Player that excels at imaging..


My quest still continues for a new cd player.Most important is finding a player that excels at imaging.Don't get me wrong all the other things are important to - bass ,extended treble,natural midrange,etc.But nothing gets to me more in a system than when you get a nice wide soundstadge with great imaging.Players I'm looking at are Cary 303/300,Audio research 5,Resolution audio opus 21.My current player is a Sonic frontiers cd-1.It lacks the imaging & bass I'm looking for to complete my system.My other gear is Pass labs.Any opinions whould be helpfull..
spaz

Showing 1 response by rtn1

Agree with the power cord.

Disagree with the Pass Labs limitation.

Wadia is great at imaging (ie. 381 or 581). I believe having a wide and layered soundstage that is correct requires brute resolution. There are many components that increase soundstage in an unconvincing manner. For me, musicians need to have have the correct position, size, and stability. This must hold across different venues, genres, and volumes. The soundstage must have the appropriate distance, width, depth, and layering. You should be able to point to each musician individually.

You probably need to look at CDP 6-12k new for a breakthrough in price/performance. There are probably a dozen brands to consider. You still need a power cord, though.

It doesn't look like you can reduce toe-in or increase speaker width, so probably not much to do there. However, do play with speaker position every time you demo a new piece of equipment. Speaker position can be used to highlight or hide certain aspects of your system, so a change necessitates re-evaluation.