Amc

audiobliss

I've heard a lot about the venerable AMC CD8b CDP and have recently contemplated acquiring one. Through doing some research I came across the AMC CD6b on AMC's website (www.amchome.com). In the title for this source they claim "Quad 96kHz/24bit Burr Brown DACs", but in the list of specs it says "MASH, 18bit resolution". Is that a discrepancy or am I not understanding something?

Has anyone ever come across the CD6b? If so, what are you thoughts on it, and how often does it come up for sale in the used market?

Last thing: I notice that the CD8b's output voltage is 2.2V and for the CD6b it's 2v; given my background with car audio head units having 6.6V preouts (for the nicer ones), isn't 2V and 2.2V a little low? Or is that typical for home audio sources?

Thanks!

RuSsMaN

2.0v~ is pretty typical for fixed output sources in home audio (sans turntables).

The 6 is the 8 on steriods, IIRC it has the quad of dacs, which is GREAT for Jitter reduction, and F up's in the 1's and 0's are easily squashed as they move down the line. If the first chip doesn't catch it, chances are the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th will.

Cheers,
Russ

heiney9

Most likely the 4 dac's in the CD6b are in a piggy back formation. Essentially in a series circuit. All this does, if done correctly, is come close to doubling the output current drive of the chipset and some feel it has better resolution due to the greater capacity to average bit errors (although this is somewhat unproven). It does very little if anything for jitter reduction. Monarchy Audio (C.C. Poon) has empolyed this technique to a very high degree as a mod for all it's older DAC units. One has to be very careful not to overload the next stage in the conversion process.

FWIW, I use an AMC DAC-8 for my 2nd rig and it's essentially the same the CD8b sans transport. While a capable DAC it's nothing special. I've done some comparison with my Nak stand alone cdp which was very similar in sound. The Nak had much more open midrange, more transparent. The DAC8 had a very forward midrange, but the AMC had a bit less bloated bass. The AMC is a bit bright as well. The DAC8 compared to the Adcom was no contest, the Adcom ate it for breakfast in every aspect.

AMC's are solid for sure but certainly nothing special, simply a capable performer.

H9

dorokusai

AMC's display at CES was one of the top ten most pathetic of the show. I'll bet on the more vintage AMC based on that experience.

danger boy

who had the biggest presence there at CES? Bose or Monster? just curious.

dorokusai

Microsoft and Monster. They were also all over the city.