I’m listening to a CD as I write this, so I understand your question. At one point, I had several thousand CD’s. I bought a NAS and started ripping them. Seeing as the NAS was new and I had all sorts of space, I ripped everything to .wav. Then one day I ripped a few disks to high quality .flac as a trial. I can’t for the life of me hear a difference. It was explained to me that before it can be played the file has to be returned to a .wav. Back in the day, servers (computers) had less power and memory, so there could be issues, but that’s pretty much history. Anyway a few years ago I lost my professional Sony CD player and I bought an Oppo. Good stuff, but there was definitely a different sound. I then bought an Audiolab 6000CDT and I was very pleased with the sound. If you are listening to your CD’s, get the Jay’s. If you are going to rip your disks, get the N30SA. I’m still using the 6000CDT for CD’s and I’m happy with the N200 as my streamer
Aurender N30SA or Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3
I have the Jay's Audio CDT3-MK3. I have a lot of CDs but I also have made a lot of recordings from FLAC files bought on Presto and burned to CD-R.
I recently replaced the Philips CD Pro2 with a new one. Now I notice that my Maxell CD-Rs are noisy in comparison to commercial CDs which are very quiet.
I bought a different brand of CD-R Verbatim and they are quiet like the commercial CDs. Now I want to replace all the Maxell with the Verbatim and that is a lot of CD-Rs which I burn at 4X so it will take a long time.
So I considered getting an Aurender N30SA to play the FLAC files from the server. I was hoping the sound quality would equal or be better than what I was getting from my burned CD-Rs played on the Jay's.
I asked AI which would sound better and got the following response (see below for a summary). I know to be careful accepting what AI has to say and try to do more research to confirm. What are your thoughts on what AI had to say?
I also found this thread where Brandonhifi likes his Jay's over his Aurender W20SE but he was streaming rather than playing the files from the server https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/jay-s-audio-cdt3-mk3-wins-over-aurender-w20se/by_member?username=lordmelton
AI
So which one “sounds better”?
If the disc is perfect (AZO, Taiyo Yuden, MAM‑A Gold, or a flawless pressed CD):
➡️ Jay’s CDT3‑MK3 will sound more natural, more dimensional, more “live.” It has a drive and immediacy that even the N30SA can’t quite duplicate.
If the disc is average or flawed:
➡️ Aurender N30SA will sound cleaner, quieter, and more stable. It removes all mechanical variables and gives you a blacker background.
If the rip is bit‑perfect and the DAC is excellent:
➡️ N30SA will be more consistent and more neutral.
If you value “musicality,” “drive,” and “presence”:
➡️ CDT3‑MK3 wins with a great disc.
If you value “silence,” “precision,” and “effortlessness”:
➡️ N30SA wins every time.
Thanks, Kent
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@kent10 I’m sorry if I missed it, but what DAC will the streamer or transport is going to be connected to? |
Please forgive my bluntness but connecting a $32,000 Aurender N30SA streamer to the $3,300 Gustard R30 makes absolutely no sense. |
- 24 posts total