Pioneer Elite DV-45A

[The Shocker]

Found this player at Goodwill today for $4.97.

If the front is any sign, it plays SACDs, DVD-A and CD.

Anyone know anything about this player?

 

[onwardjames]

Nice find!! I'll be she sounds pretty sweet.

 

[transmaster]

That was Pioneers premium line.

 

[The Shocker]

Won't know if it works until later tonight. I like the fact that it can play SACDs and DVD-As.

 

[The Shocker]

Now I need to get a DVD-A to test it. I only have CDs and one SACD.

 

[GChief]

I have one, sounds pretty nice but I really don’t do CD’s, coax out to either one of my DACs sounds better yet. But as a transport it sounds the same as my $80 Samsung BR player .
It only does SACD’s out the rca holes.

 

[The Shocker]

I have one, sounds pretty nice but I really don’t do CD’s, coax out to either one of my DACs sounds better yet. But as a transport it sounds the same as my $80 Samsung BR player .
It only does SACD’s out the rca holes.

I don't see how one transport can sound any better than another one. All it's doing is decoding a CD and shooting 1s and 0s down a glass pipe to a DAC somewhere. They should all sound identical, even a $20 DVD player you buy at Walmart with a Toslink out on the back.

 

[GChief]

I don't see how one transport can sound any better than another one. All it's doing is decoding a CD and shooting 1s and 0s down a glass pipe to a DAC somewhere. They should all sound identical, even a $20 DVD player you buy at Walmart with a Toslink out on the back.

You would think so.

 

[The Shocker]

You would think so.

That's why it boggles my mind that a $23,000 CD Transport exists, that you're supposed to couple with the company's $24,000 DAC.

Just look at this thing: https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-rossini-transport/ $23,500 for the CD Transport.

And you pair it up with this $24,000 DAC. https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-rossini-dac-2/

There is a sucker born every minute, it seems.

 

[GChief]

That's why it boggles my mind that a $23,000 CD Transport exists, that you're supposed to couple with the company's $24,000 DAC.

Just look at this thing: https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-rossini-transport/ $23,500 for the CD Transport.

And you pair it up with this $24,000 DAC. https://www.paragonsns.com/product/dcs-rossini-dac-2/

There is a sucker born every minute, it seems.

I have heard stand alone transports sound better than a nice player (as a transport) feeding the same DAC

But I get what your saying, You would think it shouldn’t matter.

 

[The Shocker]

I have heard stand alone transports sound better than a nice player (as a transport) feeding the same DAC

But I get what your saying, You would think it shouldn’t matter.

There are arguments to be made for and against a DAC making any kind of difference. Many people claim that "any DAC will do" in this day and age. In 2019, the DAC is pretty much perfected.

But a transport making a difference? It's literally feeding 1s and 0s to the DAC. I'm sure someone here will chime in about jitter, but in 2019 even the cheapest equipment has solved jitter issues.

 

[GChief]

Ok

 

[spark1]

I use a DV-45A as a transport in my workshop system. Bought it as "new old stock", still in un-opened box, about five years ago.

I did not find it to be a good sounding unit at all, but its transport mechanism is top notch.

Any DAC will certainly "do", if by that you mean converting digital to analog. However, it has not been my experience that they all sound the same. In fact, far from it.

Note that in this context I am referring to devices which perform D2A conversion and first stage amplification, as opposed to just the DAC chipset.

But I am not interested in arguing this point. If you find all players and all DACs to sound identical, be happy...you can certainly save a lot of time and money when in the market for one.

 

[SoCal Sam]

There are arguments to be made for and against a DAC making any kind of difference. Many people claim that "any DAC will do" in this day and age. In 2019, the DAC is pretty much perfected.

But a transport making a difference? It's literally feeding 1s and 0s to the DAC. I'm sure someone here will chime in about jitter, but in 2019 even the cheapest equipment has solved jitter issues.

Some truths and some mis-truths here. In addition to the D/A converter there is an analog section which is a signal amplifier subject to the same design parameters as a speaker amp. A standalone DAC may have more chips for oversampling and may have a more robust analog section.

 

[The Shocker]

That is true. I can see how a standalone DAC can make a difference, because of the analog side of things. But a DAC chip itself in 2019 probably matters far less than it did in 1984. What you wrap around a modern DAC chip will probably matter far more than the chip itself will.

But a transport? Is one really going to be any different from any other.

 

[GChief]

But a transport? Is one really going to be any different from any other.

Have you heard or owned one in a proper system like many of us have? Or are you armchair internet QB’ing?

 

[The Shocker]

Have you heard one or owned in a proper system like many of us have? Or are you armchair internet QB’ing?

I've heard plenty of CD players in my day. I've never tried out different transports, because digital is digital. It either works or it doesn't. I mean, if there is an objective way to measure different CD transports for superiority, I'd love to read up on it. But I'm not gonna take anyone's word for it just because they say they have more experience.


Now, dumb question time. If I use the digital out on the back of this thing into a DAC, what formats does the DAC need to support? For CDs, I assume that as long as it can do 16/44.1 PCM I'm fine. Does the DAC need to support DSD in order to take optical from an SACD? What about DVD-A? Will the player decompress the MLP to PCM, or does the DAC need to support MLP?

 

[spark1]

Have you concluded that all transports will provide identical performance because it seems logical to you that they should, or is your point of view based on experience and/or research?

I am no expert on the topic, but this article may help you understand how diferences might exist. I am sure that others with more expertise will weigh in soon (along with many from the "they all sound the same" camp).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-how-much-impact-can-cd-transport-have-sound-quality?amp

 

[GChief]

Have you concluded that all transports will provide identical performance because it seems logical to you that they should

I am going with this, and that is way I said I get it in one of my posts.

 

[spark1]

But I'm not gonna take anyone's word for it just because they say they have more experience.

Good policy. Trust no one with expertise. Hire carpenters to do your plumbing work, and plumbers to do your heart surgery. And if you see me catching a lot of fish, don't ask what I'm using for bait.

On the upside, you have relieved the members who DO have expertise in the topic from wasting time on responding.