Home Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Cost of good digital today ...

The cost of some digital products is rising quicker than the sonic gains. As an example - im still not certain that i like the smoother sounding CDX2 over the original CDX. They share the same strenghts & compromises; but the CDX2 is considerably more money.

The CDX2 is a cool $7k canadian. Add PS and it rises to $14k.

As a bare bones package - the CDX2 is indeed a fine player (like most digital players, its has pros & cons, though it cons are not well suited to my preferences). However when comparing it to its nearest competition - i think it is $2k overpriced up in these hills.

As for the price of a CDX2/PS - hells bells - I could pick up a used Linn CD12 and have about $4k worth of change left over. And I dont care if Naim used a nuclear reactor for its power supplies, an old CD12 will make a CDX2/PS sound slow footed, dynamically challenged, grainy (although the CDX2 is one of the least grainiest players i have heard) and certainly limited in bandwidth & extension.

Not to be hard on Naim, they are indeed a fine company. And they are not alone in overpricing digital components in some regions. This is not the first time that i have auditioned players that sounded excellent, but to my ears did not compete well at the upper price range.

Cary digital up here in canada had the same issue. Upon auditioning the 306/200 - i agree that it sounded quiet fine. It had excellent extension, good dynamic power and fine bandwidth, but it was always grainy and a touch sterile in comparison to some others. That said - it was certainly not $3k better than a Sim Nova (i still prefer the Nova to the 306 - and possibly even the CDX2).

Up here in canada - i heard the recent BAT player and the AR CD3 - both excellent sounding players - yet both priced around $8k. Once again - as good as they sounded - to my ears - they did not merit that kind of extra coin when compared to the competition.

To me - the digital sweet spot sits around $2k - $4k us ($3k-5K canadian) you will find a number of players that sound truly excellent. Ok - preference creeps into this equation but that said - a variety of players exist at what i consider reasonable prices. The Ayre and Sim come to mind, even the meridian 588 retailed around $5k canadian - 588 being the best Meridian i have heard to date.
The Meridian G08 seems to be priced at a more reasonable point.

No argument from me, if you have the money, if you justify the performance to cost - go for it.

You said ... "But I wouldn't pay retail price for digital equipment" ... and i tend to agree, except that i am willing to pay retail given that the cost is reasonable to start with.

TBone



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