Great bass, very airy & clean with excellent soundstage.
Good looks & price. solid remote...not plastic.

None at this price

Well to make a long storey short, I had a great player
in the Arcam, wanted to try SACD so I bought a SCD-1
Sony. Lost performance in CD mode compared to the Arcam
and the few SACD discs I had were ok but not totally earth
shattering. I still missed the Arcam for some reason.
So I decided to exercise my 30 money back gaurentee
because $3300 is a lot of money for the "baby steps"
of SACD. I can tell there will be a lot of rapid changes
in the near future.

So I ran out to one of my local high end shops wanting
to get back to the Arcam sound but they were not a dealer
so I figured I would buy the Adcom CD 750 player since
it is priced ok and recieved a B class rating in Stereophile
just like the Arcam. Well as soon as I hooked it up to my
system my ears began to bleed (not literally) from the high's. I had not experienced that with any of the other
players not even the $500 NAD. Plus it just was not musical
in any way, you could not get the toe tapping going with it
no matter what, at least in my system. So after an extended
period of listening I just had to take it back.

It boiled down to trading it in for the NAD Silver or the
Audio refinement player. After hearing them both I could
not decide and took the AR because it was cheaper and I
could not tell much difference.

The music is back!! :o) Beautiful airy sound with the
tight bass I liked from the Arcam. Highs are once again
detailed without being to bright and the vocalist is back
hovering in front of me. Yahoo!!!!!
This will do it for a couple of years until the format wars
are over.
And did I mention price?? IMHO you cannot touch this for
less than $2k

Equipment:

Threshold S/500 Amp
Sonic Frontiers Line 2 Pre Amp
Audio refinement CD player
Polk Audio SDA-SRS Sigs
Bag End 18" Infra Sub
Nordost Blue Heaven & Ultra flat line.
Tara Labs power cords.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SCD-1, Arcam FMJ CD-24, Adcom CD 750, NAD C-540

Captivating and emotional sound. Warmth and details thats a nice balance. Build quality for a "Made in Taiwan" product. Simply gorgeous. Price/Sound.

No Shuffle function. Remote purchased separately.

I have looked for a budget CDP for about three months and settled in with this one. All I can say is that it's amazing. The music is sooo smooth and musical. Nice warmth and inviting details. I really liked the sound and the price that happened to go with it. If you like to relax and enjoy music...audition this CDP in your home. The sound will blow you away and the price will put a smile on your face. Highly recommended!

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RCD971, Rega Planet, Anthem CD1

warm sounding and very musical with properly matched amplification

very bright sounding and metallic with neutral and revealing amplification

This player requires a well matched amp/pre or integrated to sound its best. It works wonders with the Audio Refinement Complete integrated, as it should.

Be wary of a more neutral and revealing front-end, as the sound will be very bright and metallic. Acoustic guitar will sound like plucking metal strings on a plastic guitar (I had this combo when I was 9 years old). Upgraded interconnects will not cure this plight, trust me.

18-bit DAC is not up to date, which is also a problem with other and more expensive YBA players, regardless of power supply. 2+ years in the making and no upgraded DAC? Yves, I love your amps and pre's, but...

Ratings are for proper component matching, where the sound will be very musical and pleasant.

Similar Products Used:

Linn, Rotel, Rega, etc.

The first digital system I've heard whose top end is reminiscent of the venerable Wadia 9 DAC

Have yet to try this player in my reference system because I currently don't have speakers in that system

About 14 years ago, I was at a store in Cleveland, OH called Sound Resource, which IMO had the best 2-channel audio system I've ever heard. Rowland electronics, Avalon Ascent speakers, and a Wadia 7/9 digital system which had a quality which I've never heard in any CD system (save maybe the Linn CD12) since then. A top end which had a sparkle, ambience, and lack of time-smear or irritating digital artifacts which has plagued almost all playback systems for the 44.1 kHz sampled 16-bit 5-inch silver discs. Over time, since hearing systems with both Rowland and Avalon equipment with indistinguished results, I figured there was something special about the Wadia 9 DAC.

Unfortunately, due to what I think were disappointing analog stages in their later products, Wadia IMO has never attained that same magic in their later designs, including the highly-regarded 27 DAC and 800-series players. In time, I was even wondering if what I heard was a synergy or an aberration, as opposed to a superior system at playing CD's.

Recently, I had the opportunity to purchase a YBA Audio Refinement CD Complete CD player, from word-of-mouth recommendation, as my digital source for my "B" system. I expected a pleasant player for the price (not unlike the Cambridge Audio CD4SE), but nothing out of the ordinary. But when I slapped the player into the otherwise modest system (Onkyo TX-8500 receiver w/ JBL L-110 speakers), I did not expect a sonic transformation which would drop my jaw, to say the least.

After playing several CD's in this modest system, I've noticed things going on at the top end and in the background with the CD Complete which I have not heard in six-figure systems with >$5000 digital rigs. The three most obvious were the attack and decay of cymbals, microdynamics, and the *ease* to hear background instruments. And a sense of transparency, especially during loud passages.

A great example of this is the low brass and winds in the venerable Donald Fagen song, "I.G.Y." from "The Nightfly" album. Not only easily distinguishable, but *palpable* as well. Also in that same song, the rhythmic electric piano, easily heard at the beginning but obscured during most of the song with other digital rigs, but easily heard with this player. And complex passages in classics which reminded me of what I used to hear in pre-CD-era Telarc LP's, as well as stability of soundstage. But most of all, a sense of musical involvement which I would normally associate with only high-end analog reproduction.

When then listening to the attacks and decays of brass, percussion, and especially piano, the first thing I thought was... Wadia 9!! I have never heard such an open, unstrained top end in a digital rig since listening to that landmark DAC. I think this top is what is so responsible for the "timing and rhythm" which others here have stated. Although this player has relatively "old" technology in an 18-bit DAC, the time resolution (and overall resolution) puts these "state-of-the-art" 24-bit DAC's to shame.

The most unfortunate aspect of the YBA Audio Refinement CD complete CD player is that people who own more-expensive systems will not consider this player due to its three-figure price. For this player is capable of outperforming digital rigs that hit five-figures in price. In fact, this product has made me want to re-evaluate the digital rig in my main system, which although excellent, does not have that top end magic of a Wadia 9. Or an Audio Refinement CD complete. Maybe the technology has been barking up the wrong tree. But now that I've heard a digital rig which captures much of the Wadia 9 magic, I no longer think that the 16-bit 44.1 kHz CD has inadequate resolution for high-end reproduction. And maybe I'll try higher-in-the-line YBA players or DAC's in my main system. Or maybe even this player!! Bravo!!

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge CD4SE