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Better sound from quality CD player?

ricohman

ricohman

Adventure Rider
I am currently using a Technics 5 disc unit of unknown age. I would like to get a quality player for the times when I feel like CD's instead of vinyl.
I know very little about what makes/models give the best sound for the buck, and I'm going to buy used.
Any recommendations?
 
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I'm gonna watch this thread. For me, playing CD's means plugging in a portable CD/MP3 player I got at a garage sale into my aux in. I suspect I may get better sound from a "real" CD player.
 
try to find a Cambridge audio azure CD player, 540c can be had for a few hundred dollars used and sound much, much better then BPC players.
 
RobRoy said:
I'm gonna watch this thread. For me, playing CD's means plugging in a portable CD/MP3 player I got at a garage sale into my aux in. I suspect I may get better sound from a "real" CD player.
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I don't know about "good" players vs "great" players, but I've definitely heard a difference with cheap players and portable players.

If you use the digital out to a good DAC, I can't see how the CD player could matter.
 
Beware of older players with expensive and or unobtanium lasers. This includes, but is not limited to, some Denons generally regarded as pretty decent like my DCD-1560.
 
js1138 said:
If you use the digital out to a good DAC, I can't see how the CD player could matter.
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the transport and laser matter very much, it is after all, the part that reads the data the dac uses, if you have a shitty transport the best dac in the world isn't going to help it.
 
I use 80's vintage Magnavox/Philips players using 16bit 4 times oversampling. The lasers will read disks that other players will not. I also pick up units at thrifts for spare lasers and drives. So I hope to keep my units running for a long time. Also they tend to be cheap, the Magnavox CBD650 was $8.50 at a thrift.
 
AltecDarpa said:
the transport and laser matter very much, it is after all, the part that reads the data the dac uses, if you have a shitty transport the best dac in the world isn't going to help it.
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I would agree if there were evidence, but Computer CD-ROMs costing under $30 routinely make error free rips.

Show me some data that indicates ordinary CD players can't provide error-free digital data streams. Has anyone ripped CDs and done a bit comparison?


At any rate, when you rip a CD to a WAV file, you can guarantee it is error free (or know that it isn't), and it will remain so until the drive fails. If perfection is your goal, the best player would be a computer with a good external DAC.
 
I'm killing myself over not buying a vintage Magnavox CD player at the thrift two weeks ago for $8.99. The Marantz in my signature I found at a thrift, also for $8.99. I wouldn't recommend it though as it is one of the cheapest made Marantz units ever, but for the price it works. I really like the Sony ES stuff but it isn't cheap.
 
the issue is with jitter, which comes from the transport, the dac has a jitter clock to deal with this, but the less jitter the better.

if you don't think theres a difference, more power to you.
 
Your best be is to go to your local Salvation Armys, and look at what they have there. I have found all of my CD players there, all for under $15! I now have a Pioneer PD-M50, a harman/kardon CDR2, and a Sony CDP-102. I picked up both the Sony, and Pioneer based on there weight, and the H/K I got after going home and doing some research. Hope this helps. Weight on a CD player usually means quality. If you don't want to go that Direction, I suggest Craigslist, I really like Pioneer CD players, so keep an eye out for one of those, but do your HW first on the DAC's, some TOTL CD players only have a 1 bit DAC, with like 20 time oversampling. The best you can get is 16 bit DAC. I believe that my H/K has a 24bit, but CDs are only 16 so it is vastly overdone.
 
AltecDarpa said:
try to find a Cambridge audio azure CD player, 540c can be had for a few hundred dollars used and sound much, much better then BPC players.
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I think Cambridge Audio is a good brand to look into. Keep in mind their house sounds tends to be a bit soft and laid back.

If you're more of a detail resolution freak such as myself, I'd also suggest a Rotel; either an RCD 1070, which can be found now for around $300, an RCD 1072 for a little more, or better yet, an RCD 991 for $400-$500.

The first two sold new for $600-$700 in the last 10 years. The 991 predates them a bit and had an original price over $1,200 and sounds it. If you end up looking at 991's common understanding is that there is no difference between the "AE" units and the non "AE" models. It was simply a way for them to boost marketing a few years in (AE= "Audiophile Edition")

It was a Rotel RCD 1070 that turned me on to what hi fidelity can really mean. I hooked one up in my (then) vintage system and never looked back! I've been through literally stacks of $5 - $100 Japanese players such as Yamahas, JVCs, Kenwoods, etc, etc and a player like a Rotel, Cambridge Audio or NAD will reveal things you didn't even know were on those discs.
 
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I vote for 80's Sony ES. I found both of mine at thrifts and they sound great and track CDR's better than any vintage CDP I have owned including Denon's.
 
jackfish said:
Emotiva ERC-1 $450
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+1 :thmbsp: I bought mine about a year ago and it was a huge step up from the Sony DVD/CD/SACD player I had been using. If you don't like it, you can always send it back within 30 days. But it's a hell of a machine for the money.
 
Cactus Bob said:
I vote for 80's Sony ES. I found both of mine at thrifts and they sound great and track CDR's better than any vintage CDP I have owned including Denon's.
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Heh. Just replaced a late-80s Sony ES (changer) that I bought at a thrift store -- really fussy about CD quality and skipped more than any other CD player I ever had before -- even with shock-absorbing feet underneath. I must say, though, when it wasn't skipping, the sound also was better than any other CD player I ever had before.

But I just replaced it with a used Onkyo DX-7555, which tracks just fine and sounds verrrry nice. I'd recommend it.
 
Brett a said:
I think Cambridge Audio is a good brand to look into. Keep in mind their house sounds tends to be a bit soft and laid back.
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I am surprised for your comment, since I would describe the sound of my 640 C V2 more on the detailed side, which is something some people complain about. The reviewer of TNT got a similar impression:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/azur640c_e.html

The Cambridge Audio's character is more towards analytical than musical. There is no way you can call this a 'smooth' player, although it certainly isn't a-musical. It is just that the emphasis is elsewhere with this machine.

About the 740, the same reviewer wrote:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/azur740c_e.html

It certainly isn't harsh or overly analytic, but detail is definitely favoured over tonal richness in this case.

I am not saying that Cambridge Audio CDPs could not sound as you described, perhaps with some specific gear in the rest of the system, but this is the first time I read that the "house sound" is not on the analytic side, which, BTW, is the way my 640 sounds in my own system. I like this sound and for this reason I'm saving some money towards buying the 840 or perhaps a Naim CDP, which most people wouldn't describe as warm, I guess.
 
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