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. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I feel part of the appeal of separates for cd playback is that you can put your money in a good DAC while being able to use an economical player as a transport. And when the transport craps out, and it will crap out, a replacement is inexpensive. I’ve owned higher end CD players from various manufacturers and the transports all died young, but none young enough to be covered by warranties. One poster mentions Accuphase and Esoteric. I’d have faith in these manufacturers, but their price tags of five grand and up puts them out of my league. I own a Schiit Bifrost Multi and an Essence HDMI DAC that converts DSD to PCM and does Blu-ray and DVDA, which sounds great to me. I’m using inexpensive players as transports.
     
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  2. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Right, my hope would be that this is something that only applies to the budget Topaz series. If I were to consider one of their disc players, it would be either the CXC (I have a CXA-60, so it might be kind of nice to take advantage of the integrated remote control, if nothing else), or the Azur CD/integrated amp combo as a future upgrade.

    The concern on my radar is a seemingly common-ish disc tray defect, across Cambridge disc players as far as I can tell, but gapped playback would eliminate them definitely.
     
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  3. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    Good points. So, the use of separate transports and DACs is more about economics than it is sound quality?
     
  4. joelee

    joelee Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Houston
    A Marantz SA8005 is the way to go if you want to keep it under $1000.
    It will sound much warmer than a Giant Killer.
    If you can afford $1200, I can recommend a dedicated CD/SACD player that sounds wonderful.

    Good Luck!
     
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  5. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Both. I find it an added bonus that the transports are economically replaceable. DAC prices range fr bargain basement pricing to the sky being the limit.
     
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  6. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    A few years back CA was telling folks that their players did not support PE discs. That was a deal breaker for me. Not sure if it applies to all models or their BD/Uni-disc players. I have a CA integrated as well and nearly bought the matching CD player for the remote feature - kinda glad I didn't.
     
    Big Blue likes this.
  7. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Although OP may already know this, it is worth mentioning that any CD player with a coax or optical out can be used with pretty much any DAC assuming that DAC has a coax or optical input jack. Whether you prefer the CDP's internal DAC or an outboard one is another story.
     
    Vinny123 likes this.
  8. PinkIsTheSky

    PinkIsTheSky Old Blues Man Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    I think my dad has an old CD changer hanging around, I'd like to hear it just with a transport into my DAC before going crazy and getting anything else.
     
  9. peteham

    peteham Senior Member

    Location:
    Simcoe County
    I have two Oppo 981s I bought over a decade ago still going strong.
     
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  10. frimleygreener

    frimleygreener "It 'a'int why...it just is"

    Location:
    united kingdom
    Another thumbs up for the Marantz CD 6006...it is not my preferred choice for listening,but when I do resort to it nothing disappoints...to my ears it performs better than models from Arcam and Cambridge Audio I also own.
     
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  11. bruce2

    bruce2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Connecticut, USA
    Before I owned my SA8005 I had numerous CD players over the years in the $500-$1000 price range from Rotel, Onkyo, Sony, and TEAC. The Marantz sounds noticeably warmer and better than all of them and I think was well worth $1200.
     
  12. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding. Doesn’t the OP have a Parasound amp w a nice built in DAC? Would a $1000 player be redundant? Maybe try a cheap player to feed his Parasound a digital signal and see how it goes and try to save some money.
     
  13. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Sure, why not hit Wal Mart and get a U$ 29 DVDP ? After all, all transports are the same, same jitter, same noise, same reliability, durability, etc.......NOT !:rolleyes:
     
  14. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Can do bit better than $29. Kind of an extreme example.
     
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  15. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    find a discounted cambridge audio 851C. beats anything under its list price by a handy margin.
     
  16. ClassicalCD

    ClassicalCD Make audio great again

    Location:
    Bogotá, Colombia
    My Marantz CD5005 sounds significantly better by itself than connected to the equivalently priced DACs that I own. Its sound is very detailed, and as has already been mentioned, is noticeably warm. Marantz CD players are very special pieces of equipment. It has never failed me once either, and I've played it a lot.

    Absolutely.

    No, lack of gapless playback on a CD player isn't normal, it's faulty functionality. I'll make a mental note never to purchase a Cambridge CD player. It would be impossible to listen to opera with comfort on such a device.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
    TarnishedEars likes this.
  17. Big Blue

    Big Blue Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I assume you’ve used one? Does it have gapless playback?
     
  18. Dingly Del Boy

    Dingly Del Boy Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    Yes
     
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  19. Dingly Del Boy

    Dingly Del Boy Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    The entry level CA Topaz range CD players don't do gapless (for some reason). All the others they make do.
     
    ClassicalCD, fogalu and Big Blue like this.
  20. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL


    Does it sport a Cirrus Logic DAC ?
     
  21. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    So hard to get a general agreement. Very subjective hobby.
     
    PinkIsTheSky likes this.
  22. 80sFan

    80sFan Well-Known Member

    With the DACs around there is less cd players about, though i own a DAC, and still listen mostly to my 80s and 80s cd players. I have recapped them all where needed, and upgraded opamps LME49680 and others OPA1642.
    I have Technics SL-P447A, PG440 A MASH players, with CDM19 mech (easy to get if fails - have 3 spare lasers), and also rare, it appears NEC CD620 (TDA1541A) , sony mech, have a few spare lasers for that also. Technics P990 and P350 ( use less as spares are not common) and later models Marantz CD5000 with TDA1549 ( has a AD8599 opamp). All sound good to me, different, hard to choose which I like

    DAC i have is a friends he manufactures Klein DAC with PCM1794A dac
     
  23. ClassicalCD

    ClassicalCD Make audio great again

    Location:
    Bogotá, Colombia
    Don't know.
     
  24. Helom

    Helom Forum member

    Location:
    U.S.
    Consider this dedicated transport:

    Pro-Ject CD Box DS2 T CD Transport-Audio Advisor

    I've been extremely pleased with Pro-Ject's DACs. Ironically, this company is known primarily for its analog products yet their true competence is in digital products.
     
  25. joelee

    joelee Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Houston
    :edthumbs:
     
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