Audiolab 8200 CD/CDQ

[Coll]

I have noticed that some forum members are not 100% keen on the above CD players.

There seems to be a concesus of opinion amongst those people that it is a bit bright or mettallic. Would this be caused by the transport or the built in DAC. If it is the DAC could a separavte DAC be used rather than selling and buying another CD as in the case of the CDQ you also get a pretty decent pre amplifier.

 

[Frank Harvey]

They're excellent CD players, as is the Oppo BDP105 Bluray player that also shares the same DAC. Despite the general consensus, DACs do tend to sound a little different, and you only have to try the aforementioned players alongside a Wolfson based products, or against Chord DACs to get an idea of what I mean (I'm fully aware other aspects will also affect the end result). I feel 8200 players need a little bit of a warm up to come on song, and like most products, can perform excellently in the right system, but reveal their shortcomings when placed in a system out of its league.

Adding another DAC to the Audiolabs can be done, but would be a little pointless really as you're doubling up on something you can only use one of. I'd highly recommend the Chord 2Qute if you want to add a high quality, or even the outgoing Qute EX which can be had a little cheaper. The 2Qute is pretty much the benchmark at the moment, being based on the Hugo and Hugo TT (£1400 and £3000).

 

[drummerman]

You'll find that there is not much love for certain brands on this forum, Audiolab included. Others are Cambridge Audio, Cyrus and to some extend, Naim.

In-brands, at the moment at least, include Roksan, Arcam, Devialet.

Rega is currently sitting in the middle, in danger of being relegated to the 'unloved' section.

Abrahamsen is on the way up though more than 4 people need to own one yet.

Of course, every year these brands do the merry-go-round.

Hope this helps

As to CD players and DAC's, anything that includes one of ESS's Sabre DAC's in one of their guises, is arguably one of the most technically advanced converters available today unless the manufacturer somehow managed to mess one of the finest chips up.

 

[Coll]

In another post I said that my Marantz MCR603 sounded less bright than playing through my Audiolab 8200CDQ. Although of course the Marantz is being played through its own dac and then through the Audiolab pre amplifier. To be honest on some cds I prefer listening to the Marantz than the Audiolab player. Some sibilant cds are quite acceptable that way. I suppose I am lucky to have the option. My speakers are very smooth so it is either my power amp or the Audiolab giving thre brightness on the bad cds

 

[bebelacus]

I have an Audiolab 8200CDQ, 2xAudiolab 8200M driving a pair of Wharfedale Jade5 and ocassionally a pair of Spendor A5. The cd player and dac both do a very good job, in my opinion. Some friends believe that too, comparing with their systems. It is a clean, neutral sound but with just enough warmth to make it very musical and so easy to listen to over long periods of time.
My room is about 35-40 squared metres. Today, a friend came with his Dali Zensor 3 just for fun and see how they would sound driven by my system. Again, the little Zensors sounded very full and musical.
So, to my ears the Audiolab gear sounds sweet. I know, different speakers, amplification, room (and to different ears) might sound better or worse, clinical, soulless etc.
I agree, there's not much love and talk about Audiolab here but i dont mind. You have to go out and try it for yourself. It is cool and understated, although some might say that Audiolab is as cool as plastic
I recently got a Rega RP6 with a Micromega phono. It sounds fantastic thru my Audiolab pre-amp and monoblocks. Ok, i will stop here because some will say it is like bragging that i am the tallest midget in the world.

 

[Andrewjvt]

I think its a great cd player and also the Mdac is very good DAC

 

[Al ears]

Do you actually own the 8200 or are you possibly thinking of getting one?

There is very little point in reading too much into what other people think regarding its sound qualities unless you have their ears and are playing it back through an identical system in an identical room.

To my mind this is a very good piece of equipment for the money that would suit Mister Average very well, the 'bright and metallic' bit could be purely down to the speakers themselves. This 'brightness' will have nothing to do with the transport section of this device.

John Westlake uses his own filter configurations in his DACs and these are usually considered to be good, the device has multiple user-selectable filter settings that can be utilised anyway, the most acceptable to most being 'Optimal Spectrum'.

Perhaps those that consider it 'bright and metallic' just haven't played with it enough, or even the music they are playing back through it just happens to be recorded this way.

 

[Coll]

Do you actually own the 8200 or are you possibly thinking of getting one?

There is very little point in reading too much into what other people think regarding its sound qualities unless you have their ears and are playing it back through an identical system in an identical room.

To my mind this is a very good piece of equipment for the money that would suit Mister Average very well, the 'bright and metallic' bit could be purely down to the speakers themselves. This 'brightness' will have nothing to do with the transport section of this device.

John Westlake uses his own filter configurations in his DACs and these are usually considered to be good, the device has multiple user-selectable filter settings that can be utilised anyway, the most acceptable to most being 'Optimal Spectrum'.

Perhaps those that consider it 'bright and metallic' just haven't played with it enough, or even the music they are playing back through it just happens to be recorded this way.

Yes do own the 8200CDQ and find it a bit sibikant on some cds. The Marantz MCR603 is less bright and warmer. I wonder what DAC the Marantz uses.

Yes do own the CDQ8200 as I said find it a bit sibilant on some cds but the Marantz MCR603 is not so bad and has awa. I wonder what DAC is used in the Marantz.

 

[Al ears]

If you mean that the same 'sibilant' CD plays back better on the Marantz then I can only suggest you try to adjust the filters on the CDQ.

 

[Coll]

If you mean that the same 'sibilant' CD plays back better on the Marantz then I can only suggest you try to adjust the filters on the CDQ.

Yes that is what I am saying, I have tried different filters but no change I usually use the Optimal Transient not the xd version of it. Also tried the analogue pre amp output which is what the Marantz is using but no better. I can only assume that it it is the Audiolab dac. I expect the Marantz dac is warmer or maybe not so revealing.