which CD player to buy

my harman-kardon CD player is starting to fail, not reading discs, etc. (just like my first harman-kardon, but that is another story)

i am seriously looking at the denon-dcm 380.

any suggestions as to a better player for under $400? (it must have HDCD)

thanks ahead of time,

renny

 

The Denon '380 is probably your best bet with HDCD below $400. I have it's predecessor, the '370, and it is a solid player for the money. The '370 has a warm sound, which you often don't find in this price range (I paid $250 for it new a few years ago). From what I've read, the '380 is very similar.

Truth be told, there aren't many HDCD players in this price range. When I was looking at the '370, I also considered the comparably priced HDCD-compatible H/K changer at the time, but I preferred the sound of the Denon. That and reliability issues with the H/K unit swayed me to the Denon.

One other player you might consider is the Panasonic DVD-F87 DVD-Audio changer. For $130, you get a carousel changer that handle CD, DVD-Video, and DVD-Audio. It does HDCD. However, I doubt it is as good as a CD player as the Denon. I'd give it a listen anyway simply because it's a great value on paper.

 

Let me add that the NAD C 542 single-disc player offers HDCD decoding. I haven't used it, but it's gotten good reviews in various audio magazines. However, I don't know if you can get a new one in your price range. Check www.audiolab.com and www.soundcity.com and give them a call. Both are authorized NAD dealers. I've bought new NAD components from Sound City in the past at significant discounts, and they have been great to deal with.

 

Take a look at the Shengya, a Chinese-made, tube based player... a guy sells them on eBay. I'm crazy about mine. I've A/B'd it for a bunch of people and all agree it "warms up" the music as compared to my solid state players. The HDCD side is terrific, IMO. I have another HDCD player, a Mitsubishi that also plays DVD-A, and the difference is night and day.

 

I've never heard of this player, but you have me intrigued. I'm heading to eBay right now to check it out...

 

O.K., I just checked out the Shengya on eBay. It's purty for $319 (Buy It Now price), though you also pay $99 for shipping. Is the player built from scratch or does the seller modify something else a la the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb and Heart players? The Shengya looks a bit like the Music Hall CD-25, but I don't see how he could sell the player for a shade over $400 delivered if he were modifying the Music Hall.

Does the seller offer any sort of warranty?

 

This player is said to be a better model from Shengya:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3272&item=3824468937

 

Renny,

Have you tried taking the lid off and cleaning the lens with alcohol? Sorry, I know I'm just asking the obvious easiest solution.

 

dave,

i tried cleaning it twice.

the same thing happened with the first HK cd playeer i bought. HK replaced it for me with a better model, but now the same thing is happening to this one. it takes the disc in, tries to read it, the cd player says "1 disc" but with no time or tracks. you have to hit play over and over again until it reads. i think the motor is going bad, just not spinning fast enough or something. once it reads the disc, it plays just fine.

renny

 

Now, that is bizarre behavior Renny.

 

Keith, that particular model does not have HDCD circuitry...

 

of course! i wouldn't be that lucky.

 

Keith,

Sheng Ya Audio is a Chinese audio company that also does OEM work for overseas brands. Apparently, it's from the same part of the country as Shanling. Check out their website....

http://www.shengya-audio.com/mainenglish.htm

 

You can't beat a Denon especially if it also has HDCD, that would seem to be quite a bonus.

 

Thanks. I noticed that the Shengya seller on eBay also has a Shanling SACD player available (or did yesterday).

 

john,

that seems to be how most people feel. i think i am going to go with the denon.

thanks,

renny

 

You've gotta check out the English translation on the ShengYa SD-S10. Pretty hilarious! (or maybe that should be: "very beautiful made of or pertaining to hills").

"Servo system of super arithmetic figure of core , CD7- II of Philip VAM1202 machine of adoption.The United States Burr- Brown company D/ A conversion core slice PCM1732,24 Bit solution code accuracy with 96 KHz sampling frequencies, HDCD signal solution code.Philip 6 DJ8s/6922s electronics tube the A drive move the electric circuit the match to develop a fever the class MKP the capacitor, “courage the flavor hundred percent", have beautiful of the voice express with big development, and mix with the type with our company's A10 bile stone to put the match to use the result uncommon."

http://www.shengya-audio.com/main1en.htm

L.

L.

 

Some wisdom (with no evidence) for the deep mind of the dainty tone-fan!

Here's another gem from the article on the site about the SV-288 amplifier:

　　"ShengYa Audio Co., ltd. Which lies in ZhongShan city of GuangDong Province. (its former known as ShengYa Audio equipment factory) is now with 10 years history since it was founded in 1991. Its maiden work named AB-32 is an tube preamplifier and rear stage and was recommended by the company in 1991.It was much favored by the dainty tone-fans and it is the electron tube amplifier that bases ShengYa Audio Co. as a professional HI-FI equipment producer. It's true that ShengYa also produces some AV equipments & Karaok machines during the 10 years, yet compared with multi- HI-FI amplifiers and such new products as CD, HI-FI sound boxes etc. They are naturally not the mainstream. In tone-fans' deep mind, ShengYa is still an authentic HI-FI producer.

＊Strong fist upon
　　Suddenly, with no any evidence, ShengYa recommends the heavyweight SV-288 multi-decoding AV amplifier. Older than this one, ShengYa produces 2 sets of AV amplifier called as SV-281,SV-282 with more simple function such as Dolby directing logical decoder and a 5.1 channel port. Much differently, the new-brand recommendation SV-288 offer perfect stereo decoding function including fashionable Dolby digital & dts, basic Dolby Pro Logic and PCM decoding for CD. Meantime, in order to perform well for the acoustic effect, SV-288 possess an inner-set amplifier with 5 channels to provide driving power output--- L/R channel for the pre reaches 150w x 2, Center channel for the pre & the circle-round stereo for the rear-stage reaches 100w x 3. It seems that ShengYa steps for AV field with a strong fist."

L.

 

I think it's the translation software that's messing them up. It's pretty typical. You should see some of the messages I get from overseas. The gentleman in Japan who purchased my Thorens TD-224 sent me a message stating "I am waiting for pleasure". I thought about contacting him to say that I thought he might have the wrong idea about our transaction, but it was unlikely that he would get the joke.

 

Thought ya'll might get a kick out of this story regarding East-West miscommunication that I recently picked up on the Urban Legends site at www.snopes.com:

John Steinbeck's widow, Elaine, was in Tokyo to accept a posthumous honour for the author of The Grapes of Wrath. One particularly effusive Japanese told her: "We like your husband's work very much, particularly The Angry Raisins."

James

 

I have the Music Hall CD-25 that I bought about a year ago and have been very happy with it. Plays HDCD's and about anything else you put in it. I didn't do the upgrades on the op amp's and feel it sounds fantastic just as it is to my ears. I purchased mine used on ebay for 350.00 . They run about 540.00 new. I see them quite often on Audiogon for around 350 to 400 as well. For the price point I highly recommend this player though. Well built and sounds beautiful. I also use a Harmon Kardon FL8370 5 disk changer I use but it doesn't hold a candle to the Music Hall Player. The HK I got dirt cheap for 129.00 at Fry's about 4 years ago and it has been a pretty good player except it is noisy when loading disk's.

 

I'm hoping my next cd player will be the universal from Denon called the 3910.

I need the whole bowl of wax when it comes to a player....DVD/DVDA/SACD/DTS/CD/DVI(HDMI)/HDCD/HDAD etc....hopefully this new Denon fits the bill at a reasonable price (I'm willing to spend $1K if it takes that much).

I'm tired of having 2 different players and switching inputs for all my discs.