QUAD CDP-2 - has anyone heard/owned it, your thoughts please

[gsrai]

Pretty much as the title suggests, in my quest for convergence and good DAC's I stumbled across the QUAD CDP-2 which has 6 digital in's:shock:

I dont really like the sound of Quad speakers but the engineering I have always admired so I got thinking about how much I like the Squeezebox with the X-DAC V3 and how much my good lady cant get used to (yet) so I still need a CD player. Couple all of this with my desire to reduce costs (X-DAC only has one input

) and I figured this could be the product for me

But having never really left the MF fold I wanted to get some opinions on the Quad CD players sound (especially some comparatives to MF CD players old and new - I've had most you see).

This could lead to me selling the main new X-series gig (c'est la vie

) but I'll still have loadsa' MF gear lying around in various rooms!

Your thoughts please

 

[SSM]

Not heard the CDP-2, but the CDP-S, yess... For sound the X-Ray v3 slaughters it.

So the new CDP-2 versus the X-Ray v8 could be history repeating itself.

If the CDP-S is representative of the digital QUAD sound, I'd describe it as sauvely smooth, treacle-y and diplomatically inoffensive. The perfect spinner to put tuxedos on all your male rock singers.

SS

 

[earl of sodbury]

SSM wrote:

Not heard the CDP-2, but the CDP-S, yess... For sound the X-Ray v3 slaughters it.So the new CDP-2 versus the X-Ray v8 could be history repeating itself.

If the CDP-S is representative of the digital QUAD sound, I'd describe it as sauvely smooth, treacle-y and diplomatically inoffensive. The perfect spinner to put tuxedos on all your male rock singers.

SS

Well put :^I could say almost the same, having heard and disliked the earlier version,but wouldn't assume the currentversion is the same at-all: Quad made a Lot of changes to it, and it's well-rated by a few surprisingly sensible people...

A demo, as ever, is the way to go.

 

[SSM]

^ following that logic, can I assume the new Quad 12L v2 is vastly improved from my beloved old 12Ls?

 

[Davewhityetagain]

gsrai wrote:

Pretty much as the title suggests, in my quest for convergence and good DAC's I stumbled across the QUAD CDP-2 which has 6 digital in's:shock:I dont really like the sound of Quad speakers but the engineering I have always admired so I got thinking about how much I like the Squeezebox with the X-DAC V3 and how much my good lady cant get used to (yet) so I still need a CD player. Couple all of this with my desire to reduce costs (X-DAC only has one input

) and I figured this could be the product for me

But having never really left the MF fold I wanted to get some opinions on the Quad CD players sound (especially some comparatives to MF CD players old and new - I've had most you see).

This could lead to me selling the main new X-series gig (c'est la vie

) but I'll still have loadsa' MF gear lying around in various rooms!

Your thoughts please

Quad bought out the cd-99 p a very nice cd player whith varible fixed and quad link out puts it also had other inputs here is one i bought earlier

not long after it came out Phillips told Quad they had stopped making that transport, so they took on the chap who was in charge of transport design he now works for quads parents company IAG the drive he built is fitted in the mark two it can also be retro fitted to the mark one

I suspect as phillips cd drives all the way from basic to pro 2 are now looked after by daisy the quad transport might find a market as ome drive

 

[earl of sodbury]

SSM wrote:

^ following that logic, can I assume the new Quad 12L v2 is vastly improved from my beloved old 12Ls?

LOL! Might be - there was certainly room for improvement! Not heard the new-uns yet though.

 

[Headcoat]

As mentioned previously the 99 CDP-2 is considered to be very good indeed - smooth but dynamic, bassy but detailed all the usual adjectives.

Never heard it myself but from the reviews if I had a grand spare would definately demo it.

 

[harv]

gsrai wrote:

I dont really like the sound of Quad speakers but the engineering I have always admired so I got thinking about how much I like the Squeezebox with the X-DAC V3 and how much my good lady cant get used to (yet) so I still need a CD player. Couple all of this with my desire to reduce costs (X-DAC only has one input

) and I figured this could be the product for me

A demo of the CA 840c would be interesting. Haven't heard the MF players apart from the A5, but my mate who bought the CA was very impressed and having heard it recently was a massive improvement over the Arcam cd72 he had before

Doesn't Earls Stello have extra digi inputs

 

[earl of sodbury]

harv wrote:

Doesn't Earls Stello have extra digi inputs

It does, but Gobind has a big love thang for half-width kit.

 

[JANDL100]

Hi Gobind, I used to have the mk1 Quad CDP, and i thought it was an excellent bit of kit - I'd never have guessed that Quad could make elecytronics that good (I'm generally not a fan of their amps, or the post-57 speakers - despite, or because of, owning 63s for years).

