Quad 99 CD-P Player....

[Gebreselassie]

Σύντροφοι,
Μήπως έχει ακούσει κανείς το εν λόγω cd για να μου πει εντυπώσεις?

 

[comtal]

Ναι το έχω ακούσει. Όχι στο σύστημά μου ακριβώς αλλά με ηχεία Audio Spectrum Artemis και ενισχυτή Jadis Orchestra Reference και με προ Graaf WFB two και τελικό DIY σχέδιο Nelson Pass S.E. καλώδια ηχείων Nordost και IC Cardas Quadlink.
Για τα λεφτά του παίζει πολύ καλά. Είναι αναλυτικό, διαυγές και ισορροπημένο. Κλίνει προς μόνιτορ τονικότητα.
Τώρα σε θέματα στιβαρότητας δεν με εμπνέει. Τα λαστιχένια κουμπιά στην πρόσοψη δεν μου άρεσαν και το συρταράκι του μου φάνηκε κάπως αργό στο άνοιγμα -κλείσιμο-διάβασμα δίσκου. Αυτή είναι εν ολίγοις η γνώμη μου. Άκουσέ το και μόνος σου για να βγάλεις τα δικά σου συμπεράσματα.
Δε θυμάμαι και πολλά γιατί πάνε καντά δυο μήνες από τότε που τ' άκουσα.






ΠΑΡΑΘΕΤΩ ΚΙ ΑΥΤΟ:


Readers may recall that while I have the highest regard for Quad’s Series 99 electronics—the 99 preamplifier and the 909 amplifier continue to serve as references—I found the companion CD player a disappointment [TAS 128]: dull, uninvolving, lifeless. Later, someone associated with Quad told me it was in fact a rather hastily “badge-engineered” affair so that the company could offer a full Series 99 electronics “stack” (preamp/amp/tuner/CD).
However, Quad recently introduced a replacement, the 99-CDP, and well, let’s just say, this is a lot more like it. Retailing at $1499 ($500 more than the 99), the new one was designed by Jan Ertner, the auteur of the much-admired Quad 67, one of the lonely few early CD players that actually sounded like music. Size and styling mimic the 99, which means it’ll fit neatly into a Quad stack. Unlike the 99, however, it is now sonically worthy of a place there.
A quick tour of the ins and outs: Philips’s latest three-laser transport, Crystal’s top-of-the-range DAC (24/192 upsampling), Class A op-amps, filtering of Ertner’s design, and regulated power supplies all over the place. The back panel has six digital inputs (three coaxial, three optical), an optical digital output, Series 99 Quadlink connectors, single-ended RCAs for fixed and variable outputs, and a removable power cord (yes, the player’s now usable apart from the 99 preamp). Outfitted with a volume control (operable only from the remote), the 99-CDP is in fact designed to function as a minimalist preamplifier for a digitally-based system comprising DAB tuners, minidisc players, computers, cable or satellite television receivers, laserdiscs, and DVD players (in fact, with its upsampling, the internal Crystal DAC will improve the sound of many digital sources, including a lot of CD players). Variable outputs are common on CD players, but almost none employs a potentiometer the caliber of the one used here, taken from the superb 99 preamp and fed directly from the internal DAC.
As for the sonics, Ertner has managed the trick of all the best Quad electronics: Free from electronic artifacts—digital ones, too—the listening experience is all about the music, not about tabulating, charting, or otherwise comparing audiophile characteristics, categories, and clichés. In his recent HiFi News review, my colleague Ken Kessler called attention to the 99-CDP’s extraordinary openness. No argument there, but what struck me right off was the invigorating life, liveliness, and vitality of this new model. Despite its diminutive physical size, its presentation is big and powerful when called for, as in the Dallas/Litton recording of Symphonic Dances [Pro Arte], with a wide, deep soundstage and solid imaging. Detail is there to be appreciated as part of the overall texture, not flung at you or otherwise spotlighted. Utterly grain-free, the 99 is capable of both warmth and richness and delicacy and nuance that banish completely any ghosts of digital past. Although I am neither a digiphobe nor an analog zealot, “gorgeous” is still not an adjective I generally apply to even the finest digital reproduction, but the best sounds from this player really are, well, gorgeous.
I used it in a variety of systems and setups, directly driving amplifiers as expensive as the $19,000 Boulder 1060 or as cost-effective as the $1500 Quad 909, with speakers ranging from Spendor’s high-resolution new S3/5SE to Sonus Faber’s Amati ($22,000/pair!) to Quad’s 988. At $1500, this player enters a highly competitive arena; but when it comes to playing standard CDs, I’ve heard nothing better close to its price, almost nothing its equal.
The only real consumer issue here concerns the new digital formats, in particular SACD, of which I am an unabashed enthusiast. While Quad has decided to take a wait-and-see attitude, both Sony and Philips are offering multichannel SACD players retailing for as little as $300 (some with DVD capability). It’s doubtful they equal the 99-CDP’s 16/44 performance, however superior their SACD reproduction. But then, the 99-CDP is so competitively priced that you could purchase an inexpensive SACD player if you want to hear what all the excitement is about and still have much less sunk into both machines than you would in any number of more expensive players that neither equal the Quad’s performance nor offer SACD.
This much is certain: The 99-CDP is a triumph for all involved. And thanks to its preamp capability, more audiophiles than ever can now own a CD-only music-system virtually of the highest excellence at a price unheard of even a year ago. Think of it: for ten grand you get a Quad 99-CDP, 909 amp, and a pair of 988 ESLs, with five hundred left over for cables or music (or that inexpensive SACD player). Find another setup costing anything close that will outperform this all-Quad system in any of the areas that matter most—to me, anyhow—in the reproduction of music: low distortion and coloration, high neutrality and transparency, accurate tonal-balance, with a disappearing act that leaves just you and the night and the music.