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Ideal CD player for vintage two-channel audio

Im pretty sure all 2 channel cd players are 2 channel ;-)

The early ones didnt know how to decode well what the engineers didnt know how to encode well. nyquist be damned they spent the last 40 years getting what had no possible improvements, improved.

But at the same time, the CD players moved from japan, Malaysia, Singapore etc to china. So the ones in the last 10-15 years can read the bits pretty good, but they play only about 5-10 cds before they self destruct (im only being slightly facetious here).

If it has a build date in the 90's, thats about the best compromise you will find. My favs are the pioneer 6 disc cartridge players. they can survive a few endos down the basement stairs and still work...

late 90's early 00's 5 disc DVD players with SACD options work well too...but you will be taking apart to clean the gunked up and stuck drawer limit switches...
 
Woodwind said:
I have the Sony player and have ordered some SACD discs. For the time being I am playing some new, high quality CDs though the Revox 250 amp, using the Revox 226 CD player and the Sony for comparison; the speakers are IMF TLS 80 Mk2s. Then I am going to do the same with the Cambridge CD player and Sony 900, but this time coupled to a Luxman pre-amp and my Quad 405-2 power amp , with Wharfedale Evolution 40 speakers. One of the CDs is a set of Mendelssohn Piano concertos as recommended by Robert. The others will be modern classics such as Pink Floyd.

Will report back as soon as I think I can either discern a difference or have to admit there is none. I hope the SACDs arrive soon so I can repeat the exercise this side of Christmas! In all of this I am conscious that many have said that one might have to spend quite a lot of money on a really good player before getting a noticeably improved sound. I am not about to do that, to be honest as I have too many other commitments.

Or it might just be that if one already has reasonably decent, quite high-end vintage equipment, the returns on investment are already tailing off and that it would take a silly amount of cash to make a genuinely discernible difference.
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Don't forget to access the Sony menu and adjust the output, there are usually just two options, high and low or some such, and yes it makes a difference. In all cases for me the lower output was preferable.
 
I have encountered one issue when using the Sony 900 - I don't have a TV hooked up so that I cannot see the menu screen! One of those annoying things that I am going to have to try and solve. Apart from that, I do not see any menu option on the 900 model to adjust output. Is that a standard option on all Sonys - or might it be that the 900 does not have it? I also note that the model I have is not the same as some have described. For example, it only has two RCA audio outputs, not four as shown in the Users Manual I have downloaded.

The sound seems excellent - though I am still looking in slow time for an external DAC that would actually make a difference but which is not going to break the bank.

Various SACDs are on the way courtesy of Amazon and some of the suppliers Robert mentioned. I assume that's when the real improvements are going to be more obvious.
 
I've tried most of the Sony CD players mentioned in the thread aside from the 900V. The S7000 is a superb value as a transport, but it doesn't sound great to me without an external DAC. So far, the best Sony player I have tried is the 9000ES. I don't find it necessary to use an outboard DAC with this player.

One day I will get the SCD-777es and the XA7ES so I can compare to the 9000es. I feel like these are the ones people should be aiming for. For SACD playback, I think most of the Sony players sound great, even the entry level ones, because they were pushing the format hard in the beginning. Redbook is where they suffer, and I think you need to really go higher up to get something that doesn't necessitate an outboard DAC.

I'm no engineer, but I tend to believe the power supply and the way everything "works together" inside of a good player will always sound better than a cheaper player with a nice DAC.
 
mr.muddles said:
I really feel like this is only good advice if you have to have something brand new... There are way better players used with SACD capability for less.
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Can you list a few? I’d like to check them out.
The 7030 can be had very cheap preowned.
 
34dean said:
Can you list a few? I’d like to check them out.
The 7030 can be had very cheap preowned.
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Looks like used the 7030 goes for around ~$100. I've yet to spend more than $100 on a cd player.

I got the S7000 for $40.
I got the S9000ES for $100. With extremely low hours (you can check in the Service Menu) and the remote.
I got a Denon DV-3910 for less than $100.
I got the Onkyo DV-SP800 for $15.

I see excellent DVD/SACD players at my local goodwills and thrifts frequently, that I was bet, would beat the 7030 for usually $15-40 depending on the store.

Obviously, getting things used takes patience and luck.

The DVP-900V which many are raving about seems to go for around $100.

The DVP-NS3100es can be had for less than $100.

The DVP-NS999es goes for around $100.

The 9000es goes between $100-200.

Honestly, the only one that I think might not beat the 7030 in redbook is the S7000 but honestly I don't know...

All of these other players also include SACD playback (excluding the 7000), which is my preferred format.
 
If SACD is not your thing, there are also lots of great CDPs floating around from the late 90s.

I have an HK hd7600II that I bet would beat the 7030 and got that for less than $20. I use it often and it sounds great.

