Is your main CD player a dedicated CD player or a universal one?

Indeed!

 

Have an Onkyo 6 disc changer for red book cds. Oppo bdp-103d for SACD and HDCD. The Onkyo is about 15 years old and still going strong with moderate use. Must be decent as I believe they still sell the same model to this day.

 

While I can understand a good stand alone CD player years back.

Today, it makes more sense to me to reallocate the money to a great system wide DAC and reserve the CD player for a transport.

 

Most are universal.

Pioneer elite dv-79avI
McCormack UDP-1
Old Sherwood 5 disc carousel, must be 15 years old, still pristine, and works great.

The pioneer is amazing,
The McCormack is also a pioneer tray/laser, mechanism. Still plays great.

Tried 4-5 dedicated CD players, each one had issues, so I a sticking with these old units which are great and reliable.

Why can’t home CD players last as long as the one in my GMC pickup?
It still plays, is full of dust, and is cheap, stock player, yet I pay 300-600$ for a high quality CD player, and they. Have issues? I had an old CD player that lasted 20 years, an old JVC AND SONY, lasted me a long time, as did,y Onkyo ex-7500.
The newer generation of disc players are all junk.
My opinion, as I have bad luck with them.

I’m still considering the newest Rotel CD player, but as long as my Elite dv-79avi and McCormack play fine, why drop coin.

 

Mine is dedicated.
Dedicated to rocking out!

 

My bedroom system has a Yamaha SACD player. My home theater system has a Sony universal disc player.

 

Agreed, my Moon Simaudio CD player, which will have to be prised from my cold dead hands, connects to my Moon Simaudio DAC (along with other digital sources).
Both are great prices of kit.

 

Post a pic!

 

Is that a different DAC than the one that is included in their current CD player?

 

Right now, Sony BDP-S6500, with the hardware modification for region-free video (BRD, DVD) playback. Not loving it though mainly because there is no front display, so you have to have the TV on to see what track is playing -- not only that, if you turn the player off, the TV automatically shuts off, and vice versa, which is quite annoying, as I would prefer just to set up a disc and play it with the TV off sometimes. So I'm going to need to add a player but am really lost as to where to go.

 

Not sure as I do not have their current CD player, but it is certainly different to the one on my CD player (and the optional one in my Moon amp), and very significantly better as well.
I would say that my experience of Simaudio Moon would suggest that the DACs in their CD players are not the ones of in their separate DACs. The separate DACs really do add a significant extra bit of magic-dust. That said, my kit is all 3XX series and the 6XX and 7XX series may be different (I have tried to a avoid listening, in any systematic sense, to the 6XX and 7XX as I am pretty sure that I know what the result would be and I can't/don't want to afford it).

 

I voted Blu ray player, but I don't own any CD's, and I rarely play my Blu ray's anymore.

 

Good to have both, a transport only wouldn't work in my case for SUBQ PE discs. My outboard DAC is mainly used for the vinyl to digital transfers I make via SB Touch.
I like knowing 100% my player will handle these types of discs.

 

Is that the made in Japan first Factory UK pressing of "Low-Life"?

I have that disc and as you obviously know it has pre-emphasis.

I have a Creek 50CD CD player / DAC to match my Creek 50a amp:-



.....I am not sure whether the Creek 50CD player handles pre-emphasis.

But most of my listening these days is via a Raspberry Pi / Wolfson audio card (hidden behind my rig) which acts as Squeezebox Touch clone and feeds the Creek 50CD 's DAC via coax.

I have processed the flacs from the early "Low-Life" disc with SoX to cope with the pre-emphasis issue - sounds great!

 

It is!
Nice set-up!
If my Touch ever bites the bullet, the Pi would be it's replacement
Since this Low-Life flag is SUBQ, to test your cd player try playing it via analog out and see how it sounds. You'll definitely know if it's correcting the EQ or not
My favorite mastering for this album!

