Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Been tossing CDs in this thing for the last 6 hours, busy day at work and beyond to finish a project, so it was a good window to play a lot of discs. I gotta say, the transport has done what I was hoping, it elevated the sound quality, but not by a little, it's a night and day difference.

Better sound stage, separation, very balanced with beautiful bass, mids and highs, really easy to listen to and the Linton's came to life compared to how they sounded with the previous player. I'm sure the DAC is bringing something to the table, but overall I'm super happy with the purchase. I tend to believe everything needs time to simmer, but out of the box it's fantastic, if it gets better, awesome.

I think this piece really shores up the system nicely, it even blends in well with the clean simple design, all is well in the world with the "End Game" rig. Now I just need to replace my Synchronicity SACD and we'll be all good :)

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If you're thinking about a CD player, easy to recommend going with the 6000 and an external DAC, for what you can find open box for, well worth the investment...............blows away streaming, even though I'm streaming through the same DAC, the CDT sounds miles better. YMMV depending on your streaming set up I would assume.

Really nice build, great controls on the unit as well as the remote, easy recommendation if you don't want to break the bank and go with a transport.
 
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Been tossing CDs in this thing for the last 6 hours, busy day at work and beyond to finish a project, so it was a good window to play a lot of discs. I gotta say, the transport has done what I was hoping, it elevated the sound quality, but not by a little, it's a night and day difference.

Better sound stage, separation, very balanced with beautiful bass, mids and highs, really easy to listen to and the Linton's came to life compared to how they sounded with the previous player. I'm sure the DAC is bringing something to the table, but overall I'm super happy with the purchase. I tend to believe everything needs time to simmer, but out of the box it's fantastic, if it gets better, awesome.

I think this piece really shores up the system nicely, it even blends in well with the clean simple design, all is well in the world with the "End Game" rig. Now I just need to replace my Synchronicity SACD and we'll be all good :)

View attachment 165196

If your thinking about a CD player, easy to recommend going with the 6000 and an external DAC, for what you can find open box for, well worth the investment...............blows away streaming, even though I'm streaming through the same DAC, the CDT sounds miles better. YMMV depending on your streaming set up I would assume.

Really nice build, great controls on the unit as well as the remote, easy recommendation if you don't want to break the bank and go with a transport.
Dammit. lol
 
I just sold a bunch of records that would pay for the open box 6000CDT but gonna think on if I’ll actually use it enough or if I should spend that money on boombooms 🤩
After spending the afternoon with the 6000, and you're not gonna like this, my CD's as "filler" and "place holders" has changed, it sounds that much better and I can see listening to CDs more often than I would have in the past.

I think @Joe Mac mentioned this, but once the sound quality comes up, it's an easier thing to "justify". That said, I'm still vinyl first, the sound still appeals to me more, but the transport really does bring it up the ladder to make it as enjoyable as vinyl when the vinyl is out of range or hard to find.................I don't feel like I'm settling if that makes sense.
 
After spending the afternoon with the 6000, and you're not gonna like this, my CD's as "filler" and "place holders" has changed, it sounds that much better and I can see listening to CDs more often than I would have in the past.

I think @Joe Mac mentioned this, but once the sound quality comes up, it's an easier thing to "justify". That said, I'm still vinyl first, the sound still appeals to me more, but the transport really does bring it up the ladder to make it as enjoyable as vinyl when the vinyl is out of range or hard to find.................I don't feel like I'm settling if that makes sense.
You feel about CDs how I feel about my streaming setup at the moment. That’s my main hold up right now. I could see myself moving to CDs as vinyl prices continue to climb…

And it’s the question of am I not listening to CDs now because I don’t have a good transport? Or is it because vinyl fills the physical media need and the transport wouldn’t be an upgrade in sound over my streamer? Need to figure that out for myself…
 
Been tossing CDs in this thing for the last 6 hours, busy day at work and beyond to finish a project, so it was a good window to play a lot of discs. I gotta say, the transport has done what I was hoping, it elevated the sound quality, but not by a little, it's a night and day difference.

Better sound stage, separation, very balanced with beautiful bass, mids and highs, really easy to listen to and the Linton's came to life compared to how they sounded with the previous player. I'm sure the DAC is bringing something to the table, but overall I'm super happy with the purchase. I tend to believe everything needs time to simmer, but out of the box it's fantastic, if it gets better, awesome.

I think this piece really shores up the system nicely, it even blends in well with the clean simple design, all is well in the world with the "End Game" rig. Now I just need to replace my Synchronicity SACD and we'll be all good :)

View attachment 165196

If your thinking about a CD player, easy to recommend going with the 6000 and an external DAC, for what you can find open box for, well worth the investment...............blows away streaming, even though I'm streaming through the same DAC, the CDT sounds miles better. YMMV depending on your streaming set up I would assume.

