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Help me enjoy listening to my cds again!

savv

savv

Super Member
For the last 15 years (1990 to 2005), i had accumulated more than 1,000 cds some of which i had barely listened to. I have a Toshiba Sd 3950 and 3960 hooked up to Marantz 2252 receiver and AR speakers. I experience what they call listener fatigue when listening to cds so i listen more to vinyl lately. Can you convince me to listen to my cd ollection again? Should i upgrade my cd player, add a DAC, etc? Any inputs and suggestions are most welcome!
 
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I remember the early Technics units with the vertical drive orientation, clear door and LED showing the laser position... wouldn't mind one of those.
 
savv said:
For the last 15 years (1990 to 2005), i had accumulated more than 1,000 cds some of which i had barely listened to. I have a Toshiba Sd 3950 and 3960 hooked up to Marantz 2252 receiver and AR speakers. I experience what they call listener fatigue when listening to cds so i listen more to vinyl lately. Can you convince me to listen to my cd ollection again? Should i upgrade my cd player, add a DAC, etc? Any inputs and suggestions are most welcome!
Click to expand...

Have you tried listening to the same album on both CD and LP in order to try and identify what causes the fatigue? Yeah, I know the mixes probably aren't the same but listening to the same music from both sources may help you pinpoint what makes the CD's sound tiring.

I don't know that there's any single source for listener fatigue; I suspect the actual cause is different for different people.

For me, on some CD's the high end seems overly bright and can become tiring; just dropping the treble a bit helps.
 
Get a Marantz CD player from their 2012 collection, I think it's a 5004. They get great reviews and they're not crazy expensive.
 
I recently added a tube processor inline with my CD/DVD/SACD player and it made a big difference. Most of the harshness is gone.
 
savv said:
For the last 15 years (1990 to 2005), i had accumulated more than 1,000 cds some of which i had barely listened to. I have a Toshiba Sd 3950 and 3960 hooked up to Marantz 2252 receiver and AR speakers. I experience what they call listener fatigue when listening to cds so i listen more to vinyl lately. Can you convince me to listen to my cd ollection again? Should i upgrade my cd player, add a DAC, etc? Any inputs and suggestions are most welcome!
Click to expand...

Hi Savv, what is your budget?
 
Can you share what particular tube processor you use?
Click to expand...

Grant Fidelity B-283. It is my understanding that the B-283 has been replaced by the DAC-11. I bought a demo unit. Not sure if they still have other demo units available.
 
I assume the Toshiba does not have a digital output (coax or optical)? If so the GF TubeDAC11 has analog inputs which allows use as a tube buffer, will "calm" that digital harshness some and give you more of an analog sound for your CDs.

It really helped my vintage Sony CDP-302, when it was running, and allowed me to enjoy my CDs again. My Sony died so I now enjoy my CDs thru the NAD.

Or you can try to find the GF B-283 as mentioned above....Just send Ian or Rachel an email at Grant Fidelity and see if they have any left.
 
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