TJLitt
Super Member
backstory: ever since my old Pioneer CD player died in December, I've been casting about for affordable, listenable options. I came into a nice used Cambridge DAC-Magic II, and had been running from my wife's Toshiba DVR. Not bad, at all, but the Toshiba had a sort of cheesy tray mechanism, and my fear was that using it for CD's and movies and recording would kill it off early. Then, after reading a few threads, and finding a really nice price, I bought a Yamaha DV-S1800, capable of playing CDs, DVD-A and SACD. Currently, I have none of either of the latter two, so this initial report is on Redbook CD playback only.
First off, as others reported, this is a well built machine. Solid, with nice quality connections. I set it up with the optical out to my DAC, and the analog out to a free line level input on the Sansui(see sig). The tray mechanism is much more substantial than the Toshiba that had worried me, and all controls on the Yamaha were easy to figure out. Time to read disc was pretty quick and it plays automatically(no need to press a 'play' button). I set the player to Audio Direct setting for best playback. Comparison between the two alternatives gives a VERY slight edge to playback through the DAC. Still, the playback through the Yamaha's internal DACs was quite good. The external seemed to ever-so-slightly smooth and extend bass response, and put just a little extra room in the soundstage. All in all, for the bucks, I think it would be hard to beat this setup for CD playback. Now, to acquire some music on SACD and/or DVD-A!!
First off, as others reported, this is a well built machine. Solid, with nice quality connections. I set it up with the optical out to my DAC, and the analog out to a free line level input on the Sansui(see sig). The tray mechanism is much more substantial than the Toshiba that had worried me, and all controls on the Yamaha were easy to figure out. Time to read disc was pretty quick and it plays automatically(no need to press a 'play' button). I set the player to Audio Direct setting for best playback. Comparison between the two alternatives gives a VERY slight edge to playback through the DAC. Still, the playback through the Yamaha's internal DACs was quite good. The external seemed to ever-so-slightly smooth and extend bass response, and put just a little extra room in the soundstage. All in all, for the bucks, I think it would be hard to beat this setup for CD playback. Now, to acquire some music on SACD and/or DVD-A!!
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