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Struggling which cd player is better?

Well...back when CD players hit the market the quality of most DACs was horrible to begin with. So there probably wasn't much difference at the time.
 
Not necessarily true... I've heard 1-bit DACs which sound a-ok to me. The use of the "brickwall filter", i.e. a steep sloped filter at or near the top of the audible range caused phase shift and non-linearity that gave the players the "harsh" reputation. Also, accurate recovery of the clock signal was in its' infancy (read "significant jitter"), the receiver chips were new, and the experience to design a full d/a circuit with proper clocking, filtering, and sampling was nonexistent.
 
I don't know you can still argue some points, I still think Tube amps sound better
than solid state, but there still some solid state amps I would love to have.

Tube
 
89grand said:
I'd personally be surprised if you heard any difference at all between the two units. I can't tell the difference between an old Yamaha, Toshiba DVD player, and a Samsung DVD SACD player that I own.

Some will say my gear sucks or I'm deaf, so take my opinion for what it is...my opinion.
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I've heard some claim this. When I was using my Pioneer DVD player for CD's it was so harsh that I would not listen to CD's. If I did the listening session wouldn't be long and I'd opt to mostly listen to vinyl. Since getting my Rega Appollo, which is my first CDplayer that cost over hundred bucks, and now my CD's sound much better. My listening is divided up between vinyl about 50/50.
 
tube-a-lou said:
I don't know you can still argue some points, I still think Tube amps sound better
than solid state, but there still some solid state amps I would love to have.

Tube
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We will both be happy with what we got and both be happy how we got there . :music:
 
guitarman50 said:
I've heard some claim this. When I was using my Pioneer DVD player for CD's it was so harsh that I would not listen to CD's. If I did the listening session wouldn't be long and I'd opt to mostly listen to vinyl. Since getting my Rega Appollo, which is my first CDplayer that cost over hundred bucks, and now my CD's sound much better. My listening is divided up between vinyl about 50/50.
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So you're saying me gear sucks...or are you saying I'm deaf, or both?:scratch2:
 
I've heard differences between players, although I'd say they're not usually night and day. The biggest difference is usually the analog output stage and this is where a lot of the Mod Shops concentrate. At the last VSAC, Kevin Haskins and I shared a Demo room with Dan Wright (Modwright) and as a consequence spent many hours talking with him. He opined that many units have great digital processing, but the analog output stage is often treated as more of an afterthought. Correcting or upgrading these unit is really what got him started in Audio.

I believe that a good DAC would probably bring a greater improvement than trying to scale the ladder with player upgrades.

A friend of mine built a Twisted Pear "Buffalo II DAC" about a year or so back and liked it much better than his Meridian DAC, which he subsequently sold for $1800.
The "Buffalo II" cost him about $500 at the time, but I see that the new "Buffalo III" would run about $700. I've heard his Buffalo II a number of times and believe that it comes very close to "much" more expensive DACs.
I might mention that at the higher end of price levels for players, it might also be worthwhile to consider moving on to a dedicated computer-based music server, as you can avoid the inherent "nasties" of optical disc playback units.

Best Regardes,
TerryO
 
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zebra03 said:
See post #3 . Julian Hirsch tested more Cd players than you can shake a stick and he was always hard pressed to hear any differences .
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Julian was 81 when he died in 2003, and was in his early sixties when the first CD player hit the shores. With no disrespect intended to either the OP or the late Dr. Hirsch, I would be surprised if he could hear a difference.
 
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GuyNoir said:
Julian was 81 when he died in 2003, and was in his early sixties when the first CD player hit the shores. With no disrespect intended to either the OP or the late Dr. Hirsch, I would be surprised if he could hear a difference.
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:nono:
 
One thing I've learned from AK - Only phono cartridges and speakers affect sound quality. Everything else is the same.
 
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