New Cambridge CD player, a real sleeper?


Hello,

A friend of mine who is a serious audiophile and pseudo-dealer who gets his hands on the best of the best told me he can't believe how good the new Cambridge CD player sounds. I believe they have two new models out, the 540 and 640(apologies for not knowing the model names), the 640 featuring a Wolfson DAC. I presume these models replace the D300 and D500SE models respectively.

Anyway, in his opinion, the model with the Wolfson DAC is the sleeper CD player out right now. In fact, he can't get over how good it sounds at the price. In his opinion, it sounds a bit better than the same price Music Hall MMF25 and the 4X more expensive Shanling T100, both of which he also owns/sells.

Now to be truthful, my friend has a definite bias in the type of sound he likes, but don't we all? He prefers vinyl to CD, a warm sound, and likes a punch in the mid/upper bass, along with perhaps a bit of roll-off in the highs.

My own experience with 3 Cambridge D500SE showed me them to be the best player at their price point at the time, but the quality was beyond horrific. Which is the reason I went through three of them. Since then, the Music Hall MMF25 has emerged, and thoroughly trounces the D500SE in terms of sound and quality.

In regards to my concerns with quality, my friend told me the new Cambridge is a completely different machine, and appears to be made by another company - in his opinion possibly Shanling. There is supposedly no comparison. I am wondering if Shanling would supply such a product, one that would compete with their own offerings, but they do sell the Music Hall and Shanling lower level player which are identical. I am wondering if another company, along the lines of Xindak or Caiyin is involved.

Anyway, I am taking far too long to present my question to the troops here... Has anyone come across the new Cambridge player with the Wolfson DAC, and if so, what are your impressions?

I am hoping to hear this player at my friend's in the near future, and will see about getting a unit to try in my own system. Until then, another great sounding player in the budget price level wouldn't hurt high end audio one bit,
Joe
trelja

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