Had this player in 1986. I thought the sound thin. Got me back into turntables, the first was a Sota Saphire. Then tried my laserdisc with one bit mash and soon heard what better digital sound can be. Then got a Cal audio labs dx -1, a Meridian, Musical fidelity then Esoteric sa 50. Now im at a point where digital and analog both are similar and great. John M.
Got this one out of my closet again and hooked it up, also has the TDA1541 on board. All alu machined drawer, no nasty rattling plastics in site!
Well I was a bit sceptical towards this chip as it is getting pretty old. I hooked it up to see what it could do and I must say it sounds different from my bel canto dac3 and/or cocktailaudio ess sabre. More bass and with some recordings/masters it sounds less harsh, especially evident on more recent ac/dc remasters. I don't like these, but on this cd player they definitely sound 'better' at loud volumes (less harsh). Soundstage is as big as the other dacs I mentioned. Oh and the way that drawer closes in complete silence with just a slight touch of your finger is still magical
Hasn‘t this CDP a dedicated connector which makes it a bit awkward to hook it up to non-Bang systems?
Yes it has a 5 pin din connector (actually 7 pin din, but you can unscrew 2 of those little pins, these 2 extra pins are just there to allow this cdp to be remote controlled through the b&o amp). I just use a 5 pin din female to 2 RCA adapter to hook it up to any other pre-amp. This way no remote control of course but I don't need that for cd-listening as I only listen through entire albums with cd's. Control on the cdp is pretty simple but just what you need for cd-album-listening : open the tray, put in the cd, close it with a slight touch (or press play on the right of the front panel) and the magic happens . Only other control possible on the front panel is to skip to the next track.
Not seen any love here, yet, for the Cambridge Audio CD3. Ugly as sin, with ergonomics only it's mother could love, it nevertheless uses no fewer than four TDA1541A chips (on the left) in a special laddered configuration. I'm hanging on to mine.
I think it first arrived in the late 80s? Posisbly around '88, but that might not be completely right. There's lots of love for them now, of course (translation via the tab bottom right, if you need it). Took some shots when I thought of selling mine some years ago. Then woke up from my nightmare, smacked my head and promptly bought another one!
How about this Yamaha CD1, circa 1983? It tips the scales at over 30 lbs and a friend of mine has been waiting to have it repair for the last 5 years ...
I love the 1541! I loved my Naim CD3 and CD2 (CD 2 less) and still have a Marantz CD74, Rotel 855, B&O CD-X (1540, I believe), and MF Digilog. All has a dollop of the analogue-ness we all look for in digital. Having said that, I do want to try some Schiit, though, just to see what’s up.
I love the TDA1541 players! I'm basically an addict. Off the top of my head I own the following players with it: Magnavox CDB 460 Magnavox CDB 560 Magnavox CDB 650 Magnavox CDB 465 Magnavox CDB 582 Magnavox CDB 472 Sony CDP-207esd Sony CDP-750 Sony CDP-505esd (The CDP-207esd, CDP-750 and CDP-68 were all basically the same player, very small variations, mainly cosmetic) The one that I've put the most mileage on is the CDB 582, followed closely by the CDB 650 and CDP 207esd. Does anyone know what the first machine to have the TDA1541 was? The oldest one I have is the CDB 460 with a date of August 1986.
Signed up here to say that I am also not able to stop buying CD players with the Philips TDA1541A chip. For more than 12 years I have been collecting this kind of gadgets, after having accidentally discovered that a modest Marantz CD50 (without any modification) sounded better than a player who had cost me 5K! Later I discovered that these machines could be modified and positioned at an unbeatable level, for many of the new players with the new Delta-Sigma chips.
