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CD Players under $800, Recommendations needed. New or Used

Look for a Sony modified Modwright , Solid State power supply. I have owned 2 Sony modified Modwright players, the Solid State power supply unit was better sounding than the tube powered unit. I bought an Elyse Modwright Dac and use the modified Sony 999es as a transport now. The modified Sony 9000es Solid State unit sounds as close enough to my DAC that I kept it.
Yes,I have had to have the units repaired on occasion, the power supply only,the machines are solid though.
Im sure you can find a modified Modwright cd player out there in your price range. Alot of machine for 800-900 dollars. My players have bybee filters,master clock upgrade,quality caps and for 800-900 they sound like a 3000 dollar players.
 
bruhl001 said:
JVC players are awesome bargains.
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I have a really nice JVC ZL-1050 or some such, hell, I can't keep up with all the numbers, and it has some mod called the "Paradox" mod. Bought it that way. Couple hundred bucks. It didn't want to read discs, and I kept futzing with it, got it going. Silky sound.

Imagine my surprise finding an even older, black JVC from 1990 in the bin at e-waste. Two belts and a whole heap of poking, prodding, and it works now. Is it the final say in resolution? No. Does it provide a full, pleasant sound?? Lord, yes. So good, it's kind of silly.
 
onwardjames said:
I have a really nice JVC ZL-1050 or some such, hell, I can't keep up with all the numbers, and it has some mod called the "Paradox" mod. Bought it that way. Couple hundred bucks. It didn't want to read discs, and I kept futzing with it, got it going. Silky sound.

Imagine my surprise finding an even older, black JVC from 1990 in the bin at e-waste. Two belts and a whole heap of poking, prodding, and it works now. Is it the final say in resolution? No. Does it provide a full, pleasant sound?? Lord, yes. So good, it's kind of silly.
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Modified gear is the snizzle.
 
I have the 7030 and a Marantz CD6006. I like them both but the Marantz is the better sounding of the 2. Heard stuff on the Marantz I never heard with other CD players. My Pioneer SACD player doesn't sound any better to me.
 
My advice: don't spent too much money on a C.D. player.
Try to see how well built is the mechanism. It's one of the most important parts in a C.D. player.
I don't know the sound qualty, but the machines with 'C.D.M.' 0 and 'C.D.M.' 1 mechanisms seems to be durable. Maybe you can find a cheap one.
 
Any of the early 90's TOTL JVC players will be good, and well within budget, the XL-Z1050, XL-Z1011, XL-Z1010 or an XL-Z900 (if you can find one) all feature their K2 filter chip, which is the star of the show imo.
 
grafxdesin said:
Very interested in the Schiit Mimir Dac, looking like that is the way to go. Thank you everyone
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The Mimir is a great sounding DAC. Very energetic and dynamic, with great low level resolution and detail. A clear step up from the Schiit Bifrost MB that I previously had. Better (from memory) than my Parasound and Audio Alchemy DACs too. Reviews state it's probably the current best DAC in the $1000 range. Though, one caveat, it's strictly a PCM/CD DAC. It does not decode DSD, SA-CD, or Blu-ray audio.
 
Bought an inexpensive Panasonic Blu Ray player since I listen to CDs and audio DVDs. Also gives me the option for movies. I connected the DVD player via optical cable to my WiiM Pro Plus and out to my Hafler preamp and amp. Sound is incredible (to my ears). The Panasonic is known to have a decent quality transport and the WiiM dac is quite good. To me, a cheap but elegant solution.
 
grafxdesin said:
Looking to replace/upgrade my Onkyo C-7030. I am seriously looking at the Marantz CD6007 as it has great reviews, but wanted to hear from you guys as well. Any suggestions? I am open to used if it's a good deal, and especially if it's someone on here in bartertown.
If a CD player is $1000, I will consider it as well, just looking to keep it around $600-800 unless its a significant upgrade for the $1000
Throw em at me
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I picked up a very clean Emotiva ERC-3 for $220 off eBay. I’m thrilled with the sound. Extremely well made.
 

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Buy a new Yamaha single disk for about $450. I've had a multi-disk player of theirs for years and it just keeps spinning. And they don't build junk.
 
I was going to recommend a late 80s/early 90s Sony ES player until I saw what folks are asking. No way.

I would consider keeping your current spinner as a transport, and adding a DAC.

Good Luck.
 
+1 for keeping the gear that is working. Onkyo is a quality brand.

I question the audibility of DAC differences but to each his own for ears and preferences.

Most DVD players have decent DACs that need to handle a lot more data than a CD will produce. I have a very cheap Sony DVD player ($30 for the unit and $10 for a new remote) and a Panasonic BlueRay player that both sound flawless to my ears. One disadvantage is that DVD players often require a distinct boot cycle on power up which can take longer than optimal for us impatient types.

You may want to check audiosciencereview.com for reviews of vintage CD players. Many members here are not fans of that site but I think it is the perfect quant complement to our qualitative AK. The bottom line is that most of the tested vintage players still show very good fidelity.

If you want a high performance DAC, ASR has reviewed many of them also. As a skeptic on differences between DACs, I was surprised to find that they do perform very differently, just not (to me) audibly. Live and learn!
 
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C Hart said:
+1 for keeping the gear that is working. Onkyo is a quality brand.

I question the audibility of DAC differences but to each his own for ears and preferences.

Most DVD players have decent DACs that need to handle a lot more data than a CD will produce. I have a very cheap Sony DVD player ($30 for the unit and $10 for a new remote) and a Panasonic BlueRay player that both sound flawless to my ears. One disadvantage is that DVD players often require a distinct boot cycle on power up which can take longer than optimal for us impatient types.

You may want to check audiosciencereview.com for reviews of vintage CD players. Many members here are not fans of that site but I think it is the perfect quant complement to our qualitative AK. The bottom line is that most of the tested vintage players still show very good fidelity.

If you want a high performance DAC, ASR has reviewed many of them also. As a skeptic on differences between DACs, I was surprised to find that they do perform very differently, just not (to me) audibly. Live and learn!
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I will say that I've had a couple of different DVD players that I've paired with different DACs and they all sounded better with the external DAC that I was using at the time. Now I have an Oppo BDP-93 player, which is by far the highest end player that I've had that I'm using it with a Chord Qutest DAC and I find the differences when I go straight to my amp (I have it hooked up to be able to go direct or through the DAC) vs going the the DAC to be quite different, with the DAC sounding dramatically better. The Qutest is a pretty expensive DAC, but these days it seems like there's a ton of more reasonably priced ones and I don't doubt that one could buy something for far less and still get a big improvement over what any disc player that isn't super-high end will get you. The difference is really large with this. There's far more separation between the instruments and a much deeper and larger sense of space to the music that makes it sound more 3D.

I do agree with you about DVD/multi-format players (like my Oppo). The start times always seem to be very slow. I've gotten used to it, but I have to say that a dedicated CD player would be a nice luxury, if only for that reason alone.
 
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