As I've said elsewhere I took delivery of a new quad 909 and 99 cdp2 on Monday so I thought I'd post my thoughts after a week of listening in case it helps anyone. I upgraded from cambridge 540a/nad cdp kit with mission m73s but bought some proac 110s last week.
First things first - the 909 is built like a tank... and in black looks like darth vaders amp. I can understand how people are happily using quad amps 25 years on if this is anything to go by. The 99 isnt quite so hardy, with fiddly buttons that may take a bit of time to get used to.
The sound is very different to the cambridge sound I'm used to (and the 840a/c I home trialled). I wanted to try and get away from what I consider to be a 'digital' sound as best I could given that I listen to digital music and so was looking for a bit more warmth.
The 909 sounded great out the box. I'm really finding extra detail in the middle of the sound and everything seems really controlled. It seems to be particularly insightful with acoustic/voice/instrument music whilst not wowing me quite as much with synthesized tracks - I used to listen to a lot of electro and house but as I've got older my tastes have changed. I'm not sure I'd be quite so satisfied if I still listened to this exclusively as the quad doesnt seem to take command over it with quite so much authority, although that may in part be to do with the proacs. It goes bloody loud too if thats what you need.
Listening is really effortless and despite the extra richness is doesnt seem in any way slow or lumpy, just beautifully clear. Some of my favorite vocal tracks have never sounded so good and I've had a couple of genuine hair standing up on the neck moments with joni mitchell and (bizarrely)La roux - not something thats happened in my front room for a long time. I'd skip about a lot between tunes when auditioning the 840 but I just seem to listen with the quad.
I can't tell you much about the cdp yet as I've been mostly been listening through the optical input. It seems to do a good enough job as a pre and dac though. I plan to hook up my beresford and plug an airport into each for some head to head comparisons and also try the beresford as a pre with the fixed output on the 99. I'd hoped to do this by now but to be honest I've been too busy simply listening. I haven't even bothered comparing to my old set up like I'd normally do with upgrades -listening out for every difference. Its just clearly much better.
One thing that I haven't got used to is the lack of volume control - super annoying having to find the remote every time the phone rings!
I've loved music all my life but am fairly new to 'proper' hifi. I know quad is well known but after having cyrus, naim et all pushed pretty hard at me by dealers and the media I almost feel like I've found a little secret in the 909. I'm surprised a lot more isn't made of it, especially as good deals are to be had.
First things first - the 909 is built like a tank... and in black looks like darth vaders amp. I can understand how people are happily using quad amps 25 years on if this is anything to go by. The 99 isnt quite so hardy, with fiddly buttons that may take a bit of time to get used to.
The sound is very different to the cambridge sound I'm used to (and the 840a/c I home trialled). I wanted to try and get away from what I consider to be a 'digital' sound as best I could given that I listen to digital music and so was looking for a bit more warmth.
The 909 sounded great out the box. I'm really finding extra detail in the middle of the sound and everything seems really controlled. It seems to be particularly insightful with acoustic/voice/instrument music whilst not wowing me quite as much with synthesized tracks - I used to listen to a lot of electro and house but as I've got older my tastes have changed. I'm not sure I'd be quite so satisfied if I still listened to this exclusively as the quad doesnt seem to take command over it with quite so much authority, although that may in part be to do with the proacs. It goes bloody loud too if thats what you need.
Listening is really effortless and despite the extra richness is doesnt seem in any way slow or lumpy, just beautifully clear. Some of my favorite vocal tracks have never sounded so good and I've had a couple of genuine hair standing up on the neck moments with joni mitchell and (bizarrely)La roux - not something thats happened in my front room for a long time. I'd skip about a lot between tunes when auditioning the 840 but I just seem to listen with the quad.
I can't tell you much about the cdp yet as I've been mostly been listening through the optical input. It seems to do a good enough job as a pre and dac though. I plan to hook up my beresford and plug an airport into each for some head to head comparisons and also try the beresford as a pre with the fixed output on the 99. I'd hoped to do this by now but to be honest I've been too busy simply listening. I haven't even bothered comparing to my old set up like I'd normally do with upgrades -listening out for every difference. Its just clearly much better.
One thing that I haven't got used to is the lack of volume control - super annoying having to find the remote every time the phone rings!
I've loved music all my life but am fairly new to 'proper' hifi. I know quad is well known but after having cyrus, naim et all pushed pretty hard at me by dealers and the media I almost feel like I've found a little secret in the 909. I'm surprised a lot more isn't made of it, especially as good deals are to be had.
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