old and new

[shep]

I got a loan of my old Sony cdp X3000ES. I don't know if this got to the states. It's about 11 years old, a drop dead gorgious piece of gear, the last gasp of the Sony Esprit series before they went mid-fi. A top loader built like a Swiss watch (why the hell did I sell this? ) My Marantz is a piece of junk in comparison. However, the Marantz is modded to the 9's and the Sony is stock. BIG difference in sound. As nice as the Sony is, it plods compared to the M. It hasen't been played for two years (sin) so I'm giving it a refresher course in music!  After it is going to the UK to be torn apart and given a severe upgrading. Then I think it will kill the Marantz, and then I'm going to be really pissed off that I sold it! There was also a 5000ES but this is a very rare beast.

[Carlman]

Way to go, Shep...  Keep us posted on the differences when you get the mods done.

I have found some similar traits comparing older cd players that were overbuilt, heavy, and used high quality parts..... to newer, lightweight players... The newer ones sound better despite the fact they're cheap.  The old ones sound dull or maybe veiled in comparison.  

I had a nice old Arcam with all sorts of mechanisms inside it to keep the cd platter stable and loads of electronics... and it was just muddy comparing it to a $400 DVD player.  The Arcam was about 1500 new in 1999/2000.  I can't remember the model.. I had 2 Arcam's at one point.. and again, the newer, cheaper Arcam was better... and only cost about $400 used.  

I'm curious about these new Rega's... seems like everyone's realizing that playing a cd directly isn't as good as putting the data into a big buffer.  I wonder if they're just using old walkman's with "10 second anti-skip" features! haha.

Have fun,
Carl

[shep]

Sadly I will not get any time with it when it's modded  still, it will be on the same speakers amp and wires, but in a different room. I love how it feels and looks! I could almost forgive the rather pesestrian sound...amazing how a few years and better parts has changed things. The Sony is held back I think by a rather over complicated filtering system
and probably crappy opamps. We will see...Speaking of Walkmans, this is not so funny. I had a friend who was a mad genius/modder and he once rebuilt one, a Panasonic I think. I had it for a long time on loan. It was an amazing player! horribly fiddly though and fragile. It was virtually caseless. I think the Sony would be a great transport, the mechanism is a joy to behold, but I have no ext. Dac so I'll never know.