to get a USB2.0/FireWire PCI card as it's only around 10 mins for 5GB of songs using FireWire. You save more time in this way.

That's bad news for me. I'm a fan of Electrocompanient Amps. Thinking of upgrading to AW250 in the future

Hi, think it's hard to find a good sub at below 200. You might want to up your budget to around 300 - 400. In this way, you could look at subs from Energy and Polk audio. Think I saw a REL Storm for 330 in Echoloft, you may want to check it out.