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Good morning folks,
I just received the Eastern Electric Minimax CDP. I'm not a huge fan
of CDs. I basically have gone the Lp route with 8k plus of LPs being spun on a VPI SuperScoutmaster..... Well, I was using a HDCD
CalAudioIcon (guess you know why I'm not a big CD fan, lol). A couple of months ago a friend lent me a highly modified Pioneer player that he commented was about the same as the Music Hall that
he replaced it with. It was okay, but, frankly wasn't head and shoulders above my CalAudio. I received an Eastern Electric Minimax
CDP a couple of days ago. Quite the eyeopener. Frankly, it makes
music unlike any of my previous machines. Soundstage is exceptional,
bass weight is palatable with very nice and stable imaging. I haven't a clue how it compares to other current machines in that
price range (and would never hazzard a guess until I heard another
machine in my system, rather than somewhere else), but I am wonderfully impressed. Beautiful build quality and just plain
wonderful sound reproduction. Heck, I've spent more than it's purchase price on cartridges, ggggg.
There you have it. I like it.
Regards,
Lew
Follow Ups:
It's great that you are pleased with the Minimax, but don't be dissin' the CAL Icon. I also am a vinyl person at about a 50-50 to CD ratio. I have a CAL Icon MkII HDCD that I have been trying to get out of my system for years. But nothing I have tried under $1500 in a single box improves on it, including AH!, Rega, Jolida, Linn, Arcam, and numerous modified Marantz/Sony mutants. It's built like a tank, never mistracks, and to my ears the sound is consistently sweet and clear on any type of music I care to listen to. If a moderatly-priced upgrade was the goal, I would have recommended keeping your Icon and putting the $$$ into an outboard DAC and cables (and some new vinyl with the leftovers).
I have heard the original icon and agree cal had a nice player there. I also owned the delta sigma combo. Very nice, but by today's standards you actually can get something that sounds better, but you have to look and listen very carefully. And like you said, there are options to better sound with the cal as a transport. That being said, I have been amazed at how good a modded tube cd can sound. Namely the Jolida with v-caps. Better bass, better impact and dynamics and smoother than my $3000 Cary. The Cary had better air and a little better depth.I agree that many high priced models don't have enough umph to get me to spend the required dollars for admission, but the modded Jolida did. And perhaps the unmodded EE has enough of that tube magic to light his fire.
As always, just one man's opinion. Hey, anyone heard the Meridian G08 (hope I have that right)against the Stello combo?
stick some in that minimax. i really like just turning on that one appliance and putting on the phones (some grado sr80s currently, but i think with this cdp i gotta upgrade) and reading the morning paper while the rest of the family sleeps in. the phones play thru the tube output. just great. don't know your music tastes, but try garage a trois. nice headphone music.
Some people like the tubed players a lot(Eastern Electric, Jolida, Shanling and the Njoe Tjoeb being the most popular) - especially people that are digital sceptics. Sounds like you are in that category.If you are after a tubed player - that is one that is highly regarded - so if you like it there is little else in that price range that will compare.
SOme pure solid state gear that might be worth a comparo would be the MF CDP that comes in around $1000 [I am not a big MF fan, but must admit that this CDP is a good one), and a Bel Canto DAC2 outboard DAC when paired up with a cheap digital transport (such as a DVD player) will give you decent sound as well.
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