Just how good is minidisc? how to improve?

[freddyjollo]

My audio hifi is Audiolab, now 8 years old using 8000Q & 2x8000M. At the moment Audiolab is bringing out new versions of their 8200 series and many hifi stores are selling off the current at much reduced prices. SO I got my self the 8200CDQ at a very nice  price. This is a combined cd  player, preamp and dac so able to route my JB940 minidisc deck directly to the preamp,avoiding the inbuilt dac and audio circuitry of the JB94 and any audio cables, just a much simpler digital cable. About as simple a connection you can make I think., avoiding many audio analogue cables. And I must say it dont half sound good!  Has any one else here gone down this route?  Certainly a good way to get consistancy of sound from your various bits and pieces? ( I dont often spend money these days on hifi - this hopefully the last)

[bluecrab]

I had to look up the 8200CDQ. A ***** rating from Whathifi is a pretty good indicator of its worthiness. I would not be at all surprised if the Audiolab's DAC and superior circuitry does in fact give you an upgrade (not that the 940 is bad!). One way I improved MD sound was to route optical out from my MXD-D400 to my JA20ES. I mainly do this for LP2 and there is a noticeable upgrade in the sound. I had to replace a passive optical switch with a powered one—made all the difference.

I tried a similar tactic with my JB940 going opt. in to a Cambridge Audio receiver, but didn't seem to make a big difference. I may just try that again and give it  some longer listening time.

[sfbp]

Receivers will generally upsample to the highest rate they have before converting to analog for playback. I'm surprised the D400 into the Cambridge Audio didn't sound good, but you don't mention that combo.

[bluecrab]

Sorry to be unclear: I tried the JB940 > Cambridge Audio and it sounded fine, just not different. There have been some equipment (speaker) changes since then, so if I can dig up an optical cable, I intend to give it another go.