Arcam A90-CD192 or CA 740A-740C ?

[Anonymous]

[quote user="JoelSim"]I'm getting really confused here. Which CD player did you test with your amp?

What is the Solo's integrated player?

The Solo is the solo which is a CD/Amp in one box (with a tuner).

A separates system is your amp and another CD player.

What are you testing? Part of the Solo with other separates?[/quote]

OK, I guess I didn't explain things so well.

The SOLO is this ARCAM thing (mini system) which is an Amp, a CD player and a tuner, all in one box.
It also has line in and line out connections, so it can be used as an amplifier, for other sources, or be connected to an amplifier as a single CD player (or tuner).

The seperates system is the ADVANCE amp and NAD 325BEE CD player.
So, I connected the NAD to the SOLO and compared it with the SOLO's internal CD player. And they sounded different, but I couldn't say the NAD is much worst.

This is TEST #1.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="JoelSim"]If you are testing your NAD with your AA amp, and the Solo is better than that sound then it shows how good the Solo is. If you tested your amp with another CD and it sounds amazing then it shows the value of separates.

I'm really confused[/quote]

There are two systems.

ADVANCE - NAD 525 - QUAD22L

ARCAM SOLO - B&W685

I swapped speakers. That is TEST #2.

Here is the shocking part. Here is where the B&Ws sing with the ADVANCE.

I hope I have cleared things up a bit.

Thanks for your time anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="fr0g"]
The AA is a fairly powerful class D amp that cost? I imagine it should be quite a bit better than an A70 or the amp in a Solo.
For me the difference is mainly between speakers and amplifiers. Once you have a decent basic quality of CD playback, the differences are much smaller, so the CD in the solo and the NAD are not going to be HUGELY different (unlike the amp and speakers).
[/quote]

The AA costs 850 euros. That's because it has it's own DAC. The version without the DAC is the same and costs 700 euros. So it's pretty much the same as an A70.

So, you suggest that it should not be a 50-50 split of money between the Amp and the CD p, but a 70-30 or something like that?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="fr0g"]

Its a personal preference of mine. I have been trialling much equipment recently, and to my ears, the difference between a £300 CD player and a £1000 CD player is very small compared to the same for Amps or Speakers.
If I do end up buying the amp I want (Lyngdorf SDAI-2715) I will then be running a system that is £350+£100 DAC/£1050/£820 CD/AMP/SPEAKERS..,
Yes a CD upgrade would improve it further, but not anywhere near as much as swapping my £600 amplifier for a £1050 amplifier, or when I swapped £200 speakers for £820 speakers.
The Arcam CD73 is a great CD player. It still would be with a £1000 AMP.
What is your maximum budget?[/quote]

It seems very logical thought.
Well, my budget is up to 2000 euros [amp+CDp]. I will try to keep it around 1500 if I can, but up to 2000 I can go.