I've used Oppo PM1s, Shure 1540s and AKG 550s with the headphone socket on my cd6006 and it's pretty good. You won't get the dynamic sound that you'll get with a headphone amp but it's certainly enjoyable. I've never had my 6006 connected to my headphone amp, that luxury to confined to the sa8005 but the 8005's sound direct from it's own headphone socket was much the same as the 6006, so as I say, pretty good.
I thought I had indeed bought lemon for a few minutes, no sound from the the AVR set to CD!! After a quick panic, I realised the input for the CD on the AVR has never been set, so a quick setup and all good!
I then got the mrs to play a few cd's via the 6004 and the X700, I even plugged my ears when she was loading them so I couldn't even hear them opening just incase I know the sound of the X700!
Well first disc was a bit of 90's hip hop, could I tell the difference bewteen players? Nope, all sounded the same to me!
Then she played some Il Divo, now things changed a little, one sounded a touch more open/wider? Not sure of the proper terminology! I chose the one I liked best on a few tracks and the 6004 was the winner 7 out of 8 tracks played!! It wasn't night and day, just subtle changes to the tracks that I could definitely notice on most listens, but genuinely wasn't exepcting that data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I got a pair of Q3050i a couple of weeks ago, so they are probably still opening up, but very happy with the sound from them so far and the 6004 may have added just a tiny bit to that.
Time for some more listening!
I've listened to some more discs, a lot of the time I can't hear a difference to be honest.
But going back to the Il Divo disc, there is a definite difference between the 6004 and X700, the tracks sparkle bit more with the 6004, especially violins and the tenor voice higher up the range, maybe it's the recording quality making a difference?
There is a big difference in the quality of CDs. It's down to their dynamic range, a lot of modern artists compress the sound and hence it's dynamic range, you will notice this with these compressed discs as they are invariably louder than less compressed ones. It's known as 'The Loudness Wars'.
I've had a quick look at the dynamic range of Il Divo (09) and although not great, it's certainly far better than the latest release from Kaiser Chiefs (05). Anything below 08 is regarded as poor, 05 will be dire. A lot of late 1980s and early 1990s discs where hitting average readings of 16, some considerably higher. Worth having a look at the dr.loudnesswar site.
Album list - Dynamic Range Database
Very interesting, I'll have a look now, cheers!
Looks like the 2005 Il Divo disc has a higher range of 12, I've got that one knocking about somewhere, I'll give that a listendata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
If ever you want to get a CD that shows just how good a mix can be then, providing you like Jethro Tull, get the Steven Wilson re-mix of Songs from the wood. Amazing soundstage.
I do like a bit of Jethro Tull now and then.
I can see myself going through the DR scores on that website for ages data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
It looks like I'll be keeping the Marantz CDP, and I might go down the Stereo Amp and switch route rather than the Amp with HT Bypass(for now anywaydata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Now to decide on an amp! It will be running Q3050i's, maybe get a matching Marantz from the 6000 range?
The 6000 range amps do not have HT by-pass. For that you would need to look at the 8000 range. Those amps can be expensive starting at a new price of around £1000. Cyrus probably have the cheapest new one for under a grand.
audiophile.no/en/articles-tests-reviews/item/426-amplifiers-with-processor-input