Really nice build, great controls on the unit as well as the remote, easy recommendation if you don't want to break the bank and go with a transport.
System looks fantastic! Well done!
 
So the Rogue RP-1 is headed back, the right channel rca input 1 was acting wonky, and the sound overall was not great in my setup/ with my other gear so I decided to return it within TMR 14 day return window. It really brought forth a lean sound matched with the Torii Jr that I just wasn’t thrilled with.

As can be seen here, and this will be shock to so many(lol), I’ve decided to keep the Luxman once again. There are a couple reasons for this.

First, using it as a preamp completely blows away the Rogue, as I suppose it should. Sound is night and day better. Will also likely use it as an integrated in the summer when the heat from the tubes may be a bit much. I’ve got it set up so all I have to do is switch the speaker wires and hit he separates button on the Luxman remote to change them.

Second, seemed evident that the price I would fetch for the Luxman would not be worth it. I can’t imagine finding a preamp for under $4k that would sound better so why move it? I didn’t have to sell it as I sold the M6x Vinyl, the 1210gr, the Forte III’s and a bunch of cartridges which covered the Heresy’s, the Torii Jr/new tubes, and a Pass Labs XP-15 Phonostage (on the way).

This digital set up is the best I have had. I’m blown away by what i’m hearing these last couple days. Can’t wait for the XP-15 to arrive next week to see where the vinyl setup is compared to the last iteration. 26FD6D4F-5145-4BDD-B23C-081794CD89E3.jpeg
 
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After spending the afternoon with the 6000, and you're not gonna like this, my CD's as "filler" and "place holders" has changed, it sounds that much better and I can see listening to CDs more often than I would have in the past.

I think @Joe Mac mentioned this, but once the sound quality comes up, it's an easier thing to "justify". That said, I'm still vinyl first, the sound still appeals to me more, but the transport really does bring it up the ladder to make it as enjoyable as vinyl when the vinyl is out of range or hard to find.................I don't feel like I'm settling if that makes sense.

You feel about CDs how I feel about my streaming setup at the moment. That’s my main hold up right now. I could see myself moving to CDs as vinyl prices continue to climb…

And it’s the question of am I not listening to CDs now because I don’t have a good transport? Or is it because vinyl fills the physical media need and the transport wouldn’t be an upgrade in sound over my streamer? Need to figure that out for myself…

Nice one @AnthonyI looks good! Glad it sounds so great! I agree I still prefer vinyl for the most part but this gives me options and unlocks a part of my collection again and gives me a less expensive way of adding new pieces to it.

@MikeH in your shoes I just wouldn’t bother. You’re happy with your roon files/streaming solution and don’t seem to own tonnes of CDs. I think you’d be buying it for the sake of buying it. I’m in a different situation in that I already had that substantial CD collection.
 
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@MikeH in your shoes I just wouldn’t bother. You’re happy with your roon files/streaming solution and don’t seem to own tonnes of CDs. I think you’d be buying it for the sake of buying it. I’m in a different situation in that I already had that substantial CD collection.
I think you’re right…but I’ll still probably try to talk myself into it in another few months 😂
 
Nice one @AnthonyI looks good! Glad it sounds so great! I agree I still prefer vinyl for the most part but this gives me options and unlocks a part of my collection again and gives me a less expensive way of adding new pieces to it.

@MikeH in your shoes I just wouldn’t bother. You’re happy with your roon files/streaming solution and don’t seem to own tonnes of CDs. I think you’d be buying it for the sake of buying it. I’m in a different situation in that I already had that substantial CD collection.
This has been my recent thought. I still have a massive CD collection and it's just sitting there. I can't sell it because I tossed all the jewel cases to consolidate when I started moving a lot in my younger days. I have at least 500, with little overlap in vinyl. But the only good CD player is in my wife's car, so I only get to listen to them on road trips which is rare. So this whole conversation has made me start looking at adding a something to the system...
 
You feel about CDs how I feel about my streaming setup at the moment. That’s my main hold up right now. I could see myself moving to CDs as vinyl prices continue to climb…

And it’s the question of am I not listening to CDs now because I don’t have a good transport? Or is it because vinyl fills the physical media need and the transport wouldn’t be an upgrade in sound over my streamer? Need to figure that out for myself…
I completely understand this, me putting streaming in the portability and discovery columns and not much else made going the CD route much easier, again, the demon of physical media.

