Initial impressions of Cayin CDT-23 (more than 50 hours of use):
1. Out of the box it sounds good already.
2. My old CDP is an Arcam CD73T and I can say that the sound of Cayin CDT-23 has more body and is more natural sounding in terms of certain instruments that I heard, like cymbals, triagles, and piano.
3. Vocals are more realistic. There is real presence of the singer upfront. I notice more of the coarsenss of the vocalists and there is "chestiness".
4. Medyo mahina ang output than Arcam CD73T, because I notice I have to turn up the volume just a little more to get to the level I'm used to listening.
5. Very good bass.
6. Solid-State output is also very impressive. Sound is warm and sweet and dynamic. Not (yet) good soundstage presentation and detail as Arcam CD73T. May need more break-in time. But the warm sound that I prefer is already there.
7. I noticed that when 192/24 upsampling is enabled on 16bit CDs, the soundstage moves back a bit and medyo humihina yung volume. But I notice better separation of instruments and they become more distinct.
8. When I do upsampling on 20bit or 24bit CD, I do not hear any difference when upsampling is disabled.
9. Arcam CD73T is very detailed and has good instrument separation, but may sound clinical sometimes. The Cayin CDT-23 may still have to catch up just a little bit. But the Cayin CDT-23 is warmer sounding and has definitely better bass at the solid state output; and is more natural sounding at the tube output. I'm not saying that CDT-23 is not good at instrument separation and detail. There are these characteristics also on the CDT-23, but so far the Arcam does it much better for now. Why for now? Because I think the Cayin CDP will still improve in time as it is used.
That's it for now.
Will post further updates later on.
Equipment used:
Cayin CDT-23 Tube complements: Interchanging between Amperex 6922 gold pins and Amperex 6dj8 with Bugle Boy logo.
-Mastersound Due Venti (220) S.E. Parallel Single Ended Integrated Tube Amp.
Power tubes: Interchanging between 4 x Matsus 6ca7 and 4 x Mullard (reissue) EL34
Pre-amp tubes: Interchanging between 2 x RCA 12au7A Cleartops and 2 x RCA 5814A BlackPlates Tripple Mica.
-Power Cord: DIY Shunyata on both CDP and Int. Amp.
-Interconnects: On Tube Output - DIY AA24, WBT Silver solder on Eichmann bullet plugs; On SS Output - DIY Belden 8422, WBT Silver solder on Amphenol RCA Plugs.
-Dali Ikon 6 Speakers.
-Audience Au24 Speaker Cable