Sony Makes a CD Player that Sounds Like Vinyl

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-cdp-520es-cd-player

Interesting stuff in a declining market. Probably sounds very nice.

 

Isn't this a thirty year old article?

 

The CD market was not yet declining when this was Published: May 1, 1985?

 

This is hilarious. Clearly 30 years old.

 

I have two Sony CDP 333esD players that I am very happy with.

 

In retrospect, this article and many of J. Gordon Holt's observations, remind us of just how lousy a start the compact disc and its players made when reviewed by folks who's ears clearly understood exceptional analogue sound reproduction and it superiority. And to the industries credit and decades of time and fortune spent, the digital realm has made a solid, rightful place for itself. As much as I am a self professed vinyl guy, I do enjoy music through my Sony XA-5400ES these days. Not as much as through a reference analogue set up, but with nearly thirty times that players value employed, it is no wonder which performs superior.

I still believe it is a question of how much treasure does one logically choose to invest in a technology that every six months or so revises (perhaps improves) itself and relegates your existing investment somewhat obsolete?

In HiFi, perhaps we need to lease digital equipment, like business computers. And every two years chuck the outdated gear aside (to be recycled, repurposed, or buried in a land fill) for a modern replacement? I personally, will never purchase deliberately, an inboard DAC again in my life, as these things are too ephemeral and fashionable, because any other choice in the high-end would not be prudent and ultimately satisfying.

Happy Listening!

 

and it has way cool retro styling

 

What?

I don't get the connection with the evolution of the CeeDe player and it's discs with J.G.H.'s ears? I really don't think that what J.G.H. thought impacted or hurt SONY, Philips or any of them if you want to know the truth

I REALLY don't think they cared what he though; if they did it was for about 2 seconds

For what it's worth, I don't think it "got" a lousy start at all hardware wise; the hardware took the blame for poor software

Compared to any other digital technology, it's launch was as close to perfect as I think there has been It worked as advertised 99%, may better, of the time
Sound quality is another discussion (and learning how to master for and make the discs) Enter people with ears like Steve Hoffman

You've lost me with this one as well

Red Book's still Red Book

And pay more for CeeDee playback over the amortized long haul than one would pay by simply buying a decent stand alone machine (assuming any real "break throughs" occurred with Red Book

The chip freight train you ain't gonna slow down; nobody in the "leasing" business could keep up with the "what's hot and what's not" internet noise Bankrupt in five minutes (I'm playing along here)

CeeDee players that sounded well in 1998 still sound well today; maybe something else has come along to better it, but the 1998 model still sounds nice, no?

Since the demise of the all metal Philips transports and Rodenstock optics, few machines continue to play trouble free much past about 10 years anyway
That's a viable life span for an all IC architecture, cheap PC board component (with moving parts)

People have no problems replacing computers more often than that, or "smart" phones (without any complaint)............better yet, how about that high priced stylus re-tip every thousand hours

The cost of doing digital versus doing Analog, and keeping up with the trends, is a wash

That is the main reason I don't worry about trends

So what are you typing these posts on? You don't own a DVD player? What do you listen to in your automobile?

 

Fascinating. Was this player ever released?

 

A non Brickwalled , well recorded Cd can sound amazing . Decent amplification can help considerably & I'm using my friends 26 year Meridian 207 cd player which does sound like a good quality turntable . Btw I do use vinyl as well.

 

I found a CDP-520ES at a Salvation Army store yesterday. The tray was stuck but WD40 fixed that. Tried a little on the headphone volume knob but that's still quite noisy. Otherwise, it sounds nice to me.

 

He means "horseless carriage," in case anyone wasn't following along amidst all of this newfangled tech-nology nonsense.

 

There have been many CD platers that were designed to sound like vinyl, all the ones I heard sounded like crap except the Linn Sondeck CD12, $20,000 when still available.

 

You had me going for a few seconds, avanti1960.

My first thought, upon seeing the thread title, was surprise that Sony was doing a high-end CD player at this point in time.

When I clicked on the link, I did not notice the name J. Gordon Holt, nor look at the date. I just glanced at the player and thought that is quite retro.

Then I looked at the systems the reviewers were using and thought - wait a minute, and looked at the date.

It brought back memories. I remember J. Gordon Holt embracing CD and the Sony CDP-101 right out of the gate. Harry Pearson took, maybe a decade or more before he had much good to say about the format.

I remember wanting a Meridian MCD or MCD Pro CD player but I did not want to pay the price. I think that was the first CD player that TAS had much good to say about. And it was faint praise at that.

I remember talking to a friend back then, and saying that if I get a CD player it would be based on the 14-bit Phillips based chip rather than the 16-bit Sony based chip. He thought that was quite odd. I told him that just about everything that I was reading (and leaning towards believing) was stating the 14-bit Phillips based players were more musical. He could not get his head around 14 bits being better than 16 bits. (My first CD player ended up being a Sony D-5 at the blowout price of $50 several years later. An unheard of price at the time for a CDP.)

Which brings me to the present. In the last year or so I have read in magazines, on at least two occasions, comments on the high frequency sound quality of old 14-bit CD players and comparing it favorably to SACD high frequency sound quality. One was in a UK audio magazine and the other may have been Art Dudley. I think I read a third comment like this, again in a UK audio magazine.

I found that curious. So much so that I looked around on Ebay for an old 14-bit Phillips based machine that was cheap and working and not too bad of condition. I found that they seemed too high for me to simply satisy my curiousity. Maybe there is a market for these for whatever reason. "Made in Belgium" seemed like a selling point on some. Anyway I lost interest in buying one now. I would like to hear one (for free).

 

I don't know about Sony but last year I auditioned and then purchased a Majestic DAC from a specialist 'niche' manufacturer - Graham Slee.

Mr Slee is an analogue and vinyl obsessive and it clearly shows in this product which made my previous Chord DAC64 sound brittle and harsh by comparison. Although vinyl is also my preferred source, I am surprised to admit that many times a well mastered digital source sounds 'better'.....

This is the most analogue sounding digital device I have heard - smooth, detailed and dynamic at the same time. I use it with CD, Streamed FLACs and directly from a Macbook Pro (several Coax, Optical, USB inputs). It also has an analogue input (from a phono stage) & an inbuilt pre-amp, single ended or balanced output