The In and Outs of Vintage CDP — longish
... and if I do get burned once then I'll opt for a newer unit, since I've read several times that today's cheap CD units are in many instances better than their predecessors that cost many times more.
Just how true is this? Much has been made over this issue, and it is said over and over again. I am no expert, but I have formed some opinions after reading in these forums and other places — in particular a series of articles on digital audio on the TNT Audio site.
The control of jitter is of paramount importance. Their are many sources of jitter, and all of them may be better controlled by more modern chip sets in CDP's. Modern chips have the ability to induce better error correction. But the best solution is to have a cleaner, less corrupt bit-stream in the first place. And this is where the advantage of vintage higher-end comes into play.
Many of the older, high quality players came with excellent materials, robust build and extravagant power supplies. Much of this sort of thing gets added to today's budget players by way of DIY modification. And you'll pay a big buck to have a lab do it for you. So the fact that you start off with a quality item in a premier product of years gone by is an advantage for those wanting a transport to drive a DAC unit.
The transport solution may be a good work-around for the chip set issue, but it is not one of pure gain. The vintage owner is still left with the big processor chip. Personally, this does not worry me because many of these older mother boards could make very nice sound if a good stream was supplied to them. Some enthusiast who really knows what they are doing (which excludes me) change out DAC chips and op amps — the latter being an obsession with some people in the same way tube rolling is for glass audio. Still others go the transport route. But, alas there are issues that concern jitter, compatibility and re-clocking of the SPDIF data stream. The result may be that while you gain in some areas, you may lose in others. A TNT article concluded that the one box idea did have definite advantages.
To many, the idea that first, second or even third generation players made excellent sound is a heresy. But, you only have to look into forums here on AK to see how entrenched this heresy has become — take the dedicated thread on the Yamaha CDX series, for example. These enthusiasts love their machines, and many of the users are into the one-box solution. Yes the chip sets are obsolete, but the overall effect is sonically pleasing.
If I were to pass over vintage CDP and were constrained by a budget, I'd give CDP a miss and move straight on to DVD players that have been proven to have a focus on decent audio. In these forums there's been a lot of fuss over the cheap Toshiba DVD — some of which I have contributed. Some users have reported excellent results in machines a few notches up from the cheapest Tosh.
I for one am very pleased with my Yamaha CDX-1020. In the coming days/weeks it will get a Monica-3 DAC — non up-sampling, no re-clock. I am just finishing building a linear power supply for it now.
Now comes a case in point. For the last few years I was using the earlier Monica-2 DAC from DIY Paradise. This was an excellent unit, and you can read appreciative raves about it all over the block. Like Monica-3 it was non-upsampling, but it was re-clocked using a Kyocera 80 MHz oscillator. I powered it with a 12 VDC SLA motorcycle battery. With a contemporary Marantz CD-6000 or any of my mid-market vintage players such as the Sony 222ES or Sansui alpha-607, the improvement was a significant no-brainer. The digi-thing was completely tamed, and the Monica charm made a whole new environment. Then one day the CDX arrived at the door. And so I compared the two options ... (a) the CDX-one-box, and (b) the CDX as transport for Monica. The result: to my ears there was a difference, but it was not so much one of quality as it was of preference. Both solutions equalled each other in that some kinds of music fared better with Monica, while others were better with the integral CDX.
This should be understood in terms of just how good the old Yammy is — not how compromised Monica is. Now some blokes will say, "Yeah, but Monica's TDA1545A is not the newest DAC chip around!." And they will be correct, except for the fact that this chip is still a favored product and will be so in the foreseeable future. Monica-3 uses the same chip, and she promises to be even more of a giant killer than her older sister. In fact, I expect her to top the CDX one-box. Actually, I am counting on it!
For me personally, high quality vintage CDP is the way to go. It's not a given verity, but rather like choosing to collect Desotos or exotic toasters. And, reinforcing what I have said above, if and when the piggies get hold of the market and start jacking up prices over on eBay and other places, I'll recommend something entirely different. Vintage CDP should come cheap, or not at all. It's fun!
Wine drinkers know that if you do a lot of careful shopping, know how to read wine labels, do some research and indulge in judicious sampling, you will eventually come up with a bottle that comes at near plonk prices but tastes almost as good as a wine that costs about the same as your monthly car payment. Now that is fun, but you have to invest the time and energy — and take some risks.