Neutral, open, transparent, detailed ... and fun. Not a million miles from MF kit in fact.

Def worth a dem - I think it would surprise you.

Note that it only has a TOSLINK digi output though.

 

[harv]

earl of sodbury wrote:

harv wrote:

Doesn't Earls Stello have extra digi inputs

It does, but Gobind has a big love thang for half-width kit.

That limits things quite seriously :?what about those little Perpetual units... had rave reviews everywhere... Perpetual

 

[UnFocused]

Might have miss-understood...but the X-DACv3 has 2 digital inputs, an optical and a co-axial.

I've never tried it with mine yet, but a Squeezebox is on my wish list, which I was going to plug into the optical with my cdp in the coaxial. The DAC is supposed to sense a digital signal and automatically lock to that input.

 

[gsrai]

UnFocused wrote:

Might have miss-understood...but the X-DACv3 has 2 digital inputs, an optical and a co-axial. I've never tried it with mine yet, but a Squeezebox is on my wish list, which I was going to plug into the optical with my cdp in the coaxial. The DAC is supposed to sense a digital signal and automatically lock to that input.

You are right but as I understand it you can only use one item at a time as there is no source selection option/button on the DAC - there must be some sort of priority as to which source is DAC'd - I could be wrong though!

Paul - you know me too well, slave to the good looking kit (cos I'm so Fugly!)

Thanks for the thoughts Jerry - I might consider it as I've never really left the MF crib!

 

[HectorHughMunro]

harv wrote:

earl of sodbury wrote:

harv wrote:

Doesn't Earls Stello have extra digi inputs

It does, but Gobind has a big love thang for half-width kit.

That limits things quite seriously :?what about those little Perpetual units... had rave reviews everywhere... Perpetual

I've got the Perpetual P1/P3a combination. I thought the standard units were only about as good as the Meridian 506 that I was using at the time (which was pretty good) but with a more neutral balance. The point where they become special is when you do the mods to them www.modwright.com was where I got mine done. After the mods, I thought they were similar quality to a Meridian 508 or 566 but not DCS quality which is what the reviews said.

 

[earl of sodbury]

gsrai wrote:

UnFocused wrote:

Might have miss-understood...but the X-DACv3 has 2 digital inputs, an optical and a co-axial. I've never tried it with mine yet, but a Squeezebox is on my wish list, which I was going to plug into the optical with my cdp in the coaxial. The DAC is supposed to sense a digital signal and automatically lock to that input.

You are right but as I understand it you can only use one item at a time as there is no source selection option/button on the DAC - there must be some sort of priority as to which source is DAC'd - I could be wrong though!

You can have two sources connected - the X-DACv3 defaults to whichever input is "live" when it's switched on, or to the coaxial if two simultaneous"live" feeds are sensed*. (* which means you have to have a flimsy SMT logic chip in-circuit

)

A simple switch would have been so much better...

 

[uzzy]

Davewhityetagain wrote:

gsrai wrote:

Pretty much as the title suggests, in my quest for convergence and good DAC's I stumbled across the QUAD CDP-2 which has 6 digital in's:shock:I dont really like the sound of Quad speakers but the engineering I have always admired so I got thinking about how much I like the Squeezebox with the X-DAC V3 and how much my good lady cant get used to (yet) so I still need a CD player. Couple all of this with my desire to reduce costs (X-DAC only has one input

) and I figured this could be the product for me

But having never really left the MF fold I wanted to get some opinions on the Quad CD players sound (especially some comparatives to MF CD players old and new - I've had most you see).

This could lead to me selling the main new X-series gig (c'est la vie

) but I'll still have loadsa' MF gear lying around in various rooms!

Your thoughts please

Quad bought out the cd-99 p a very nice cd player whith varible fixed and quad link out puts it also had other inputs here is one i bought earlier

not long after it came out Phillips told Quad they had stopped making that transport, so they took on the chap who was in charge of transport design he now works for quads parents company IAG the drive he built is fitted in the mark two it can also be retro fitted to the mark one

I suspect as phillips cd drives all the way from basic to pro 2 are now looked after by daisy the quad transport might find a market as ome drive

Ooh an Isotek cleanerniceeeeeeeeeee - how could you put a box with matsui in there :shock:shame on you - scratch the name off it

 

[opusover21]

just out of interest a cheap option is http://www.felston.com/dd540/index.htmn as I used to use 2 digital sources into the Opus CD player...still got it somewhere i thhink hiding under the TV!...think Primare make something aswell and yes it is a simple A/B switch on the remote!