rega apollo vs beresford caiman

[indietronic]

has anyone a/b tested the apollo vs source (apollo or other) with caiman dac? which one sounded better ?

i'm thinking of either upgrading to a saturn (especially after its price drop) or buying a caiman (unfortunately it is difficualt to test the latter, while selling my apollo seems an easier option...)

 

[True Blue]

Not tested the Apollo with the Caiman, but have tested the Saturn Vs Caiman. Briefly:-

The Saturn is a fantastic player which comes as close to the organic nature of vinyl that I have heard within my budget. It has its own onboard DAC which is very very good. The sounstage is wide and the instruments are fantastically seperated the detail and dynamics are out of this world. I was tempted to buy one at £1300 but got one for £898 🙂. Completely different class to the Apollo.

Recently bought a Caiman and is still running in, the initial sound differential between the two was not as great as you would think considering the price differential and apart from a slight lacking in the bass weight and a slightly narrower soundstage the Caiman was up there. A few days of running and the gap has certainly narrowed to the point where if used for background music there is hardly any differential. However the Caiman does sound slightly brighter, this could be due to the fact that my Saturn is hooked up with a Chord Chameleon via 5pin din and the Caiman is connected via Chord Crimson RCA. Am going to wait a couple of months before I change the lead to the Caiman.

On a detailed listening session the Saturn digs out levels of detail and emotion that I dont think the Caiman is able to.

So it is dependant upon whether your main usage will be dedicated listening or background music that will affect your decision I feel.

Why not get the Caiman and feed the Apollo into it via optical??

 

[Anonymous]

True Blue, how does the Phono to DIN cable compare to a phono to phono cable? (sorry to go off subject a little OP).

Im also considering an upgrade from my apollo.....

 

[Gerrardasnails]

True Blue:
Not tested the Apollo with the Caiman, but have tested the Saturn Vs Caiman. Briefly:-

The Saturn is a fantastic player which comes as close to the organic nature of vinyl that I have heard within my budget. It has its own onboard DAC which is very very good. The sounstage is wide and the instruments are fantastically seperated the detail and dynamics are out of this world. I was tempted to buy one at £1300 but got one for £898 🙂. Completely different class to the Apollo.

Recently bought a Caiman and is still running in, the initial sound differential between the two was not as great as you would think considering the price differential and apart from a slight lacking in the bass weight and a slightly narrower soundstage the Caiman was up there. A few days of running and the gap has certainly narrowed to the point where if used for background music there is hardly any differential. However the Caiman does sound slightly brighter, this could be due to the fact that my Saturn is hooked up with a Chord Chameleon via 5pin din and the Caiman is connected via Chord Crimson RCA. Am going to wait a couple of months before I change the lead to the Caiman.

On a detailed listening session the Saturn digs out levels of detail and emotion that I dont think the Caiman is able to.

So it is dependant upon whether your main usage will be dedicated listening or background music that will affect your decision I feel.

Why not get the Caiman and feed the Apollo into it via optical??

Don't all cd players have onboard DACs? The Saturn does look fantastic as well but I think that the fairer test would be to use the Chameleon Silver Plus interconnect with the Caiman. I reckon you will be surprised at how much more you get than with the Crimson. I've used both cables before and the Crimson is a clear notch down.

 

[indietronic]

so any upgrade-from-apollo suggestions ?

sell my (pristine-condition-b0xed.etc) apollo and save for a saturn?

apollo-> coaxial->caiman?

other solution ? point is : will i get the same warm sound i get with apollo (to my ears it's a budget solution for an analogue-like digital source....that also plays mp3!) ? i dont want to upgrade in any case.. just want even bigger warmer more open and detailed sound ... if possible.... !!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

indietronic:
so any upgrade-from-apollo suggestions ?

sell my (pristine-condition-b0xed.etc) apollo and save for a saturn?

apollo-> coaxial->caiman?

other solution ? point is : will i get the same warm sound i get with apollo (to my ears it's a budget solution for an analogue-like digital source....that also plays mp3!) ? i dont want to upgrade in any case.. just want even bigger warmer more open and detailed sound ... if possible.... !!

I've no idea how the Caiman sounds but I would imagine it would be very good with lossless files. I wouldn't bother linking it to the Apollo. Either keep the Apollo or go the other way with the external DAC.

 

[True Blue]

Gander:
True Blue, how does the Phono to DIN cable compare to a phono to phono cable? (sorry to go off subject a little OP).

Im also considering an upgrade from my apollo.....