As to @Joe Mac's point, from what I've read over time, you have reasonably invested in the streaming section of your rig, so I'm sure it's above and beyond what I've experienced.
 
So the Rogue RP-1 is headed back, the right channel rca input 1 was acting wonky, and the sound overall was not great in my setup/ with my other gear so I decided to return it within TMR 14 day return window. It really brought forth a lean sound matched with the Torii Jr that I just wasn’t thrilled with.

As can be seen here, and this will be shock to so many(lol), I’ve decided to keep the Luxman once again. There are a couple reasons for this.

First, using it as a preamp completely blows away the Rogue, as I suppose it should. Sound is night and day better. Will also likely use it as an integrated in the summer when the heat from the tubes may be a bit much. I’ve got it set up so all I have to do is switch the speaker wires and hit he separates button on the Luxman remote to change them.

Second, seemed evident that the price I would fetch for the Luxman would not be worth it. I can’t imagine finding a preamp for under $4k that would sound better so why move it? I didn’t have to sell it as I sold the M6x Vinyl, the 1210gr, the Forte III’s and a bunch of cartridges which covered the Heresy’s, the Torii Jr/new tubes, and a Pass Labs XP-15 Phonostage (on the way).

This digital set up is the best I have had. I’m blown away by what i’m hearing these last couple days. Can’t wait for the XP-15 to arrive next week to see where the vinyl setup is compared to the last iteration. View attachment 165212
Apologies if you already covered this, but mind sharing what led you to keeping the PrecisionDeck over the 1210GR? I have experience with an UltraDeck and a GR, so I'm just curious what your takeaways were!
 
Literally can't name a fault for either table.. I just made the decision to mix things up a bit and one of the tables was going to go. Outside of changing carts, which I really enjoyed for the short time I did it, I just liked using the MoFi more. There's a bit of magic in the sound produced with this table compared to my previous UltraDeck. I assume its the wood plinth.. its dead quiet and very dynamic sounding. I love everything about the table, including its polarizing (to many) looks. lol
 
Literally can't name a fault for either table.. I just made the decision to mix things up a bit and one of the tables was going to go. Outside of changing carts, which I really enjoyed for the short time I did it, I just liked using the MoFi more. There's a bit of magic in the sound produced with this table compared to my previous UltraDeck. I assume its the wood plinth.. its dead quiet and very dynamic sounding. I love everything about the table, including its polarizing (to many) looks. lol
I believe it! Every piece of your turntable will make a difference. I bet the wood plinth comes across a bit livelier compared to the MDF/aluminum in the UD.
 
Question, in moving from a ProJect 2 Xperience to a VPI Signature Classic, would it be reasonable to expect that it might do a better job with the occasional IGD? It's the one thing I find with my current table that bugs me. Everything is absolutely lined up correctly but I do find that there is noticeable degradation towards the label on more albums than I would like. Now in some cases these are vintage albums and likely they were slightly damaged by past users so it's probably not a totally fair assessment but do you guys find higher quality tonearms and bearings etc tend to help with this or not really?
 
Question, in moving from a ProJect 2 Xperience to a VPI Signature Classic, would it be reasonable to expect that it might do a better job with the occasional IGD? It's the one thing I find with my current table that bugs me. Everything is absolutely lined up correctly but I do find that there is noticeable degradation towards the label on more albums than I would like. Now in some cases these are vintage albums and likely they were slightly damaged by past users so it's probably not a totally fair assessment but do you guys find higher quality tonearms and bearings etc tend to help with this or not really?

That really depends on whether the issue is the table or the pressing. If it’s the latter then all being equal better table reveals more.

The other variable is the tonearm length. Yours has a 9” if I remember right? They usually aren’t the worst for IGD, people tend to hold that against the likes of thr 8.6” arm on mine, but generally a longer tonearm is less prone to IGD so if it was a 10” or a 12” that could potentially help?
 
That really depends on whether the issue is the table or the pressing. If it’s the latter then all being equal better table reveals more.

The other variable is the tonearm length. Yours has a 9” if I remember right? They usually aren’t the worst for IGD, people tend to hold that against the likes of thr 8.6” arm on mine, but generally a longer tonearm is less prone to IGD so if it was a 10” or a 12” that could potentially help?
Yeah, you know when you just go through an unfortunate run of records during a session sometimes? Like you happen to play like 5 in a row that have pops here or there, or IGD and it just makes you feel like everything sounds like that? That's what yesterday was. Both Costello albums have TWENTY SEVEN minutes of music per side, so there's no way around it on those ones. Most of the other ones I played were like 40+ year old pressings and there's a multitude of different reasons I might be heading some degradation on those...
 
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