Which is the best?

[Ming Jun]

I am going to have my HiFi with three options:

1. NAD 545BEE + NAD 326BEE + Dali Lektor2;

2. Cambridge Audio 650C + 650A + Dail Lektor 2;

3. Arcam Solo mini + B&W 685;

I will also have Logitech squeezebox 3 in my wish list. I wonder if I can omit the first two CD players since I have a few of CDs and have ripped them into my home PC. Could the rest of money help to step up the amp and speaker?

Thanks for any comments in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

Woah! 3 very different sounding systems there!

The NAD setup produces a rich warm sound (not soft though)

The Cambridge is very, very bright!!!!!

and the Arcam is a bland chinese biscuit tin (Arcam license it and the full Solo out to GP Tech!)

If I may offer a suggestion try these instead:

Rotel RCD06 + RotelRA05 + Focal 706V / USHERS520 / B&W 685

This combination would give a more musical sound and the speaker optons run rings around the Dali!!! (although I have to admit the 685s are a bit "crude" compared to the Focals!

I'd only consider removing the CD player from the equation if you are ripping your CDs with a "secure" ripping program (EAC, DBPOWER AMP) into WAV or FLAC. If you are then I'd suggest changing the Rotel amp for an Onkyo A5VL. Preferrably the squeezebox would be wired to your router via CAT5e and linked to the Onkyo via a "glass fibre" optical cable (these are rarely below £90!). Coaxial digital is generally better but the squeezebox is electrically quite "dirty". If however you run the Squeezebox Wirelessly then coaxial would be better. Either way you bypass the Squeezebox's pathetic on-board dac!!!

 

[idc]

To get the best advice you need to re-post in the Hifi section of the forum, you will get way more hits there. This is the part to show off pictures of 'Your System'.