Audio quality from Blu-ray players?

I read somewhere that the reviewer suggested using a blu-ray player as a cd source and the sound quality would be much improved over a standard cd player.

Anyone have any experience doing this and if so, could you share your thoughts as to whether or not the audio quality was 'better' playing a cd thru a blu-ray player? Thanks.

 

There's no technical reason why a Blu-ray player should play CDs better than a CD player. CD and DVD players have a red laser. Blu-ray players have both a blue laser and a red laser, and will use the appropriate one based on the media being played.

If your Blu-ray player is a higher quality player than your CD player, yes it could sound better if it has a better transport mechanism and digital-to-audio circuitry. Since Blu-ray players have to play high resolution audio from Blu-ray discs, the DAC chip is probably better than your equivalently priced CD player.

That said, a high quality CD player will beat a cheap Blu-ray player, so it all depends.

 

I guess it depends what you class as a standard CD player. Up to a certain price point, universal disc players by the likes of Oppo and Cambridge Audio, specifically designed to offer quality reproduction across both audio & video formats, would appear to be very competitive these days. At the level I'm at, I'd say when my CD player finally goes legs up, I'll be taking a look at both of the above.

http://hometheaterreview.com/cambridge-audio-azur-752bd-universal-disc-player/?page=2

 

Most blu ray players do not have analogue outputs these days, only HDMI so it's sort of a moot point.

 

But only with Blu-spec CDs

 

HDMI only defeats the purpose. And blows. Defective by design due to HDCP protection.

 

Not the question posed but, my $50 Sony Blu-Ray deck is doing a more than decent job as CD transport for my Rega DAC. (My Onkyo CD/SACD player died, and I don't have the cash to replace it with a "proper" deck.)

I think the answer to the OP is a very qualified "yes" … perhaps we're talking higher-end BR decks like Pioneer Elite and Oppo.

 

Maybe they're on the way out, but some or many still have digital coax (thankfully!)

 

I've found the opposite in my experience. In terms of CD playback, my NAD 546bee is a pretty big step up from my OPPO 103 universal player. Compared to the NAD, the Oppo provides a more "granier" and "veiled" presentation on CD playback.

 

Well, then you are just talking about a transport.

 

I use a budget Sony Blu-ray player to spin SACD, Blu-Ray Audio and Compact Discs. It sounds just fine, but then again my receiver is doing the decoding. Don't ask me how, but after acquiring an HDMI receiver, I set the Blu-ray player to output bistream so the DTS Master HD, Dolby True HD, and SACD format lights appear on my receiver. It looks cool and sounds great.

 

To clarify, yes. But given the growing popularity of outboard DACs in many folks' setups, I thought it worth a mention. $50 was my Sony!

 

Sony Blu-ray players make great digital transports for CDs! I have one connected via S/PDIF coax to a Schiit Gungnir DAC. It's rock solid and the DAC always stays in VCXO mode. This strongly suggests very low jitter coming from the Sony.

 

The real weakness in many of the budget DVD players and Blu Ray players lies in their power supplies and their casework which is flimsy at best.

Take some of the better (but still very inexpensive) Blu Ray players that still have analog out, plug them into a decent line conditioner using a decent power cord and address the rigidity of the casework and transport (very cheaply) with good damping materials like Dynamat and/or rope caulk and proper isolation and the audio gap between the ultra cheap and the ultra expensive in digital narrows significantly.

 

I have a mediocre Samsung Blu-Ray player, BD-EM57 - mediocre in its streaming interface and the fact that there hasn't been a firmware update since 2012. I was thinking of using it as a CD transport in my stereo system (80s-era receiver and pre-amp) with an outboard DAC. It has only HDMI and S/PDIF audio, so I was thinking of getting a budget outboard DAC.
Any recommendations for a sub-$100 S/PDIF-->stereo analog DAC?

 

There is a technical reason why a Blu-Ray player can sound better than a standard CD player. To meet Blu-Ray spec, bandwidth has to be increased, noise floor as well. And my experience is that 24/192 capable D/A tends to have better SQ than older Redbook players. Mind you, new players are likely to have Hi-Rez implementation of the D/A, but if you compare an older, cheap CD players to a New Blu-Ray player of about the same price, the newer Blu-Ray player is probably going to sound better.