Budget CD Player
EasyBigFella -- Sun, 11/12/2006 - 16:02
I am researching good, budget-oriented CD players for my father. I've found a number of players that would seem a good buy, but the there are so many choices! To add further confusion, some cheap DVD players apparently provide excellent CD playback as well.
On top of what's listed in the Editors' Choice Awards, there is the yet-to-be-reviewed Marantz CD5001, at only $299, and nice-looking to boot. Barry covered the Onkyo DX-7555 in the current issue, but it didn't leave me with much of an impression. Is it as good as the beloved and similarly-priced Rotel 1072?
In keeping with budget-oriented coverage, I think that it might be good for TAS to do a sort of round-up of the best CD players under $1000, and perhaps a couple of the really good DVD/universal players. Aside from the usual suspects, the new contenders in this price range should be given full consideration.
EasyBigFella wrote:In keeping with budget-oriented coverage, I think that it might be good for TAS to do a sort of round-up of the best CD players under $1000, and perhaps a couple of the really good DVD/universal players. Aside from the usual suspects, the new contenders in this price range should be given full consideration.
FWIW, I just added a Music Hall cd25.2 to my system (Rotel RSX-965 receiver and Definitive BP8B speakers, both of which I hope soon to upgrade), replacing a cheeeeeeeeeeep DVD player. I would not have imagined the difference it's made! The sound is improved in almost every dimension--immediacy, transparency, depth, resolution...and it's not even broken in yet. I'm listening as I type to Gabriela Montero's Bach and Beyond solo piano CD and, while I won't say that it sounds like she's in the room, the fact that a piano is a percussion instrument has never seemed clearer to me.
If you get confused/Let the music play
If your CD is going to be connected to a receiver via the digital output, then all CD players from $10 - $2000 will sound identical. The difference can only be heard when you connect via the analog RCA jacks, and switch to Digital.
Having said that, there's a difference if you need a player with a built in DAC (and aren't using an external DAC) because your preamp has no digital inputs.
I have heard some DVD players do a very good job with CD's There is a prices for what ever you want. But can you hear it?
I have Toshiba HD DVD an player and have not decided if I will continue using it or get a multi disk changer. I am looking at whats out there.
Good luck
DN
Sony E55A20
Denon AVR-2807
Toshiba HD A2
Paradigm Studio 60 v4
3-Monster M1000HDMI-4M
Monster Z1 ML-10/10
dpnaugle wrote:If your CD is going to be connected to a receiver via the digital output, then all CD players from $10 - $2000 will sound identical. The difference can only be heard when you connect via the analog RCA jacks, and switch to Digital.
Sorry but that is patent NONSENSE.
Digital transports DO sound different.
You call yourself a TAS/TPV/AVGuide reader ?
:P
The Oppo 981 seems to fit your budget and according to the reviews / posts on this forum it does everything you ask AND plays exceptional quality DVD's. There are two "lesser" models too if you do not want to swing the $230.
mikew wrote:dpnaugle wrote:If your CD is going to be connected to a receiver via the digital output, then all CD players from $10 - $2000 will sound identical. The difference can only be heard when you connect via the analog RCA jacks, and switch to Digital.
Sorry but that is patent NONSENSE.
Digital transports DO sound different.
You call yourself a TAS/TPV/AVGuide reader ?
:P
I don't call myself a TAS/TPV/AVGuide reader, however if one can assume that 70-80% of the sound quality is dependent on the speakers then the 20-30% remaining will depend on power source, connections/set up,room acoustics, digital transport, etc. The average listener will hear very little difference if any in a budget-oriented system.
A blind test of this nature would be very interesting.
DN
Sony E55A20
Denon AVR-2807
Toshiba HD A2
Paradigm Studio 60 v4
3-Monster M1000HDMI-4M
Monster Z1 ML-10/10
Your basic assumptions are flawed leading to erroneous conclusions.
Experienced listeners know better than to use such arbitrary apportionments.
:D
I don't claim to be an expert. But I have listened to cheap players and to more expensive ones and for me, it's cost to benefit. I just can't hear the benefit of a costly CD player it in a budget oriented system.
I wonder that your opinion on speaker cables is? $25 12 gauge electrical cord or $500 M2.2s Speaker Cable.
:)
Sony E55A20
Denon AVR-2807
Toshiba HD A2
Paradigm Studio 60 v4
3-Monster M1000HDMI-4M
Monster Z1 ML-10/10
Depends on the quality of the 12 gauge and the system it's going in.
Monster M2.2 was pretty decent when it first came out in the late 90's.
Haven't heard all the contenders in the $500 price range so don't know where it stands today.
If you hear little or no difference then save yourself some money.
:D
dpnaugle, I'll tell you right now that I have a budget system, and here are the components:
Sony ES 508ESD CD Player (old)
Rotel RA972 60W Integrated Amplifier w/remote
B&W 601 S2 Monitors
Target speaker stands filled with sand
Tributaries DCA100 Interconnects
Paul Speltz Anticable Speaker Cables
Quite a modest system by audiophile standards, and yet switching between my old NAD 5-disc and the Sony, the difference is night and day! The Sony is far more neutral, trading off only a little bit of midrange warmth. Upgrading from my old Audioquest to the Tributaries interconnects was another huge leap in sound quality. And let's just say that going from my old 12-gauge spool Monster crap cable to the Anticables yielded an across-the-board improvement in every aspect of the sound, and in some respects the improvement was unbelievable. Even budget systems are sensitive to the relative quality of every component in them, and if I upgraded my old CD player to something new and better, damned if I wouldn't hear a difference in sound. The source is the most important component in the system because nothing downstream of it can fix its shortcomings.
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