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Blu-Ray better than CD player for audio?
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Duckzilla
"Laugh it up fuzzball"
You're correct to question the subject. In my case, I have two Sony BluRay players, and have compared them with my CAL Aria and a Sony CDP-507ESD, and it's just night and day; the CAL and ES player just blows them away. The best description of CD performance from the BluRay players is lifeless and clinical. Of course, this is a very personal thing, YMMV, yada, yada, yada!
It's an interesting question. On the one hand, you have some people who will support the assertion that the Redbook CD spec is more than capable of capturing and playing back music with more dynamics and depth than the human ear can detect. If this is true, then I wouldn't expect to hear any difference if you're using your CDP and BDP as a transport. If you're using the DACs on your CDP and BDP, then I would expect that you'll hear a difference based on the quality of your devices' DACs.
That said, I believe the audio format available on Blu Ray provides more data to describe each moment in a song and should be, theoretically, capable of sounding better than CD.
That said, I believe the audio format available on Blu Ray provides more data to describe each moment in a song and should be, theoretically, capable of sounding better than CD.
guiller
Toscaninichus Australis
The answer is just about like every other one in audio... maybe.
:thmbsp:
As usual with any complex subject (i.e., involving many variables) simple statements cannot be absolutely true. If one starts moderating and lowering the claims, then the statement becomes closer to objectivity, at least IMHO.
Regrading new BR or DVD players versus CDP, there are many threads discussing the point, and those show how relative are the statements that could be made, for example:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=271725
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=266831
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=274083
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=259273
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=221873
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=218691
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=294183
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=317594
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=313150
For example, if one consider budget players costing say, less that 300 $ chances are that the statement asked by the OP gets true more frequently given a number of specific comparisons, but the statistics would probably start changing drastically as the budget is increased. IMHO, complexity must be accepted as it is, without looking for a simple answer when it is clear that the answer would change at the minimal modification of the parameters.
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PrestigeWW
Active Member
Was he suggesting that redbook cds inherently sound better on blu-ray players than CD players? If he is, then I'd ignore anything else he has to say.
cyto
Super Member
Yes that is what he was saying...
I disagree. Remember, CD and DVD use a different pickup anyway, so a dedicated CD player with a good transport/set of DACs will almost always be the best. That said, you can then argue that human hearing really can't distinguish the wow and flutter of a CD player anyway, so does it really matter?
The Oppo BDPs are amazing. Then again, they're designed from the ground up to play pretty much everything, and to play it well.
M Jarve
Audio Geek and NGE Freak
The transport, digital blocks aside, one very important thing in many of the best CD players (and DACs) is the quality of the analog portion and the power supply.
If you take two players with identical DACs and transports (not uncommon these days), and give one an excellent power supply and analog stage, and the other gets a typical SMPS and single-chip output (if even that), the former, I would submit, would sound noticeably better than the latter. Blu-ray players would usually fall into the latter category. Good CD players will often have very good power supplies with excellent analog output stages.
With some exceptions, BRD players are not designed to be good CD players, and rightly so. Often, the requirements for excellent audio are at odds with the goals of such players. And those BRD players that do, incidentally, perform well with CDDA are quite expensive ($1000 or more), and in my own experience, merely equal the audio performance of a mid-range dedicated CD player. You get a mid-range CD player bolted into what is, inherently, a Blu-ray player.
If you take two players with identical DACs and transports (not uncommon these days), and give one an excellent power supply and analog stage, and the other gets a typical SMPS and single-chip output (if even that), the former, I would submit, would sound noticeably better than the latter. Blu-ray players would usually fall into the latter category. Good CD players will often have very good power supplies with excellent analog output stages.
With some exceptions, BRD players are not designed to be good CD players, and rightly so. Often, the requirements for excellent audio are at odds with the goals of such players. And those BRD players that do, incidentally, perform well with CDDA are quite expensive ($1000 or more), and in my own experience, merely equal the audio performance of a mid-range dedicated CD player. You get a mid-range CD player bolted into what is, inherently, a Blu-ray player.
xoaphexox
Supernatural Anesthetist
Wow, flutter, jitter, all the other specs that you can only differentiate on paper but not with ears. Also the DAC quality. I don't think you can really make blanket statements like that. Even circuit topology has more to do with sound quality than parts choice in most cases.
If what you already have sounds good to your ears, close your wallet and run away!
If what you already have sounds good to your ears, close your wallet and run away!
Frank Sol
Lunatic Member
you heard correctly
but not because of 'BluRay'very nice DACs and dedicated audio outputs are the reasons
Permanent Waves
Digital Man
Most cdp and dvd/blu ray players sound the same at any price. So do most DAC's. Blind testing has shown this over and over ad nauseam.
Just get something of a good enough quality that will last and you're done!
Just get something of a good enough quality that will last and you're done!
ev13wt
Super Member
There is no wow and flutter on a cd. The bits get timed by a clock generator (Quarz). You could improve that. The transport fills the buffer faster than the DA section needs it (Basis of non skipping cd players), so the disk spinning faster or slower will not change the sound in any way.
Duckzilla
"Laugh it up fuzzball"
I'm obviously just hearing things then, or just hearing what I want to. Thanks for clearing that up! I don't have to waste any more valuable time trying to hear the differences.
Like I said, it's all digital, and should all come out the same regardless of the player, unless the player is introducing coloration through some sort of EQing.
No, it's all stored the same regardless of player. Sound after digital to analogue conversion will vary from player to player by the quality of the DAC, power supply, the analog output stage, etc. That's like saying all turntables sound the same because all records of the same title have the same information in the grooves.