Ok, I know this topic has been posted before, but all the threads are locked, and I am happy today! I recently finished construction of a new garage/office, and the extra space has allowed me to unpack some boxes that have been stored for 5 years, including boxes containing around 1500 CDs. I didn’t own a CD player anymore, but based on the recommendations of folks on this board I picked up an Audiolab 6000CDT. I am running it right into my Nova via a relatively inexpensive Audioquest Forest optical cable. It sounds better than any CD setup I have ever had, and will definitely get me to start listening to CDs again. Loads of PRaT. I have ordered a digital coaxial cable to compare with the optical, but otherwise I’m just going to enjoy rediscovering some CDs! Thank you to all who have recommended it on this board.
The Audiolab 6000 CDT is outstanding. Sometimes I wonder how a CDT can be any better…especially given the price.
Try the Audioquest Forest SPDIF. That is a stellar cable for the price.
If an amp, pre amp, speakers, and DAC are 95% (debatable) of a system’s digital SQ…… then add in cables, interconnects, power supplies, etc…. how much much does the difference in one CDT make from another?
There are better CD transports, but not when you take its price into account. A simple way to improve it is to buy a better (shielded) power cable. That makes it sound even more voluptuous, unleashing the last restraint in the sound.
Thanks. I agree. I just bought a new power cable for my 6000CDT. Its the sum of the parts…but for the money its hard to beat the 6000. Thanks!
That is a very big if. I went from the audio lab to the project cd box and there is a large difference to my ears
And what is the price of the Project CD transport?
About £2100
An Audiolab CDT6000 is £ 360 nowadays if I Google it. I bought mine at 319 Euro. Not a fair comparison. Of course there are better CD transports. I’m sure there are even better ones than the Pro-ject at even higher prices (or perhaps even lower prices), but that’s like saying that a Naim power amplifier is better than an Atom.
I wasn’t replying to you, I was replting to
Of course there are always ways to make marginal improvements - for more money! I could add an external DAC, e.g. The perfect certainly should not be the enemy of the very good.
Right now I think paring the 6000CDT with the Nova is a real sweet spot, and I suspect I’ll be happy on that rung of the ladder for a while. After all, I have a lot of CDs to rediscover. No time for shopping!
Absolutely. I would not recommend pairing a £2k cd transport with a nova, good though it would sound. I had the cdt 6000 before the project and it is excellent, and reminded me that there is still a place for the humble silver disc
I’ve had a Nova attached to an Audiolab 6000CDT and it is a very good combo, then I had a CDX2.2 that was better.
On a pound per sound basis it is very good and you have chosen well
Had the 6000CDT connected to the SuperUniti DAC by coax cable. Well it sounded okay but nothing special to my ears. Probably the SU DAC signature sound, like the nDAC which i never liked. Exchanged the 6000CDT with a CD5i (non italic) from a friend and connect it with din-din lavender to the SU din imput. Sounds much fuller and more energetic to my ears.