Thanks for the help and advice guys, it has taken the pressure off and I now have a clearer picture of options. If you get really bored take a look here: Auto-TaT So that pretty much takes the Azur out of the equation as it will take a couple of months to replenish the pot.įor anyone interested, the primary hobby is an old Reliant Scimitar that I am rebuilding as a lightweight hill climb and sprint car and the new acquisition is a pair of bucket seats that will allow me to work out positioning and fabrication of mounts and controls. But from what you guys have told me the other contenders are just as good and they are current models so I don't need to rush out and buy one before they are sold out.Ģ) I have just been offered a part for my primary hobby at a good price so a lump of the budget has just been stolen. The CXN certainly sounds like a strong contender.ġ) Having spoken to Richer Sounds it transpires that all remaining stock of the Azur 851N are now located at the warehouse so I cannot try it out against the CXN, Bluesound Node or any other contenders. I don't currently use any streaming services so I don't think the lack of chromecast would be an issue. Would this be a wise investment or are there now better alternatives that full-fill the same three roles (netwrok Streamer, DAC, pre-amp) for £1000? The majority of alternatives I have found do not appear to be capable of acting as the pre-amp or have a lower spec DAC. Not very important but the styling (or lack of) would sit well with the other components I have. It is however now 6 years old and has just been discontinued, meaning they are being sold off cheaper. It has won awards and has what sounds like a very highly specced DAC section. Whilst googling I discovered the Cambridge Audio Azur 851N which does all of the above as well as acting as a pre-amp. Ideally the DAC would act as a digital pre-amp as I no longer have any analogue sources. This would feed my ageing pre-amp and then onto my power amp. I was after a Network Streamer as all my music is now on a NAS drive and a decent DAC to plug all my digital sources into (the aforementioned network streamer, DVD/CD player, TV). And I'm awaiting delivery of a VPI Classic 2 turntable with an Ortofon 2M Black cart to replace the current vintage Technics SL-1600/2M Blue.I am looking to carry out a serious upgrade to my HiFi for the first time in almost twenty years. I'm also using an Oppo BDP-105D as a disc transport and DAC for high res PCM and DSD files (using Audirvana on the Mac). We’d like wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity to be more streamlined, but having. I use an Apogee Quartet audio interface connected to a Mac Mini running Adobe Audition for the needle drops, and I have a Nakamichi RX-505 (currently waiting patiently in Willy Hermann's queue for a minor repair). The Azur 851N, a natural sonic upgrade to the CXN, says all the right things, and is the ideal high-end streamer if you’re looking for a capable digital pre-amp or are after something to simply slot into your existing system. I do needle drops, and I also like to make cassettes. The SX-850 is really sweet sounding but I think the phono section is starting to go out, and it doesn't have a lot of I/O flexibility. The VSX-55 is a home theater receiver and has a bunch of DSP crap that I do not need for the stereo-only listening that I do (and the tone controls also are DSP). These are running into a powered 2.1 studio monitor system (BlueSky Exo 2.1 - amazing for the money).īoth receivers have drawbacks. Right now it's a vintage Pioneer SX-850 prior to that it was a Pioneer Elite VSX-55TXi. Up until now I've been using integrated receivers as preamps in my setup. It appears to be just the ticket (the Cambridge Audio Azur 851 also caught my eye but it's 2x the price and doesn't have There doesn't seem to be a lot of preamps out there that have everything I need - (multiple tape hookups, a phono preamp, and analog tone controls) - so imagine my delight when I saw the NAD C165BEE. TL DR: How's it sound? Is it any good? Is it reliable?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |