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Hello,I am a musician who is in the process of putting together a second system for my office/practice room, and I'd like to spend under $2500 for the whole setup. My current thoughts are to get a Jolida JD-1501RC hybrid amp or JD-202A tube amp and a Music Hall CD-25. There are several retailers who offer mods to the Music Hall such as Sound Odyssey and Underwood. Here are some links:
http://www.underwoodhifi.com/mod_musichall.html
http://soundodyssey.com/MusicHall/PS1.htmlDoes anyone have any experience with these mods? Are they worth the extra $250 or so or would that money be better off spent on the speakers or amp. The system will mostly be used for jazz, plus some classical and Latin.
(This is probably the wrong forum, but I'd be interested in opinions on bookshelf speakers to go with this setup as well. I've heard the Totem Rainmaker and liked it but am open to other suggestions. Epos 12.2? Triangle Titus or Comete?)
Follow Ups:
I find very good sound deliniation on the NAD CD's and they are less expensive.
It is very tempting to seek the advice of everyone on this forum and others, read posts, and reviews and then make a decision and purchase a piece of equipment. However, nothing can replace auditioning the equipment yourself in a dealership, to get an idea of what different speakers can soguiund like, what the same setup with a different amp sounds like, what changing the source sounds like. You can then build up a list of likes, dislikes, and priorities that will help you decipher the information you read on the net.I'm not condemning buying equipment without auditioning it, if you buy it used for a good price and can sell it for only a small loss. I have gotten some great equipment in this way, but have done so knowing that I might not like what I end up with and am willing to rotate my stock.
It sounds like you're somewhat new to the hobby, and that's why I'm saying this. Go to a dealer and get an idea of what you like before you bite the bullet. I don't think that buying a player and having it modded is a good way to go, especially if you're new to the hobby. You could probably buy a Benchmark DAC-1 for the cost of the modded Music Hall (the Benchmark retails for $975), and the Benchmark is probably the best reviewed/regarded budget digital products out there and would probably serve you much better than a modded Music Hall. You would still need a transport, but the Benchmark reclocks everything, which means that you could get excellent sound from a very inexpensive transport.
Yes, Sound Odyssey has 3 levels of cd-25 mods: in two levels he uses the opa 627s and in the level 3, he uses the zapfilter in lieu of the opamps. SACDMods also uses the zapfilter in his mods. Most folks with these players, love the sound of the zap. I have spoken to a couple of folks who have migrated through the food chain of opamp mods to the zap and they say the zap is smoother (i.e. "less digital") and even more detailed, but that the opa 627 may have a little more punch or dynamics. I have no problem with the dynamics in my level 3 modded cd-25 from SO, but also have not compared it to a non-zapfiltered modded cd-25.
Thanks for all the advice!
Fred
I've been looking at both modders as well. Seems one of the differences is that underwoodhifi change the opamp in the output stage to opa627 whereas soundodyssey replaces the output stage completely with zap filter fro lcaudio. This *might* be one of the key differences. Of course without back to back evaluation it's hard to tell, but may be someone who's familiar with zap-filter based modes can provide some feedback (?)Oh, and there is one raving review at audioreviews site how soundodyssey mod changed the sound of md-25.
I believe the SoundOdyssey stage 2 uses the OPA627. Their stage 3 uses the zap filter.From their website the zap filter bypasses the Opamps altogether and replaces them with a class A analog stage.
Don't know if this is totally relevant. However my CDP's balanced output runs thru the Opamps. The RCA's (like the zap filter) bypass the Opamps and run in dual class A analog.
To my ear the RCA outputs which bypass the Opamps are much quieter. Very black background.
This may or may not be the case with the MH mods. But something to check into.
I have the level 3 (plus a few extras) modded cd-25 from Sound Odyssey (SO). I have had it for about 3 months now. I like it very much. I mate this with a Sim Audio I-5 integrated amp and a pair of vandersteen 1c speakers. The SO level 3 cd-25 is a smooth, detailed, player with a lot of soundstage and instrument separation (and I listen to mainly rock and alt. rock, which does not make this assessment the easiest). Brice of SO is great to deal with: he's nice, courteous, will answer questions through and through, and gives a fair price for some extensive modifications. I contacted several people who had done cd-25s through SO beforehand, and they all wholeheartedly recommended him. I have since recommended Brice to some others as well. For a redbook player, this is a very viable option.My personal cd-25 has, by my insistence, the superclock 3, and by Brice's usual level 3 mods, the zapfilter as the output stage -- in addition to other modifications you can find on his web-site. The zap lowers the gain somewhat on the player, so you have to turn your volume up more than you may be used to (like 1-2 hours more on the dial), but that's not a biggie. I never heard the cd-25 stock, so unfortunately, I cannot make a comparison between the modded unit and the unmodded unit.
However, I have recently had a chance to A/B my modded cd-25 with my "old" cd player, a decent Myryad MC-100. I have sent my modded cd-25 back to SO for Brice to do a another mini-mod (nothing wrong, just another improvement), so I am using my old cd player again, but with the same integrated amp and speakers. In comparison, the old cd player sounds brighter, in a more grainy way ("digital sounding"), has weaker bass, and is not as detailed. I can't wait to get my modded music hall back!
In addition, the onix-88 is identical to the cd-25, and Brice can mod that as well (you buy the Onix, ship it to Brice, and he ships back the modded player...my buddy has done this, to closure, so I know for a fact that it's do-able through SO).
I think the modded cd players are one excellent option for buyers to consider, if you are open to such a route. I believe there's a real value to the deal. I plan on keeping my player for a while...
Your timing is good. I recently purchased both the JA 202 and the Onix XCD 88 (music hall). I think they are both great value.
Aloha Fred,
You can save a couple hundred bucks on the CD-25 by buying the Onix XCD=88 at AV123 for $299.00 Same parts as the CD-25. Check it out. Also, look into the Green Mountain Audio line of speakers. Time/phase coherent and truly amazing speakers. Starting at approx $1K/pair. I think you would like the sound of the GMA's more than any of the ones mentioned. You can read a current review of the companies mid-priced monitor here:
Hi Fred, Noticed your potential amps. I had the Jolida 1701A hybrid and 202A both. I was really suprised by how much different they sounded.To my ear the Hybrid really didn't have much tube sound in the midrange. Really sounded much more like SS then tube. The amp for 50wpc though did have much better slam and bass then the 202A.
The 202A did have that tube magic midrange. I don't listen to Jazz much but what I did listen to sounded much better on 202A. Still the 202A wasn't as exciting as the 1701A and the bass was the typical one note.
Bottom line they are much different IMO so careful speaker matching will be important.
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