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Old Vs New ..... Transport and dac.

Hi All,
I've been putting together a Vintage system based around a pair if Altec Lansing 604 duplex speakers in their big cabinets 620a , and a pair of Leak pre and power amps from the 50's / 60's.... Now, I was going to go for a turntable front end, but then I got to thinking I might put a decent digital front end together for a change. Ive been buying 50c second hand cd's lately like they are going out of fashion (which they are I suppose) Any way I was thinking of getting the latest shanling CD transport ET3 and a Denafripps mid range Dac. Like the Pontus or te one up from there. I thought that woudld be a decent attempt. BUT THEN... A local Transport and dac came up for sale for around the same money (3k) .... A Reimyo CDT - 777 Transport & Reimyo 999EX Limited Edition DAC. The Transport is running flawlessly and the dac was updted to this spec backi n 2018 by Kuichi San at Combak Harmonix in 2017 I thnk.

I lusted after then back when they came out, I love the form factor, the fact it's a SOTA classic transport and dac etc and the Tonal focus of Japanese design in audio( I know this is a horrible generalisation, but you know what I mean).

Soooooo. My question is do you think that the Japanese pair with their engineering / design and of course sound quality , would stand up to the more modern Chinese pairing. I'm more excited about the Reimyo Transport and Dac, than the Shanling and Denafripps. 

My main front ends have all been Vinyl in the past so this is something new for me. I enjoy a focus on Tone and overall performance in my systems, rather than the spotlighting and the search for the ultimate detail.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your thoughts on the above... Thanks for your advice and Help.  

 

borg7x9
borg7x9 OP
102 posts
 

Hi Yoyo,

I think that better is subjective. It seems to me that there has been a push in modern hifi to extract and project every tiny detail out of what you are listening too. Huge Power amps gripping your voice coils in a vice like grip, Presenting a clinked glass in the audience, as a spotlighted event in its own right. Now don't get me wrong, Some people love all that sort of thing, but I've found it a bit hard work as its gone on. And have resorted to tubes (SET) and Vinyl mostly. With some lovely results It's just I've never prioritised a digital front end in a system before. I will be using a Clear audio concept Turntable in this sytem as well. I could have bought a nice Garrard 301/401 with a nice tone-arma and plinth for the same amount as the reimyo pairing, but I thought I'd have a change. Lets see how it all goes... I'll post back my findings here when Ive got it all sorted out. 

Plus as long as its good enough to allow me to relax listening to some cd's of an evening with drinking a bottle of wine.... then its good enough ( I hope ).

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

borg7x9 OP
102 posts
 

@glennewdick , While the R2R ladder dac in the Denafripps is built using discrete resistors. The Reimyo uses the burr brown PCM1704u. It implements the same architecture but on a chip... So everything is not equal. There are pro's and con's of both solutions. 

pindac's avatar
pindac
3,995 posts
 

The latest design of the Topping D90 is seen in the Link. 

The New Design will win admirers as it has a option where there is a user interface and there are adjustments that can be done to suit the users preferences.

These adjustments might come in quite useful if an Interface with a supporting device is one from a Vintage era, and needs a little extra sent through it to get it up to par when used in a particular assembly of a audio system.

 

https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/topping-d90-iii-discrete?srsltid=AfmBOooA1n5gIo67x6Qd1utWs8Kuf632LdkCabvczQ6KZhVKYx-Oq0_6

borg7x9 OP
102 posts
 

Hi pindac… that certainly looks like mega flexible device. And could certainly be usefull in bridging components and in tweaking the sound so it works well in your environment. Interesting. 
 

thanks for the cool idea.

yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
1,073 posts
 

Hello Borg 7x9. Thanks for your reply. For context, I'm an audio consultant and I get to hear a lot of systems of all kinds. I completely appreciate the positive qualities you find in SET amplification and vinyl playback. BTW, the Concept is a fine turntable. Just as a PS, it is possible to have highly resolving playback that is not analytical sounding - possible but not necessarily easy...

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