DVD/CD combination players- primer needed.

[jm55]

DVD/CD combination players vs. dedicated CD Players- primer needed.

How do combination DVD/CD players work? Do both formats use the same laser reader, or are there different heads in the one machine for the different media? If it is one reader, is there any technical advantage or disadvantage to a combination reader with respect to the quality of audio? Are the DA converters usually better worse or the same?

I recently spotted a Marantz DVD/CD player, and was basically wondering how good this unit would be strictly for audio.

 

[jm55]

I may have discouraged responses with my title. I have just changed it to better reflect the true nature of my inquiry

 

[shadowlord]

if it's strictly for audio cd use, i say go with a dedicated cd-player.
depends on the rest of your system to.

 

[automojo]

Marantz puts some audio thought into some of their upper models. I have a refurbed DV4001 thats sound great- dual 24bit/192 khz DAC's.
Having said that- the sound is not as good IMHO to my dedicated CD player-Marantz CD5001-it's chips are Cryus Logic, so perhaps this makes a difference. Plus it has more CD user friendly features to boot.
Most newer DVD with the higher resolution chips will totally blow away most vintage CD players- as long as that resolution doesn't come at the price of brittleness. The Marantz DV4001 is not brittle at all.
The fact of wearing servos, wearing transports, and better DAC technology makes me avoid vintage CD players. If it's only a couple years old, I woudn't worry.

 

[Dr. Music]

The higher end Denon DVD players do a very good job of playing redbook CDs, and will also handle DVD-A and SACD. While I didn't buy mine for that purpose, I do find myself throwing in concert DVDs from time to time now for audio only purposes. It's nice to have a player that can do that. Still love my vintage CDPs as well, though ....

 

[Pyrrho]

How do combination DVD/CD players work? Do both formats use the same laser reader, or are there different heads in the one machine for the different media? If it is one reader, is there any technical advantage or disadvantage to a combination reader with respect to the quality of audio? Are the DA converters usually better worse or the same?

I recently spotted a Marantz DVD/CD player, and was basically wondering how good this unit would be strictly for audio.

Some DVD players have been made with one laser, but many use two. I believe all DVD players will play CDs.

As for audio quality, being able to play DVDs or not is not going to determine that. However, most dedicated CD players load faster and have more features that are useful for playing CDs. If all you want to play are CDs, I would get a CD player, not a DVD player. But from a pure sound standpoint, it does not matter whether it plays DVDs or not.