Cary 306 Professional CD/SACD player

Its still the Sony transport, with a new servo circuit board. I haven't heard of anyone having any problems with the new version of the player. I haven't seen anything written about the tubed player.

In that price range, excellent SACD players from Esoteric, Marantz, Ayre, Wadia, McIntosh are also within reach to name a few...

 

Take a look at those 4 Wima output capacitors. Good luck trying to hear music through those obstacles.

I owned the 303/300, for about 2 weeks. That's all I could take, least resolving machine I ever heard.

http://www.caryaudio.com/products/classic/photo/CD303TPro.html

 

No dealers in the area have the Arcam in stock. However, I was able to get one for $1950 so I went ahead and ordered.

 

I concur.

 

You guys are trying to kill a whole section of the used audio market. Might I ask why, moving parts and all? And not meaning to thread crap (but think I already did when I mentioned Marantz).

 

I really like the Marantz Pearl player. $3000 bucks, great sound, built like a tank.

Buying a used CD player is like buying anything used. If you don't want to buy new and you do your homework, you can get a good player. As mentioned here, check the transport, etc, and make sure what you are buying has a replacement path.

 

A couple of comments isn't killing a whole section of the used market. Unless you feel our opinions carry that much weight. If that's the case, I'm flattered.

 

" Originally Posted by joelee View Post
I don't think it's a good idea to buy a used CD player."

That is why I suggested to buy a used cd player from a dealer, with a credit card and 30 day return policy. Over the years, cd players are the single most troublesome component I have dealt with.

 

Ok, granted. But why go through the hassle? I concur with the rest of your post.

 

Why? Because used digital anything depreciates 40-50% even if its a current production model. So that 8k machine your yearning after can be bought for around 4K etc ...

Edit: See, looky here
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1258818705&/Cary-306-cd/sacd-pro--SOLD!-

 

You hit that nail on the head. Digital players probably depreciate more/faster than any hi fi component. There are a lot of low mileage digital players that used to cost a small fortune that are now quite reasonable. Most of them have a much better transport and are more robustly built than your average 1000 -2000 players these days.

Again, make sure about transport issues and also make sure that the machine you buy can be serviced. Any reputable mfr. will tell you what their service plans are for at least the next 2-5 years. While you are at it, ask them what replacing a transport mechanism involves. If you can get an $8k player for $4k, and replacing the transport costs $500 or so two years down the road, you're still ahead of the game.

 

I see. Thanks for that. In that price range, I see what you mean. But, I'd still rather buy new. Digital processors are another story. No moving parts.

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

I will never understand why some companies cannot get the 'transport' right???

 

All I said was "I concur" Plus, I am entitled to my opinion!

 

Most companies don't make their own transport. Sony transports can and often do go flaky of late. Forgivable in an inexpensive unit, not so much in a pricey unit. These DVD based units aren't even in the same league as an old tank like Philips CDM-0 or CDM-1 transport. I have one of those in daily use since 1983, still going strong to this day.

 

Of course you are. All I asked was why you felt that way. I received no answer.

 

Ok. I already posted why. Because there's moving parts in a cd player, for one thing.

 

Ok, we're done hijacking this thread.

 

I concur.

 

Here is another excellent example of buying used. The player is in 10/10 condition. "(10 / 10 - Mint - Essentially never used, factory fresh appearance!)"

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1260724201&/Bryston-Bdc-1-Cd-Clean-trade-s

Given the company's reputation, if the transport goes south, Bryston is going to have (1) available for that machine probably 10 years down the road.

So as Tonepub touches upon in a post above, chose a used machine from a reputable company that has a long history of supporting their products.

 

Well, there are always exceptions...thanks for that.

 

an interesting player indeed, it plays Super Audio-CD and is additionally equipped with an USB input (accepting 24bit/192kHz).

 

i have also been looking at getting best-in-class for two functionalities -- 2-channel SACD playback and HDCD playback for both myself and several clients. Excellent redbook also obviously of interest; abillity to use DAC for several digital sources also a plus.

a few observations, of course these might not be issues for everyone, ymmv, imho, etc yadayada


1/ re 306 SACDPro: this looked to be an obvious candidate. SACD, HDCD decode, and several digital inputs all in one (expensive) box. note: expensive to some, but not at all to others (ie a few of the clients).

given the particular interests of all seven of us, this product was absolutely on the shortlist for everyone.

all minus one peson auditioned the player at various dealers on the US west coast. however, we all decided against it. a few persons had perceived performance issues, but everyone, upon comparing research, discovered what was felt to be an uncomfortable amount of comments / anecdotal stories / dealer stories / etc of poor pre-sales communication and reliability/service issues.

there simply seemed to be silence from Cary in the area of pre-sales technical questions; concern amplified when speaking to several Cary dealers who stated that they also had difficulty concering communications with the company.

in short: reliability/heat issues in the predecessor product (and heat management was an emphasized marketing point of the new Pro, this created some concern); anecdotal service stories; and poor pre-sale comms led us all to look at other alternatives to the $8000 one-box expendature.


2/ in the end, given differences in the individuals' particular balance of interests (and acceptable tradeoffs on performance vs costs), people opted for some slightly different solutions. some Ayre products, a few Sony 3400, a Marantz, and an Esoteric for the "SACD solutions." Several purchased Oppo BDP-83 (alone or in addition to the other units). Some Berkeley alpha DACs (ie for direct best-in-class HDCD decoding from any CD transport, ie using one of the Ayre multi-format players which do not decode HDCD).

one very key realization (in the "bang-for-the-buck category) is that you can put together an HDCD playback solution allowing use of any DAC you want (ie whatever is your particular favorite DAC) at lower cost compared to say a standalone $5000 alpha DAC. simply use an Oppo BDP-83 or 980H ($499, $169) as a transport which puts the hardware-decoded HDCD onto the HDMI output (20/44.1 packed as 24/44.1); use one of several available HDMI adaptor/switcher products to extract the audio from HDMI to SPDIF ($109 - $269; some optical, some coax; some only good to 24/96, others to 24/192); and then feed your DAC.

using a DAC with good desgn of digital receiver and providing good jitter suppression (ie Benchmark, Weiss) gives some rather pleasing results.

several persons who were casually prepared to spend a hefty sum including a 306 SACDPro and/or an alpha are now perfectly pleased -- for HDCD -- with a oppo > HDMI audio extract > weiss DAC2 or benchmark DAC1

the point here is that if you are not tied to a one-box solution, you can have several different "system approaches" to getting great HDCD playback. hence an option to getting started in your quest: Oppo BDP-83 ($499, SACD, DVD-A, HDCD decoding; overall sound with own DACs is most certainly not bad), atlona HD-570 ($269, passes 2-channel 24/192 on SPDIF), and a weiss DAC2. under $3800 total. or a less-expensive DAC, leaving more for exploring a different SACD solution. and Blu-Ray playback thrown in.... this, btw, is a great way to listen to the 24/192 from Neil Young's Archives Blu-rays; or 24/96 etc from DVD-A; or to send to your server said 24/192, or even 24/176.4 converted SACD from a PS3 HDMI output.....

also of note is the audio-gd DAC (forget model nr, around $500) which has a PM100 build-to-order option, ie this is (other than the Berkeley alpha) one of very few current-production standalone DACs with HDCD decoding capability.

hth