If you look inside both preamps the CX-1 is a completely different construction. You have to look closer because at the first glance the C-2x looks more like an "high end" product because of its boxed amplifier stages and beautiful red filter capacitors, but it is not: The CX-1 has gold plated ground rails, a very refined power supply and components of the highest quality. The CD-input has it's own power supply and is switched by a relay. And it does not have the cheap, corrosion prone input selector switches of the C-2x.
The German magazine "Stereoplay" rated the CX-1 "absolute top class", better than the C-2x, which gained only "top class" years before.
IMHO the low acceptance of the CX-1 comes from it's unattractive look.
Yes, we have recently compared my rebuilt A-1 with my A-S2000. Everybody liked the A-1 more while listening to vinyl with MM cartridges (AT-20Sla and AT-25).
BTW, the A-1 outperformed an Accuphase E-406.
I agree, the cd replay through the cx-1 is phenomenal.
When the cx-1 and c-2x are compared side by side, those who prefer the sound of the c-2x is likely they are comparing the phono stages only with vinyl playback.
The phono stage of the cx-1 is pretty ordinary.
But most people have moved on from the vintage days of vinyl replay.
I personally have transferred all my LP's to cd, and they sound just the same as I remember them on vinyl.
We are in the 21'st Century, and better for it. I have said goodbye to the 70's vinyl era.
Yamaha back in the 90's when designing the cx-1, look like they concentrated more on the CD circuitry section than the antiquated phono section, and came up with one of the best preamps for cd replay.
I would now rate the cx-1 as the best ever preamp Yamaha ever produced for cd replay, after the cx10000 of course.
I think I am one of the very few in Australia who now owns a CX-1.I could not recall ever seeing one on ebay Australia ever since I started looking specifically for Yamaha equipment about 8 years ago.
I am not surprised the A1 beat the Accuphase E-406.
Accuphase are only highly sought after for their brilliant looks and build quality.
But there are many lesser brands like Yamaha that often beat Accuphase sonically.
Yamaha is equivalent to a Camry, and Accuphase is equivalent to a Mercedes.
Mercedes has the looks and class on the outside., but the Toyota under the bonnet is more reliable, and does the job better than the Mercedes, day after day.
My Yamaha CA1000 easily sounded better than an E-303 not long ago in an A/B comparison.
My A1 was not compared to the E-303, I did not want to totally embarass the owner and to make him have a heart attack after the big bucks he spent on the purchase and recapping of his wonderful looking Accuphase integrated.
Brands like Yamaha, Sansui, Marantz, Sony, Kenwood.Technics,Pioneer and others in the 70' and 80's made some wonderful TOTL separates that would more than hold their own with many high end separates of today.