New owner of used Cary 306 SACD

Amfibius, your comment re the balanced outputs is well taken. The Halcro is true balanced, which is one of the reason I bought the Cary.
Douglas, I will start with the XLR Anticables I have. No aftermarket pc yet. As I have never really experimented with other IC's or pc's, can you make some specific suggestions that might have the right synergy. Frankly, I would prefer to buy my way up the food chain (diminishing returns and all that - or buy better used) rather than immediately dropping a pile of money on new exotic stuff. I have been reading some about the Jena Labs V which is a $175 pc from a very reputable mfg. Again, any suggestions would be appreciated.

I had a friend selling his 306 and could get it for a great price. I wanted it bad. Doing an A/B comparison with my Trivista SACD made me pass on it. It has even more output at a lower impedance than my Trivista which is nice in my passive setup. Listening tests quickly confirmed one player better than the other. While SACD playback was similar on the two the Trivista smoked it on redbook. I didn't want that to happen! Image and soundstage were similar, bass a little more or better on the Cary but the mids and HF were so much better on the Tri. The Cary had a digital edge and harshness. Bummer! I wanted that player. I want to hear a 306 Pro as I know when my Tri transport goes it becomes a very big DAC. There are no more transports or parts for it.

ET

Deliberate1, you will find aftermarket cables, including power cords an "ear-opening" experience! Some Impressions of cable sets I have reviewed (you can find extensive descriptions of them on Dagogo.com) Note that this is a summary of working with a suite of one or two models of each of these brands, not entire line. However, the cables I have tested (both privately and with Dagogo.com) which I have worked with successively higher models of cable have been consistent with the manufacturer's house sound.

Jena Labs Jazz and Java - laid back, slightly smaller sound stage; not "in your face" (This was confirmed by Jena Whitewolf Crock stating that they voice the cables to their ideal of the Jazz club).

Tara Labs RSC Air Series - clean and neutral, but having what to my ears is a slightly compressed frequency range. i.e. slightly rolled off at far ends of treble and bass. Might be a consideration for those with single driver, high efficiency speakers.

Magnan Signature and Reference : Surprising wire; extremely forgiving of solid state electronics. Almost a tube-like sound from a cable. Still, very detailed.

MIT AVt MA and Z Stabilizer: "Power-cables" as in fiercely dynamic, makes music sound more like a close mic recording. Favors immediacy of the note from the instrument vs. the extension of soundstage. Do not overdo it with daisy-chained network (passive electronics) units in the cables & power conditioners or else clarity will suffer.

Wire World Equinox 5 Squared: Extremely well balanced in terms of tonality, frequency extension, clarity, etc. A high degree of precision and finesse. Due to their geometry they operate as a passive filter, negating the need for power conditioning. I agree that they sound much better without additional power conditioning.

(To brand loyalists: I'm not interested in debating/arguing my findings of these cables. My opinion is set based on months of usage with different systems. I'm expressing characteristics of these exact sets of cables, not giving them a yea/nay vote; I could put any of them into a high end rig achieving a particular goal and achieve excellent results.)

Douglas, I am obliged for your recommendations which I will devote some time to. Seems that the current popular flavors are the Tel Wire vs. Lessloss in generally the same price range. Any comments on either? And as a pratical matter, are there specs one should consider (gague, copper, silver, etc) for an amp pc vs source?

Electroid, that A/B test confirmed that you have a fine unit in the Trivista. I am not familiar with it, other than the fact that a used one here is listed for approximately 80% more than what I paid for the Cary SACD. If, as you say, they are equal in SACD performance (my primary purpose), with equality in soundstage/image and the ad to the Cary in the low end with RB, I believe I have done well. And if it breaks, I can have it fixed. Thanks for your observations.

Deliberate1, nope. No comments. Haven't worked with either one. Each company has its own "science" (some with what seems to be very sensible science, and some less so) behind their design.

Magnan Cables uses an extremely flat "sheet" of copper as a conductor. MIT uses passive networks. Jena Labs uses multiple stranded wires which are braided. Tara uses single rectangular solid core conductors in air dielectric. Wire World uses multiple small gauge conductors in individual dielectric. Everyone's got their thing!

Silver coated copper is not a must have, but definitely worth checking out if you have the means. If you have a silver conductor PC and a copper conductor PC definitely switch them around (say, on the cdp, pre, or amp) as that alone can yield an interesting difference in sound.