 

Thanks funnily enough as I am replying to this post I am listening to OMD's first press "Architecture & Morality" Virgin blue face disc which also has pre-emphasis....

Being a sucker for old CDs - it is amazing how many I have with PE.

I'll give the "Low-Life" disc a try out after dinner...

I used to have a Squeezebox Touch but after it sadly died - I started building these Pi / Wolfson Card clones (I have three now dotted around the house and they work really well and cost peanuts).

 

OK having had my dinner - I put the original "Low-Life" CD with pre-emphasis into my Creek 50CD player...

...I am fairly sure this is my oldest Factory Records CD - bought on release with a Car Carry Case etc (don't ask - Tony Wilson had an early in-car CD player)

....the disc and car carry case are still fresh as a daisy (despite being nearly 35 years old)

FACD100 sounded fine on my Creek 50CD player...

I then played the de-emphed FLACs through the DAC section of the Creek...

Weirdly the Flacs were a couple of dbs down in volume compared to the CD...

..but when volume matched - seemed tonally the same.

So at least I know that my Creek 50CD player seems to do Pre-Emphasis (which is good to know).

 

Excellent, now we know the Creek 50CD can handle these type's of (PIA) PE discs , thanks
I have quite a few as well, including that OMD, and a bunch of old Japan Denon Classical titles. It's just one thing I don't want to have to worry about when I pop in a disc
Thanks Adam!

 

Up until 2 months ago I'd never owned a Blu Ray player. Now I do (because I bought it to replce my defunct CDP) I've only been able to afford ONE BD title, which was priced as a regular CD. Modern DVDPs upgrade regular DVDs just nicely. I won't replace any of my DVDs for their BD counterparts, but may get some copies of things I don't currently own. A BD title goes for some U$ 40 down here, whereas a copy (yes, they're illegal) can set you back 3-4 bucks.

Also BD titles are usually mainstream, not what I listen to the most.

On my wishlist :

Billy Idol-In Superoverdrive
Ted Nugent-Ballistirock
Rob Zombie-The Horror Zombie Show
Blutengel-Live Lines
RATM-Live Finsbury Park
Morrissey-25 Live

 

As of a couple of weeks ago, my main system has switched over from a Panasonic Blu-ray player to an Audiolab 6000CDT for CDs. I’m keeping the Panasonic for video, butt the sound from the dedicated transport is noticeably better.

 

There's a Marantz SA7003 sacd player here. The Blu ray's have a lovely Panasonic unit to themselves with dedicated RCA line outs.

 

Had to go back and change my vote to "other." I no longer have a cd player. Still have 1500 cds in a closet and ordered a cd just last night.

 

I have a dedicated CD player - Meridian 602-603, but it's gathering dust. I use an Oppo UDP-205 for most playback and a Primare DVD-30 for Dolby Surround CDs.

 

I now have completely upgraded to 4k from HD, but only have one 4k disc.

I have DVD's and Blu-ray's, but the regular DVD's upscale wonderfully to the 65" 4k TV.

And, they do it far better than I would have ever imagined, given the resolution of the 4k TV screen.

I don't have any issues at all with watching DVD's on the 4K TV.

Although, because all of the video gear upscales, the Oppo 203, the Emotiva 4k processor and the TV set itself, so I don't know where to give credit, but the picture with modern production DVD's is practically flawless.

 

Yes, have noticed something very similar. The pictures from Blu-rays upscaled to 4k are better than DVDs upscaled to 4k but not by much. Like you I am not sure whether it is the player or the TV that is doing the job.

Where Blu-rays do outperform DVDs is, of course, on sound but that is simply a function of how sound is stored and retrieved on the two formats.

I have two 4k discs! By pure coincidence we have ended up with both Blu-ray (original Blu-ray not the one included with the 4k disc) of the film Everest. The 4k disc is clearly better than the Blu-ray but, given the current cost (typically £20 and up), not sufficiently so to switch from purchasing Blu-rays (£5 to £8)