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Cary Audio Design Superior Quality and Value

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  #1  
Old 10-26-2014, 10:32 AM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Default How is the Cary 306 SACD Pro?

How do you guys like this CDP? I'm looking for a CDP with a digital input so I can plug a network into it and use the DACs. I have had the 306/200 in the past and I enjoyed that source immensely.

I was hoping to get a new source shortly, and I have this on my short list.
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  #2  
Old 10-27-2014, 02:07 PM
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Aercool Aercool is offline
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I have a 306/200

Last edited by Masterlu; 10-27-2014 at 05:35 PM. Reason: There is no selling permitted outside of the Marketplace.
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  #3  
Old 10-28-2014, 08:59 AM
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I had the 306 Pro for about a year in an all-Cary system. It sounded terrific and was beautiful to look at. The CD drawer, although a neat piece of metalwork, is a bit shallow and it is easy to misalign a CD in it and get everything stuck.

I eventually went to the McIntosh MCD500 which I liked a little bit better. You may want to check out the MCD550 as it too has a digital input and will play SACD's. Esoteric also makes some terrific CDP's with digital inputs that you may want to investigate.
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Old 07-28-2020, 04:20 PM
Dilettante Dilettante is offline
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I know this is an old thread and am not trying to revive this old thread.

I purchased a used Cary CD 306 SACD (non Pro version) player about 2 months ago through Audiogon. It is the one that was released right before the Pro version and plays both CD & SACD. The unit was manufactured in 2006.
I've been enjoying the sonic quality and musicality of this machine and everything have been going smoothly so far except for few little minor quirks every once in a while here and there but nothing major. Have been playing both CD/HDCD & SACD with no issues except with this new Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD that I recently purchased. It just wouldn't read this particular SACD disc. It said "no disc" on the front panel display. And I put in all other SACD discs and the player reads them all just fine except for this particular Wish You Were Here SACD disc. I found it pretty odd.
I was very excited when I first received this Wish You Were Here SACD but my Cary CD 306 SACD player wasn't able to play it. But all other SACD discs were played just fine.

Anyone having the same issue with this particular Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD with your Cary CD 306 SACD Pro or non Pro version since the disc drive transport mechanism used are the same in both CD 306 SACD Pro version and CD 306 SACD non Pro version.
Or does anyone know what seems to be the issue or problem?

Thanks in advance.
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Old 07-29-2020, 05:03 AM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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I had the 306SACD for a while, I am the OP for this old thread.

I began to have issues with playing certain SACD if I recall correctly, turned out to be a laser failure.

Best to send it in now for repairs while they have parts available.

I moved on to Emm labs after the Cary. It was a pretty good player for me.
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Old 08-02-2020, 02:01 AM
Dilettante Dilettante is offline
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Hi Joey,

My Cary CD 306 SACD does play all my SACD & CD discs except for that Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD that I recently purchased from Acoustic Sound. Don't know why.
I tried every single of my SACD and the player plays them with no issue.
And I tried playing that exact same Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD on my Oppo 105 player and the Oppo plays it just fine.
If you said it was possibly a laser failure but all my other SACD & CD disc play just fine.
I did email Cary's technical support yesterday but haven't gotten a response back.

By the way, did you find the EMM Labs transport / DAC combo to be a significant step up from the Cary CD 306 SACD sound quality wise? Which one was your Cary CD 306? The Pro version one or the regular version?
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Old 08-02-2020, 09:55 PM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dilettante View Post
Hi Joey,

My Cary CD 306 SACD does play all my SACD & CD discs except for that Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD that I recently purchased from Acoustic Sound. Don't know why.
I tried every single of my SACD and the player plays them with no issue.
And I tried playing that exact same Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here SACD on my Oppo 105 player and the Oppo plays it just fine.
If you said it was possibly a laser failure but all my other SACD & CD disc play just fine.
I did email Cary's technical support yesterday but haven't gotten a response back.

By the way, did you find the EMM Labs transport / DAC combo to be a significant step up from the Cary CD 306 SACD sound quality wise? Which one was your Cary CD 306? The Pro version one or the regular version?
Yes. Worth every penny

Regular version
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Old 08-03-2020, 01:29 AM
Dilettante Dilettante is offline
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Joey,

When John Atkinson of Stereophile reviewed the Cary 306 SACD Pro version he compared it to the 306 SACD non Pro version (regular version) line mine and the one you had, he couldn't tell them apart sonically.

One TAS reviewer when conducting a review on the Cary CD 306 SACD non Pro version he gave high praise and he compared the Cary to his own reference EMM Labs/Meitner DCC2 processor/CDSD transport combo and he claimed that the Cary competes really well with his own reference EMM Labs DAC/transport combo at the time.
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Old 08-04-2020, 12:08 PM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Yeah I had them side by side in my system and it was not close. Emm had much better imaging and musicality.
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  #10  
Old 08-04-2020, 03:59 PM
Dilettante Dilettante is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joey_v View Post
Yeah I had them side by side in my system and it was not close. Emm had much better imaging and musicality.
That TAS reviewer had an older EMM stacks when he compared the Cary 306 SACD with. Your EMM stacks are much newer and thus better IMO.

I'm still debating whether I should sell the Cary 306 and move on to using music streamer/DAC or standalone DAC/music server combo.

I was very impressed when listening to the Naim 500 series stacks the other day but the Naim ND 555 digital music streamer/DAC alone with 2 separate external Naim 555 PS DR power supply units for the ND555 streamer will cost me close to $50k. The Naim ND 555 streamer/DAC does not have onboard power supplies and is meant to be paired with Naim 555 PS DR external power supply unit(s). All Naim 500 series components (streamer/DAC, preamp & power amp) don't come with internal power supplies and are meant to be paired with external Naim 555 PS DR power supply units, at least one PSU for each component.
But if I have to go that route I will have to sell my Classe pre & amp combo and get the matching Naim NAS 552 linestage preamp & Naim NAP 500 DR power amp combo in order to take advantage of Naim's proprietary DIN connectivity to connect between Naim streamer/DAC, Naim preamp & Naim power amp in order to get best sound out of Naim individual component. And the Naim NAS 552 pre & NAP 500 DR amp don't have onboard power supplies and are meant to be paired with Naim 555 PS DR external power supply units, one for each component. The whole thing will run me well over $100k before cablings and speakers.

My cousin owns the Naim Statement NAC S1 linestage preamp & Naim Statement NAP S1 monoblock amps driving his Magico M9 speakers with the MSB Select II DAC stacks with two separate mono powerhouses (two PSUs) for the DAC & the MSB Select transport with its external PSU and the Taeko Audio SGM Extreme music server served as his digital front end. He also has the best of the best analog front end which consists of the Clearaudio Statement v2 turntable, Statement Goldfinger cartridge, Statement TT2 tonearm with the D'Agostino Momentum phono pre. The best setup/system I've ever heard at any given price points but his whole setup system cost around $1.8 millions with all cablings and AC power products included. I can only envy of his setup/system. Wished I had that kind of money to burn and the listening room size to accommodate all those. The Magico M9 are huge and are recently launched and are currently the Magico's flagship statement loudspeakers.
Those Naim Statement pre/monoblock amps combo are the best pre/amp combo I've ever heard but they are $270k just for the preamp and monoblock amps combo. That Magico M9 (recently released) is amazing and he was one of the first to get them recently. The M9s retail for around $750k a pair.
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