Arcam Mini appears to dominate the category but...
mcduman -- Tue, 10/27/2009 - 13:44
Neil Gader has done a very good intro to the now burgeoning category of cd receivers a while ago. Which is what I am looking for my office system. I have dome some research on the net and arcam solo mini appears to be the name to beat 'tough there are many others most notably:
April Music Aura Premier
Audio Analogue Enigma MkII
Carat I57 mkII
Linn Klassik Music
NAD Viso 2
Naim Uniti (although this is slightly a different class because it does networking too)
Shanling MC-30 or MC 3000
couple of others including cambridge audio, denon, marantz, teac etc.
I have no experience with this category and any first hand info will be very much appreciated to make a shortlist. I will be using the tuner (70%) more than the cd (30%) not at very high volumes in a moderately sized room. Price is no object (haha. how wonderful to say this for audio) assuming all this gear is sub 2000. thanks in advance
mcduman,
Two important questions:
1) Do you want CD playback only, or also DVD-Audio/Video and SACD playback capabilities?
2) Will you use full-range speakers or might you wish to use a sat/sub system?
If your answer to either question is "yes," you might want to check out the Arcam Solo Movie 2.1 which is the subject of a news article I just put up on the site. Here's the link: http://www.avguide.com/article/arcam-previews-fmj-bdp-100-blu-ray-player-announces-solo-movie-21-universal-playerreceiver
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
Hi Chris,
I have seen your article, yes, and reporting-wise avguide is doing a fantastic job of covering this segment. this is yet another arcam product. i guess it is now very much the case that you can get any cd receiver (or stereo dvd receiver) as long as it is arcam. How do they actually compare against some other guys? i have heard the nad viso 2 for instance and it was not bad either.
To answer your question, dvd is not really required and i was planning to use two monitors without a subwoofer.
A couple of friends here is oz have bought the Aura Note unit with Quad bookshelf monitors for $3000 AUD. what a beautiful sound combination for the money, The Aura Note is a high-end CD player (top-loading) with 50 watt / channel MOS-FET single-ended power amplifier. 1 USB input (A type) for the devices (MP3 / WMA / OGG files) like MP3 players or USB memory.1 USB input (B type) for PC Connection to playback any music or movie files from your PC.1 Auxiliary input for TV or DVD input. 1 Headphone input for private listening, FM/AM Tuner, Designed by Kenneth Grange of U.K.
Sounds smooth and beautiful. English design Korean made but a great unit especially for an office environment.
I own an Arcam CD player myself and love its sound as well but was very impressed with this unit
thanks craigo.
i am inclined twds the aura unit as well. i will go ahead and order it. although i am curious to know what the audio analogue sounds like. it has a tubed pre-amp stage which is interesting.
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