Note: After securing permission from the Master, Ka Jojo, I decided to post a mini-review of the modded Cayin CD50. The permission was asked to avoid complications/controversies because Cayin is being distributed by AA. Since my unit is a modified version, it will not fit in the Cayin thread. I chose not to include this on the CD mod thread because I felt that since it was done by Ka Jojo, it will be more respectful if this will be read by his "fans" and of course, friends.
This is not in any way intended to induce, persuade or coax anybody to do the same or have it done by the Master. I'm not related to Ka Jojo by affinity or consanguinity nor I am an employee or having business interest in the manufacture, sale or distribution of his products.
Equipment used:
1.) Modified AMX EL-34 Overture (JJ Tesla power tubes, Sylvania 6189 preamp tubes), Mordaunt-Short MS 20i Pearl Series speakers, Audioquest Midnight speaker cables, DIY Ixos 103 interconnects, Isobar noise filter & Audioprism parallel filter.
2,) B&K EX-442 Sonata power amp, Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 preamp (Sylvannia & Amperex tubes), KEF Q90 floorstanding speakers circa 1990's, MIT Terminator 4 and QED Qudos speaker cables, Audioquest Emerald interconnects, Castle power filter, DIY power cables with ferrite filters.
Test cd's:
Cd layer of Carpenters Singles 1969-1981 SACD; Forget About It, A Krauss; Lonely Run Both Ways, A Krauss; The Sky Is Crying, Stevie Ray Vaughan; Discovered Again FIM K2 release, Dave Gruisin; David Benoit Collection (local release); Dire Straits self-titled debut album SHM-CD; The Hunter, Jennifer Warnes; Abraxas MoFi release, Santana; The Best of Jane Monheit, Top2 Music release; B&W presents The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, conductor; and Denon Jazz Sampler plus The Audio Tool Box II.
The Cayin CD-50 in stock condition/when tube-rolled:
It is a good player, Smooth, not fatiguing, pleasant to the ears, with slight roll-off at the top end and slightly soft bass, The midrange is towards the warm side and forward sounding. However, using Jane Monheit cd, the mid has the tendency to scream a bit and the sibilants are noticeable. Same observation with Forget About It album. The piano attack in Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow (Discovered Again) and the wah-wah guitar of Lee Ritenour is warm and a bit soft. I changed the stock Cayin tube (or is this a Shuguang really?) to Telefunken 12au7. Result: more focused bass and slight improvement on the highs, being a little clearer. The sibilants exhibited in the midrange has decreased a bit and the singer seemed to retreat backwards. After about 45 hours combined listening/runnning-in, only subtle improvements occured. I decided to use the magical talents of the Master, as planned and intended!
As modified:
Not being an electronics guy (I specialize in Civil Works), I just noticed Ka Jojo put in two Burr Brown OPA2111 (the CD-50 has 2 sockets already installed for the op amps, no need to desolder), removed some caps, replaced it with his intended ones, put in bypass capacitors. He didn't replace the signal caps because in his judgment, they are already performing their intended job, and measures (electrically) adequately.
Ka Jojo and I monitored the sound before & after "operation" using his own creation headphone amp and Sennheiser PX100 headphones.
The result is amazing, notwithstanding that the tweak parts have just been installed (accd to Ka Jojo The BB OPA211 needs at least 20 hrs burn-in for optimum sound). The cd player comes alive. The dynamics are fantastic! Big, deep bass. Lovely, lovely midrange. Still warm with significantly reduced sibilants.
I hurried back home and test it with my equipment. Wow! If I'm blindfolded or if the cd player is concealed, I will not believe it's the same player. It's a totally different beast! (pardon the term, 'can't help it)
The last time I heard something like that was when a friend of mine is using his Audio Research transport with DAC! And I haven't got many friends with such gears.
The background is very clear and it seems that several veils covering several layers of instruments are simultaneously yanked out. In fact, in the track The Sky Is Crying which I heard more than 100 times, I noticed somebody spoke (during recording, in the background 2x). I repeat the track and it's really there. Alison Krauss voice is more lovely than ever, especially in the track A Living Prayer (makes you imagine she's the most gorgeous singer ever). The percussions on the opening of Singing Winds, Crying Beast (Abraxas) is magical! Can't help but be amazed with D Gruisin/L Ritenour synergy on Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow. I'm not really a classical fan but I do listen once in a while. I never heard Canon et Gigue (B&W demonstration cd) with so much detail before, even at the B&W showroom.
Conclusion:
The extra expense is worth every centavo! Maybe more, because Ka Jo doesn't charge a lot. In my personal view, I'm really very happy with the upgrade. It surely beats the hell out of my Marantz DV6001 dvda/sacd player when it comes to cd playback (and some sacd playback too)!
Side note:
I surely learned a lot from my conversation with Ka Jojo, especially his philosophy when it comes to audio. Maybe this will change my outlook/perspective too. He said: "No amount of boutique parts can make a bad circuit sound good." "Conversely, a good, properly implemented circuit with adequate components will always beat even another good circuit with boutique parts but poorly implemented." He added, "If the component part is high quality and measures adequately for the design, you don't have to replace it with boutique part and just end up with unjustifiable expense (but with bragging rights)." He also reminded me that corollary to a good design is good implementation.
Well, this mini-review is getting too long and I haven't eaten yet!
Mabuhay ka Ka Jojo! Mabuhay ang kilusan.....sa audio!
