Tell me about your cd player.

Meridian 508.Just hooked it up after a year .Sounds very vinyl like.A well recorded cd sounds amazing.

 

I wonder what that would fetch on EBay.There's a lot of Apple collectors.

 

With the general lack of good "stereo stores" left in the world, I imagine that many people would appreciate a service where average people can find out what a good rig sounds like. (Perhaps a road show, fronted by a few recognized consumer electronics reviewers and maybe co-sponsored by dealers and vendors?). Without having to go to CES - which involves travel and restricts attendance.

Both for the benefit of people trying to understand whether there are differences between standalone CD players, standalone DVD players, OPPO players, the disk players that are built in to your laptop computer, etc etc... and to convince skeptical spouses that the new rig is worth the expenditure.

Not to mention, 'What is a DAC?' 'What is a phono stage?' even 'What does sound stage mean, and what effect does my choice of disk players have?' - in the vinyl world, the choice of cartridge, for example, makes a huge difference.

 

Take a look - I saw one for $400 today, and another for $36. I'm sure that a unit with all the packaging etc would command a premium.

 

About the Meridian 508.24 .It has a hidden menu where you can select amount of 1)error correction and 2)"servo adjustment of the pickup lens".At 5 levels.Adjusts from accurate >more musical.(my description)
Mines set to less accurate more musical .

 

I must have missed this reply.

Any suggestions as to what would sound better? And why? Cheapest suggestions possible.

I've actually read that the ps3 has some very good audio capabilities actually.

 

I'm convinced that 99% of music of lovers who appreciate sound quality believe that they've heard it all before. It's a real shame, because merely 10 minutes of private time in front of even a modest system such as mine would wipe away years a false impressions.

 

Thanks for posting this. I've never seen one before.

 

Will someone please describe the difference between a 'CD player' and a 'CD transport'? Thanks

 

...generally speaking...

CD player - internal DAC

CD transport - external DAC

At least, that's my understanding. Nevertheless, I've often used CD players as transports by linking them digitally to an outboard DAC, listening to the DAC's analog outputs as opposed to the CD player's.

 

I got my first player at my 11th birthday. It was something like the Pioneer PD-M50 player a few pages back, but probably a slightly different type. It wasn't great but it was something (seen my age). After a few years I bought myself a Yamaha CDX-593. Again not great but this time with a proper CD tray.

After that I got myself a Sony CDP-XB930QS. New from the shelf but in the end of the production of the player so with some discount. It was about the first player I really liked. My dad already had some nice players in the past but he also wanted this player. So some days later we had two of the same players in the same house. Then I wanted something different of course, but I ended up with a Sony SCD-XA1200ES. It sounded really nervous. So I sold that and got myself a used CDP-XA20ES. Much better over everything I had before. My dad also bought this one and again we had the same player, twice.

Then my eye's come across a player I loved back in the days, but never knew how it would sound. It was the strange sized Sony CDP-X3000. It's the player I have today and still exploring music with it.


Sony CDP-X3000 Top by Peter van de Beek, on Flickr

My dad had the CDP-XA50ES in the meanwhile but he liked the top loader I brought along (living in a apartment of my own now). He bought a CDP-X5000 with has the same transport in it as the 50ES, but strangely it sounds better then the 50ES. That's my next goal, CD-player-wise.

 

Wowser. That CDP-X3000 has to be the coolest looking CDP ever. Thanks for the great photo - makes me want to search for pics that show the chassis layout.

 

Have you checked the porn sites?

 

Probably won't get any points for looks, but I picked up a Tascam CD-500B as a transport into a Schiit Yggdrasil. This unit has AES/EBU output, facilitating long cable runs.


Oh, and the rack ears are removable.

This thing is built like a tank!

 

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-CDP-X3000.html

 

I have the Bel Canto CD2 used as a transport into a Bel Canto DAC3.3 with VBS power supply and this is the most natural and musical of the players I have had, top loader and built like a tank

 

History:

Philips CD160
Yamaha CDX-550
Rega Planet 2

Actually:
PS Audio PWT -> Final Player for me

 

over the last decade and a half, i've probably gone in the exact inverse direction with CD playback devices than most fellow members here likely have.

first, i started out with a DVDP, a 2001 PANASONIC DVD-RV32;



moved "up" in the mid 2000's to a late-90's TECHNICS SL-MC3 CD megachanger;



from that, a PHILIPS/MAGNAVOX CDB-496 6-DISC magazine changer for a brief time;



to be replaced in rapid succession with a PIONEER PD-M50 6-DISC changer.

since i have always had a fixation with the PIONEER 6-disc magazine system,
i long knew i wanted to own the best PD-M model i could, at least the best model that appealed to me,
and the PD-M50 was the very first step for me down that road;

 

perhaps a couple years on, i stepped up to a fine example of the very first PIONEER 6-DISC CDP, the 1986 PD-M6,
my first true keeper;



by that time, i pretty well knew that the first true ELITE model PIONEER 6-disc CDP, the 1987 PD-M90X,
was the "Ultimate" PIONEER changer CDP i always wanted.

i got a chance at one for cheap perhaps a year or two after acquisition of the PD-M6;



around the same time, i knew i also wished to own something at least akin to an "Audiophile Quality" single disc CDP.
my first crack at that was a 1985 DENON DCD-1500;

 

not long after, i got my chance at what would quickly become my all time reference,
perfect (to me) in every way, the 1988 ELITE PD-91;

 

Just last week I received my Teac UD-503 DAC. I am using my Oppo BDP-95 as a transport connected by a cheap optical Toslink cable. I have a Black Cat Audio Silver Star 75 coax cable on the way to replace it but so far I find the DAC to sound very good right out of the box. It is less lean sounding and digital than the Oppo and more detailed and clearer than my Stax Quattro II cdp. I am going to have to learn how to rip cd's and download hi res files now as I only have redbook cd's. I am still buying used cd's though as people are selling them off at bargain prices. I just got a package with 34 cd's that I paid $65 for shipped (along with 9 Dave Edmunds Lp's for an extra $55) .

I was very tempted to buy an Ayon CD-5 but just couldn't spring for the $4700 for a used cdp. The Teac seems like a bargain in comparison. It still is bugging me though (darn Audio Nervosa).

 

NAD C515 BEE.

$300 new (4 years ago)... functions & sounds really nice!

Quite Honestly... I really didn't expect it to sound this good. I was surprised.

 

Tossed it into the garage in 2005...Sorry!

 

About my CD player? Well, a few years ago, it stopped initializing some discs. Then the turntable (a changer) developed a mind of its own. Then the drawer started sticking. Then I had trouble turning it on and off. Now it just collects dust. I'd say it's giving up the ghost. It doesn't matter anymore. I don't need it.

 

I had the same CD player, which was the first one I owned in 1987. The Australian model was the same but not called Elite and did not have the faux rosewood panels on the side. It became a much loved player in our family, my older brother who lived up the road used to "borrow" it and the cartridges with my CDs all the time to hook it up to his B&O system. At the time I also bought the Pioneer A-88X amplifier (which was also part of the Elite series in the US) and that was a killer of an amp. I nearly cried the day it was stolen.

These days I have a NAD CD player, same model as bluesky's above - agree that it sounds very good but I rarely play CDs or LPs anymore as they have been digitised or ripped and now streamed.
http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/pioneer/a-88x.shtml