sprensenbuhl

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from vienna,'austria

Summary:
used the cambridge cd6, tuner d-500 and amplifier a3i, the source van del hul interconnects, duetto cable wires and musical fidelity x-act dac. i`d say everything is clearer and more detailed compared to my musical fidelity E set it even has more bass power

Strengths:
underestimated for the price, outbeats others in the class (price and performance wise)

Weaknesses:
doesnt read cdr and cdrw

Similar Products Used:
musical fidelity E series and micromega minium

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I use the CD6 in a secondary system. In my main system, I use a Copland CDA-266. The CD6 is extraordinary competent for the price. Not neutral, but colored in the good way: always, always musical. Highly recommended!

Strengths:
Bass extension, rythm, musicality

Weaknesses:
slow access of the tunes... be patient!

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Richer Sounds

Summary:
I bought this player as a replacement for an elderly Marantz which was past its best. The CD6 used to be part of my hi-fi system, along side Arcam components, but I sold the Arcam system when having my studio built (I am a musician). The CD6 now serves as a transport in combination with a Audionote DAC to monitor my recordings and mastered mixes.

Strengths:
On its own, through my Genelec monitor speakers, tight, strong bass presence, warm midrange which flatters vocals but not to excess, clean sweet treble. Possibley closer to analogue than others at the price. Good engineering with separate power supplies for transport/display, D/A & A/D converters, and preamplifiers. Balanced XLR outputs are useful in my studio.

Weaknesses:
The CD6 is a little ugly, and the tranformers hum. Tacky remote.

Similar Products Used:
Marantz, Sony SACD, Musical-Fidelity, Mark Levinson.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from madrid

Summary:
Weel , I already wrotre s revew 4 years ago, and now I am going to change my CD. Very good for years of using without any problem (excet that the dispaly light broke on the second year). During these four years, I had the opportunity to bring at home equipments from frients (Musical Fidelity A-300) and from dealers (POwer supply and DAC of MSB), and I could compare with my "CD6". I am not going to write a long review now. So , only two comments: The MF cost is more than double than the CD6. I was listening a whole weekend, and honestly, I did not note any differences. In fact, my wife was very "funny" about my surveys of "machines". She decided to put 10 Cds of my music, and make pass an examination, with "closed eyes". The result was very sad for me, since only in 4 ocassions I got the right CD. To me, the sound was very similar. With the MSB Link Dat, the result was different, since the sound was a little more detailed (a little, only a little), and with more air (only a little). The cost of the MSB with the power supply was $1,500. In my opinion, too much money for "a little". My conclusion is that CD6 is a very good CD that can compete with CDs of the line of MF X Ray, Marant CD 17, Rotel , etc. My congratulations to CAMBRIDGE AUDIO, since I have been enjoing a very good sound with a very serious CD player. I also used the XLR out puts, and noted a light improvement compared to RAC..

Strengths:
Bass is very extended, and the global sound is rounded. It delas with classical, folk and jazz satisfactorily.

Weaknesses:
The looks is very ugly.

Similar Products Used:
PIONERR, DENON, MUSICAL FIDELITY A-300, MARANTZ CD 17

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
As not to regurgitate what has already been said, this is a great player which can be found on the used market for $300-400, depending on condition. Compared to my previous player, the Marantz CD-46, the CD6 is simply more "real" sounding. The soundstage is deep and well definied, and I can finally have front-to-back imaging (the Marantz was fairly flat in that respect). The detail is incredible yet rarely harsh -- my tweeters are fairly revealing, and when vocal "s" and "sh" phonetics occur, they can sometimes be piercing, something I hope to solve with Ah! LS Noise Killers from Upscale Audio. For those upgrading their source, this is also a great opportunity to go for a more revealing interconnect as well, as you won't be disappointed with what you find.

A question for fellow CD6 owners, though... the manual makes no mention of HDCD abilities, and doesn't mention the HDCD indicator on the display, but on my display, the HDCD logo prominently exists. Does this mean I have a special version of this player with HDCD decoding? It would certainly make sense due to the 20-bit nature of its analog section...

In any case, I can't foresee any significant upgrade paths for my CD source without spending a lot more money. I'm considering going for the EVS Millenium DAC II, but keeping the CD6 as a transport.

My system:

Source: Cambridge Audio CD6
Interconnect: Nordost Blue Heaven
Pre/Power: Rotel RX-975 Stereo ReceiverSpeaker Cable: Tara Speaker Cable: Labs Prism Omni
Speakers: Clements 207di(A)

Strengths:
Warm airy tone, great detail, controlled bass

Weaknesses:
display, remote control isn't compatible with my Rotel universal

Similar Products Used:
Marantz CD-46, Rotel RCD-961