Best Hardware for Classical Music

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by George P, Dec 29, 2015.

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  1. fluffskul

    fluffskul Would rather be at a concert

    Location:
    albany, ny
    I think what you'll find with the "low end" SACD players isn't necessarily poor sound quality. But faulty transports that WILL FAIL quickly with heavy usage. I had two budget SACD players fail, before I bought the Marantz SA8005 in my profile. Which is still a budget player by some standards (MSRP $1200 IIRC). But it sounds great to my ears. The forum favorite Oppo BDP-105 is in the same price range. Don't make my mistake and have 2 budget players fail before you get up to the next level.

    As far as still being able to afford SACDs. The Living Stereo SACDs can be found for about $10 each everywhere, and sound great.
     
  2. Fiddlefye

    Fiddlefye Forum Resident

    What I've been listening to Classical with for the past while: Anthem Pre-1, Conrad Johnson Mv-45, Denon DCD-1520/CI Audio VDA-2 DAC, VAC-1 power supply, Magnum Dynalab tuner, Reference 3A mm deCapo i speakers, Rek-O-Kut B-12H TT/Nottingham Ace Space arm/Benz Glider SH.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Wes H

    Wes H Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Similar to your Naim unit, I have a Vincent CD player (with tubes) that only plays HDCD and CD (and SACD Hybrid), but not SACD or other formats. Not sure what was driving Vincent's (and Naim's) design decision with that limitation, but they must have had something in mind.

    In my case, the choice of machine was made purely through auditioning. Obviously, I didn't hear every player on the planet, but the multi-format players I heard did not do as well with CDs as the CD/HDCD-only Vincent. And since I have piles of CDs (no SACDs that are not hybrids), I went with a machine that best supported my collection.
     
  4. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    From the CMC:
    Nothing "only" about 24/192. There is no such thing as a 32 bit DAC. In order for a 32 bit DAC to exist, a signal with 192.66 dB would have to exist. a 192 db signal would be loud enough to damage a building. You do not want to be in the presence of a 192 db signal, it would kill you:

    NASA's Next Rocket Is So Big, the Sound of It Launching Could Damage Buildings »
     
  5. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    First time I'd heard about 'emphasis' on CDs and I've had a player since day 1 :eek:
     
    Robin L likes this.
  6. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    So 32 bit recordings are meant to be higher quality originals but are played back on 24 Bit DACs?
     
  7. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    I'm trying to remember my early CDs and the player.

    Did it have sub tracks ( like 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) etc for a four part symphony - or did I just imagine it?
     
  8. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    There's a limit to the noise floor of anything electronic. John Atkinson at Stereophile considers any audio gear that measures better than twenty bits to be close to state of the art. I think the best measurements he ever got was in the neighborhood of 21 bits, really too extreme to take full advantage of anyway, as twenty bits represents a system with a noise floor of 120 db, more than one could play in the home, too loud for safe listening anyway.
    A few did, but that went away in a few years.
     
    TonyACT likes this.
  9. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    There's a long-running thread about CDs with pre-emphasis on this board :) When a CD-player can't handle pre-emphasis they can sound horrible.
     
    TonyACT likes this.
  10. TonyACT

    TonyACT Boxed-in!

    Cheers, I looked it up - interesting read. The gist of it seems to be that a player "should" handle it to have the CD logo on the front, but one or two that should know better don't.
     
  11. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
  12. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    Did a video of my audio setup used primarily for classical listening (CDs & vinyl).

    Note, beginning talks a bit about my Miles Davies box set (by request of a friend).

    Enjoy,

    Matt

     
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  13. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Enjoying my Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 1 & 2 being played on the following Tandberg deck at the moment ...

    [​IMG]
     
  14. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Can you still get the Anthem integrated serviced?
     
  15. Fiddlefye

    Fiddlefye Forum Resident

    The Anthem isn't an integrated, but rather the Pre-1. My tech here in town is happy to work on it and I have a service manual and schematic for it. Not in the pic (down below out of sight) is a Conrad Johnson MV-45 power amp and also the power supply for the Pre-1 (attached by an umbilical). Working on getting s shelf unit built....
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  16. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have an Anthem CD1 and a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp. Just wonder where I can get the SF preamp serviced.
     
  17. Jasonb

    Jasonb Forum Resident

    Oh boy I think I just wet myself!
     
  18. Fiddlefye

    Fiddlefye Forum Resident

    The Anthem isn't an integrated, but rather the Pre-1. My tech here in town is happy to work on it and I have a service manual and schematic for it. Not in the pic (down below out of sight) is a Conrad Johnson MV-45 power amp and also the power supply for the Pre-1 (attached by an umbilical). Working on getting s shelf unit built....
    My tech here in Windsor works on Sonic Frontiers gear, has one of their DACs he uses in his own system. If you'd like contact info let me know. I'm not sure if Parts Connexion does anything with them now? Someone there gave me the schematic etc.
     
  19. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    Index polnts. Only a few la els used them and they disappeared by the fourth or fifth generation of players.
     
    TonyACT likes this.
  20. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I picked up two units of these dbx 224x's probably a good ten years ago on eBay but have never tested them out. I am now pretty fired up after having listened to my pre-recorded classical music reels for a few hour yesterday to want to try making some dbx Type II encoded reel on my Tandberg deck this coming weekend. It will be very interesting to listen to tapes with 100+ db S/N ...

    [​IMG]

    My Tandberg deck has been wired through the dbx loop but yesterday I played my tapes bypassing the dbx circuit ...
     
    bluemooze and Donniej like this.
  21. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    It's great to hear Trevor Pinnock still playing so well and captured in demonstration-worthy SACD sound.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    PH416156 likes this.
  22. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    If I really like my dbx experience, I will connect my second unit of the dbx 224x to my Nakamichi Dragon after the latter has been serviced ...

    [​IMG]

    Analog playback is alive and well at my house where MP3 and downloads are not allowed. :agree::winkgrin:
     
    bluemooze and Donniej like this.
  23. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    I bought this 10 disc set in LA at Amoeba Music. Oh, what a treat it is to browse through bins again! One doesn't look to 1940s-50s Russian recordings for superlative sound, but Richter's playing silences all audio concerns, which aren't all that bad on Disc one: Bach English Suite No.3, Piano Concerto in D minor, Concerto for 2 Keyboards in C.

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Prepare for some moderator hand slapping since you posted about hardware! ;)
     
  25. Bachtoven

    Bachtoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Whoa, wait a minute--I've been posting in the wrong thread!!!!:realmad:
     
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