The sound is a little clearer and more precise to my ears. Chord will re terminate existing cables for around £20 with a 4-5 day turn round. Very good service.

 

[True Blue]

Gerrardasnails:True Blue:
Not tested the Apollo with the Caiman, but have tested the Saturn Vs Caiman. Briefly:-

The Saturn is a fantastic player which comes as close to the organic nature of vinyl that I have heard within my budget. It has its own onboard DAC which is very very good. The sounstage is wide and the instruments are fantastically seperated the detail and dynamics are out of this world. I was tempted to buy one at £1300 but got one for £898 🙂. Completely different class to the Apollo.

Recently bought a Caiman and is still running in, the initial sound differential between the two was not as great as you would think considering the price differential and apart from a slight lacking in the bass weight and a slightly narrower soundstage the Caiman was up there. A few days of running and the gap has certainly narrowed to the point where if used for background music there is hardly any differential. However the Caiman does sound slightly brighter, this could be due to the fact that my Saturn is hooked up with a Chord Chameleon via 5pin din and the Caiman is connected via Chord Crimson RCA. Am going to wait a couple of months before I change the lead to the Caiman.

On a detailed listening session the Saturn digs out levels of detail and emotion that I dont think the Caiman is able to.

So it is dependant upon whether your main usage will be dedicated listening or background music that will affect your decision I feel.

Why not get the Caiman and feed the Apollo into it via optical??

Don't all cd players have onboard DACs? The Saturn does look fantastic as well but I think that the fairer test would be to use the Chameleon Silver Plus interconnect with the Caiman. I reckon you will be surprised at how much more you get than with the Crimson. I've used both cables before and the Crimson is a clear notch down.

Yes G, all CDP's have DACS, what I meant was the Saturn has a pair of particularly good ones, a step above an apollo's so the OP may benefit from the best of both worlds by adding a Caiman.

 

[True Blue]

As Gerrard has statedto get best results you need to feed it lossless files.

Yes the sound differential between the Saturn and Apollo is worth the upgrade, same signature warm sound you are used to.

Will let you know how close the Caiman is when run in, and using the same IC's

 

[Gerrardasnails]

True Blue:
As Gerrard has statedto get best results you need to feed it lossless files.

Yes the sound differential between the Saturn and Apollo is worth the upgrade, same signature warm sound you are used to.

Will let you know how close the Caiman is when run in, and using the same IC's

One thing's for sure is that the Caiman won't look as good as the Saturn.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

True Blue:Gerrardasnails:True Blue:
Not tested the Apollo with the Caiman, but have tested the Saturn Vs Caiman. Briefly:-

The Saturn is a fantastic player which comes as close to the organic nature of vinyl that I have heard within my budget. It has its own onboard DAC which is very very good. The sounstage is wide and the instruments are fantastically seperated the detail and dynamics are out of this world. I was tempted to buy one at £1300 but got one for £898 🙂. Completely different class to the Apollo.

Recently bought a Caiman and is still running in, the initial sound differential between the two was not as great as you would think considering the price differential and apart from a slight lacking in the bass weight and a slightly narrower soundstage the Caiman was up there. A few days of running and the gap has certainly narrowed to the point where if used for background music there is hardly any differential. However the Caiman does sound slightly brighter, this could be due to the fact that my Saturn is hooked up with a Chord Chameleon via 5pin din and the Caiman is connected via Chord Crimson RCA. Am going to wait a couple of months before I change the lead to the Caiman.

On a detailed listening session the Saturn digs out levels of detail and emotion that I dont think the Caiman is able to.

So it is dependant upon whether your main usage will be dedicated listening or background music that will affect your decision I feel.

Why not get the Caiman and feed the Apollo into it via optical??

Don't all cd players have onboard DACs? The Saturn does look fantastic as well but I think that the fairer test would be to use the Chameleon Silver Plus interconnect with the Caiman. I reckon you will be surprised at how much more you get than with the Crimson. I've used both cables before and the Crimson is a clear notch down.

Yes G, all CDP's have DACS, what I meant was the Saturn has a pair of particularly good ones, a step above an apollo's so the OP may benefit from the best of both worlds by adding a Caiman.

I just pointed it out in case anyone were to think that the Saturn's DAC(s) is/are available to other sources.

 

[True Blue]

No problems G, yes the Saturn is a looker thats for sure. Having said that the Blue lights on the Caiman are nice 🙂

If I had not have already heard (and owned the Saturn) I think the Caiman would be my main digital source