Alright, CD players, let's see what we can agree on.

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by PinkIsTheSky, Sep 9, 2019.

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  1. Dingly Del Boy

    Dingly Del Boy Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    Unbelievable is quite right - this is urban myth that any dedicated CD player/transport doesn't play gapless.
     
  2. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    Not to start any trouble but why the tendency towards separates for everything? Now a CD player isn’t good enough: get a transport and an outboard DAC! And more wires!
    Just get a really good player, there are still lots of them out there (Marantz, Esoteric, Accuphase, etc.). And don’t buy a used CD player; these things have a finite lifespan and that’s just asking for trouble.
     
  3. peteham

    peteham Senior Member

    Location:
    Simcoe County
    My Arcam SACD player is coming up on 9 years old - used all the time, not a single issue.
     
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  4. Dingly Del Boy

    Dingly Del Boy Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    Lots of integrated amps now have built in DACs which will perform at least as well as (and often better) than the DACs in even quite expensive CD players. Thus no increase in wires. I auditioned a Hegel Mohican ($5k) and H360 integrated ($7k) analog vs digital. I preferred the sound of CDs played through the DAC in the H360 compared to that in the Mohican feeding the H360 via analog.
     
    Big Blue likes this.
  5. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    There a few things to be cautious of when people report failures - and one is how many sales. Marantz probably sells 100 times more disc spinners than any other brand listed in this thread - which means you will see more reports of failures. They ALL use cheap dime-store transport mechanisms from outside sources - a Universal disc reader tend to sound worse than a dedicated CD reader - and by tend to i mean they always do IMO.

    Since you are going to use an external DAC anyway - the Cambridge Audio CXC or Audiolab transport dedicated CD playing transports make sense - BUT to be honest the Emotiva on page one looks pretty good and has a long 5 year warranty and a lot of connection options.

    If you buy a bluray multi reader make sure that whatever brand you choose will be able to play bluray movies in 2022 - ie that there will be updates for the player. One of the reasons I went with a lowly PS4 was that they updated it all the time - my friend had a Toshiba or something and the thing was slow as F when it did work, updates seemed slow and to be blunt the picture quality was middling and it almost cost what a PS4 cost!

    Since you have a pretty good budget - if you want a little bling and can stretch a bit you could look at the Woo Audio Transport WT-1 - never heard it - but it looks neat

    Made in Queens New York - not China.

     
  6. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Look for an early 90's SONY ES player.

    They cheapened the ES name later on.
     
  7. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    Good for you! I'm glad to hear it!

    Yes some other models of SACD players have been very reliable too (I even have one Sony SACD player unit which is 18 years old and is still working). But no other line of SACD players has been so consistently reliable as have the Oppos.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  8. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    Five years this year for my Cambridge 752BD. No issues and I've had my money's worth. My old Sony S370 blu-ray player is coming up on a decade next year and it's in great form still too.
     
  9. chrism1971

    chrism1971 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glos, UK
    I recently snapped up for £300 (having owned one 15 years ago) a 20-year-old Naim CDX. Still works, still sounds amazing. Especially on HDCDs - like the 50th anniv Anthem of the Sun I was listening to this morning! :cool:
     
    frummox likes this.
  10. frummox

    frummox Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    When I was shopping for a player in the upper middle price range checked out quite a few around 8 years ago. Settled on a Naim, no issues so far (fingers crossed) and sounds great. If I ever had to replace it I'd buy another Naim.
     
  11. Audiowannabee

    Audiowannabee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I love my oppo 203...i only use it for video n multi channel music sacd dvda n bluray audio...for stereo CD s i use my onyko cdp

    Save wear n tear on my oppo
     
  12. ZenArcher

    ZenArcher Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    Does the Cambridge One support gapless CD playback?

    Does the Cambridge One support gapless CD playback?

    The Cambridge One does not support gapless CD playback. There will be a momentary pause in-between tracks when playing CD's; this is normal when changing from track to track.

    This will not affect the playback of regular CD's, however please note that 'gapless' albums will have a small pause between tracks.
     
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  13. PinkIsTheSky

    PinkIsTheSky Old Blues Man Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Well that settles that!
     
  14. Dingly Del Boy

    Dingly Del Boy Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    This is not a dedicated CD player.
     
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  15. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    The Cambridge Audio One is this

    [​IMG]

    The Cambridge Audio CXC is this

    [​IMG]

    According to Cambridge Audio - the CXC Supports Gapless playback - see the bottom of this link Technical sheet

    Gapless Playback?
    Yes

    CXC
     
  16. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    My son bought a Cambridge Topaz a couple of years ago and couldn't play the Beatles "Love" because the player inserted gaps between each song.

    Cambridge Audio said that was because of its ability to play MP3 discs - which makes no sense!

    I've heard the damn player myself and it really does insert gaps where one song should segue into another!

    There's quite a bit of correspondence about this unbelievable problem on this forum:

    Cambridge Audio CD10 and CD gaps
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  17. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    Not an urban myth. See above post.
     
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  18. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    I wonder the same, but every time there is a thread about 'CD players', people come out of the woodwork recommending getting a transport and DAC or a universal player (Oppo). I have always owned and am only interested in a dedicated one box CD player. My current Marantz SA-8005 is still working fine going on five years of heavy use.
     
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  19. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Personally I would never buy any CD player that inserted gaps, or any CD player that couldn't decode a pre-emphasis disc.

    My 2 cents.
     
  20. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Also, even if you do use an external DAC, it’s just one more wire as opposed to using the analog outs on the player. I don’t see the problem even with an external DAC, but I agree it makes sense to start out just comparing the DACs in the player and the integrated amp if it has one built in.

    Actually, you use one less wire if you use the integrated amp’s DAC...
     
  21. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    But is it all Cambridge Audio CD players, or just the Topaz? It seems like at least two different Cambridge Audio disc players have been mentioned, so I wonder if the CXC (which is just a transport) is fine but the Topaz has the gap issue?
     
  22. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    I don't think it could be all Cambridge Audio players, but one of the Topaz models was bought by my son - and the same model was mentioned by another user. It only has analog outputs so there was no way to check if the problem was in its DAC or transport.
    I would imagine it would have to be the inbuilt DAC but I'm no expert.

    This gap thing freaked me out a bit when I needed to buy a new CD player - so I got the online store to check it out for me before I bought it (a Yamaha) - which they obligingly did. They played the opening of Sgt Pepper and it segued into "A Little Help" with no problem - as any normal, healthy CD player should! :D

    However I am still very wary of any Cambridge Audio CD players.
     
  23. The Topaz line up, the 10, 20 30, I think were the model numbers, were Cambridge's budget components. Their Azur line was a step up with their 800 series being very good. Apples or oranges, huge difference & it pays to research.
     
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  24. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    I sold my Marantz SA8003 SACD player and after that decided I wanted to listen to CDs again so I bought a used Sony DVP-S7000 that's like new. I read a lot of good reviews about that model and so far so good. CD's sound great. No complaints.
     
  25. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    To me, the essence of a "cd player" includes the implementation of the transport, DAC, and analog stage. Separating the DAC just makes things feel more like "computer audio". My CD player does not even have a digital out. All it does is "play CDs", and I am good with that.
     
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