ModelCitizen Wrote: > Sorry to subvert the thread but..... > I'd be very interested to know what you think of the SB3/2 with the Dac > 1. I have one and still the sound does not match the Naim CDX CD player. > In comparison the SB output is cold, thin, flat and uninvolving. The > Naim drags you into the music but the SB/Dac 1 leaves you talking to > the other persons in the room. It's very detailed though... it just > does not sound as lovely as the CDX. > For me. > > MC
I've owned a CDX, CDX+XPS and CDS2 + XPS. I have run the first two through a top end Naim active SBL system (52 preamp, 250 etc) and the last into that system and then into my (much better) ATC active system. I then replaced the CDS2 with a DAC1 and old Meridian CD player. The CDX is a good CD player, even by modern standards. It is particularly lively and involving, with a punchy sound. Adding the XPS to it gives you more of the same, with a bit of added weight and definition. The CDS2 is entirely different in approach: much more organic and analogue sounding. At first you think it has smoothed everything over and lost details but then you realise that all the detail is there, it's just very well integrated. It's a fine CD player but then it should be since it was over £7k new (and is still around £3k on the used market). The DAC1 is a more truthful device, especially in the lower mids which the Naims overemphasise, and is also more detailed, has a bigger soundstage and is better at the frequency extremes. It is not in the least thin or flat-sounding to my ears. It is less warm than the Naims but gives you more of what is on the CD (or server). What's the rest of your system? Are the speakers perhaps to blame? Andrew -- Andrew B. ========================================================= SB3-> Benchmark DAC1 -> EAR864 valve pre -> ATC SCM50ASL active speakers... nice! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew B.'s Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2619 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19452 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
