Life after dCS... - ducati - Digital Drive

Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Life after dCS...

Up until last week, I have been running a CEC TL-2X into a dCS Delius DAC as my main digital front end. There was absolutely nothing about that combo I didn't like--it was detailed yet unfatiguing, had pace but was smooth, great bass weight, and soundstaging/imaging was beyond reproach.
My wife and I have decided to start a family, however, and I decided in parallel to reduce some of my investment in hifi. The CEC sold on a'gon this week, and the dCS is up as well (hopefully will sell soon). I've decided to go to a one box player.
My self-imposed budget it <$2200 for the CDP. I know I won't get everything the dCS had, but I want to make sure I get something smooth and musical. My ears must have an odd frequency response curve, because most CDPs are *very* fatiguing to me. Even CDPs people find smooth. Notable exceptions are the dCS gear and an ARC CD3. The CD3 is out of my self-imposed budget.
I haven't owned many CDPs in my time, I ran a NAD for many years that was smooth and easy to listen to. I then switched to a Cary CD308 which I despised. Brittle, details were too sharp, and it generated much fatugue. I have heard Rega's Planet2000 a few times, and it seems likeable; also a Krell KAV-280 which was also quite likeable (but neither of these did I listen to for more than an hour, which is usually when fatigue sets in for me).
I don't want to go back to the very undetailed and shrunken soundstage/fuzzy images of my NAD, but I *do* want a player that is musical. It also can't be light in the bass, as I run B&W N805's which need all the help they can get.
So where do I go from here? What is life like after dCS?
I am considering the Jolida JD100, Ah!4000, Rega Planet/Jupiter, Arcam CD23/CD33, Linn Genki/Ikemi, and the Meridian offerings (507/588). The Rotel RCD-1072 received a rave review in TAS, and sounds fairly good; but reviews seem to differ on the web... Anyway, any suggestions to help me end my quandry?
I should mention that I am going to replace my McCormack DNA-125 with a (or two) Cary Rocket 88s...

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Parts Connexion

Topic - Life after dCS... - ducati 09:04:32 03/19/04 (13)

Definitely consider 2 Rocket 88s - Screaming Eagle 20:29:21 03/20/04 (1)

I wonder about biamping my 805's... - ducati 07:04:04 03/22/04 (0)

Re: Life after dCS... - Carlos 19:35:56 03/20/04 (1)

Re: Life after dCS... - ducati 20:15:26 03/20/04 (0)

I am running a partsconnection modded Pioneer 563... - rick5 19:30:35 03/19/04 (0)

Do you have a Ducati? - richardl 10:31:27 03/19/04 (2)

I have a Naim CD5 which I like, warm but rhythmic<nt> - richardl 10:32:29 03/19/04 (1)

Re: I have a Naim CD5 which I like, warm but rhythmic<nt> - ducati 12:04:50 03/19/04 (0)

Three suggestions: - Sordidman 10:11:16 03/19/04 (0)

If you like dCS... - Alex Yakovlev 09:35:28 03/19/04 (3)

I figured they would be good choices... - ducati 12:02:34 03/19/04 (2)

Very similar - Alex Yakovlev 12:15:51 03/19/04 (1)

Excellent, thanks... - ducati 12:50:29 03/19/04 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.