All:
The wife and I have been on a CD player search for a while. We have been using an old Musical Fidelity 308 CR CD player which sounded fine until we purchased a pair of Vantages. All of a sudden it started to sound a bit congested and constrained.
Our other equipment consists of Conrad Johnson 2250A Amp and PV 14L2 Pre Amp with a Martin Logan Depth sub. This is a pure 2 channel setup.
We listened to a bunch of CD players from Musical Fidelity, Classe, Sim Audio, ARC, BAT, and Ayre. Some sounded too constrained, some sounded a bit forward. When we heard the Esoteric we fell in love. Even though much of what we listen to is not on SACD, it was difficult to find a CD only player that impressed us as much.
The kicker is that we have lousy power here in New York. We had a chance to purchase a PS Audio Premier Power Plant as B stock at a good price. Once it broke in the sound of the system elevated to an entirely new level.
We have been listening to some regular discs as the unit broke in from a variety of artists ranging from Keith Jarrett to Kraftwerk and we are always amazed at how well this unit sounds.
If I had to nitpick on one point, it would be a wish for the soundstage to be a bit more expansive, but I really can't complain.
That's all for now.
Mike
The wife and I have been on a CD player search for a while. We have been using an old Musical Fidelity 308 CR CD player which sounded fine until we purchased a pair of Vantages. All of a sudden it started to sound a bit congested and constrained.
Our other equipment consists of Conrad Johnson 2250A Amp and PV 14L2 Pre Amp with a Martin Logan Depth sub. This is a pure 2 channel setup.
We listened to a bunch of CD players from Musical Fidelity, Classe, Sim Audio, ARC, BAT, and Ayre. Some sounded too constrained, some sounded a bit forward. When we heard the Esoteric we fell in love. Even though much of what we listen to is not on SACD, it was difficult to find a CD only player that impressed us as much.
The kicker is that we have lousy power here in New York. We had a chance to purchase a PS Audio Premier Power Plant as B stock at a good price. Once it broke in the sound of the system elevated to an entirely new level.
We have been listening to some regular discs as the unit broke in from a variety of artists ranging from Keith Jarrett to Kraftwerk and we are always amazed at how well this unit sounds.
If I had to nitpick on one point, it would be a wish for the soundstage to be a bit more expansive, but I really can't complain.
That's all for now.
Mike