After I got my 9000ES I pretty much have stopped trying out lower end players and am saving up for one of the big dogs, hopefully the XA7ES someday :)
 
I use CD players just for plain CDs. Vintage models that have digital output are really the only ones I’ve used. Yeah there’s probably jitter to deal with on toslink but that’s typically all they have. What they have to offer that newer units lack is decent informative displays and actual buttons to control things- no remote necessary! Modern universal players have poor displays by comparison ,and just try to go directly to track 8 without finding the remote.
How many total tracks on that CD? The vintage units show them all and even unlight them as you play. You never know how many tracks are left on the universal players.
 
Just had a session using the Revox B-250S amp playing though IMF TLS 80 Mk2s, and using first the matching Revox CDP B-226S, and then the Sony 900V SACD/DVD player. Was playing standard CDs including Paul Simon and Eva Cassidy. The impression I get is that the Sony is perhaps a cleaner sound, whereas the Revox has more richness and depth in the mid-tones. I could listen to either - but perhaps the Revox just has an edge as far as these two artists are concerned - it might be very different listening to a full-blown SACD orchestral piece which I hope to do tomorrow evening. However, given that the Revox is some 16 years older, it is remarkable that there is so little real difference.
 
Woodwind said:
I have encountered one issue when using the Sony 900 - I don't have a TV hooked up so that I cannot see the menu screen! One of those annoying things that I am going to have to try and solve. Apart from that, I do not see any menu option on the 900 model to adjust output. Is that a standard option on all Sonys - or might it be that the 900 does not have it? I also note that the model I have is not the same as some have described. For example, it only has two RCA audio outputs, not four as shown in the Users Manual I have downloaded.

The sound seems excellent - though I am still looking in slow time for an external DAC that would actually make a difference but which is not going to break the bank.

Various SACDs are on the way courtesy of Amazon and some of the suppliers Robert mentioned. I assume that's when the real improvements are going to be more obvious.
Click to expand...

This is one of the remotes to get, notice this model has an LCD display, as does the D150A, either will work, I have both.

20191018_191715.jpg
20191018_191747.jpg
20191018_191733.jpg
 
Woodwind said:
I have encountered one issue when using the Sony 900 - I don't have a TV hooked up so that I cannot see the menu screen! One of those annoying things that I am going to have to try and solve. Apart from that, I do not see any menu option on the 900 model to adjust output. Is that a standard option on all Sonys - or might it be that the 900 does not have it? I also note that the model I have is not the same as some have described. For example, it only has two RCA audio outputs, not four as shown in the Users Manual I have downloaded.

The sound seems excellent - though I am still looking in slow time for an external DAC that would actually make a difference but which is not going to break the bank.

Various SACDs are on the way courtesy of Amazon and some of the suppliers Robert mentioned. I assume that's when the real improvements are going to be more obvious.
Click to expand...

Screenshot_20191018-213155.png
 
I run Kyocera 710's and 910's in my vintage systems, 2 channel, silver faced with wood sides that match my Pioneers. They have a nice fat sound and ran around 1500 back in the day which was a ton o money back then for a CDP
 
Thanks - have now found it in the manual.

I know it makes me look a bit daft, but where does the "Setup Display" actually appear? On the Sony CDP display, the remote, or a TV screen? So far, I have not been able to see it anywhere. I wonder if the remote is broken - though it seems to control all other aspects of operating the player.
 
we had this discussion awhile back and somebody posted a pic of a Pioneer that had all gold enerds(sp) and it is one of the most sought after cdp out there, very expensive even now, it was black but i cant remember which one it was. I looked for awhile, their rare, and dont match my stuff but i'd love to hear one
 
Thanks to all who offered advice etc. Much appreciated.

As a bit of a postscript, I have ended up with two DVD players for some reason. The first is the Sony 900 and the second a Marantz 7007. Having got the Sony first, I discovered the qualities of blu-ray audio – so was forced to get the Marantz (at a very decent price). They will be used with different systems so will be good additions in any case.

The quality of the music is of course markedly improved over the standard CD – there is no question about that. Definition, sound stage etc. can be remarkable. But you also have to allow for the fact that in many cases the recordings might have been drastically re-mastered so that a direct comparison between a CD and SACD/blu-ray of the same piece of music by the same band/orchestra might reveal some substantial differences in sound and style. In one modern piece it was clear that the SACD was based on slightly different lead-singer recordings, and although the overall quality of the music was great, the rather more quirky vocals were not quite what I was expecting.

I am waiting the arrival of the final piece of my hi-fi puzzle, a Luxman pre-amp, and will then decide whether a separate DAC is worth pursuing. If it is, it will take a while for me to be able to justify the cost as I want to be able to afford a decent DAC rather than go for a cheaper unit that becomes the weak link in the system.

The other expense is now that of buying the SACD/blu-ray recordings……and a screen might be needed as well of course.......Oh well, here we go again…..
 
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