Last CD Player
Dayton P. Strickland -- Wed, 11/26/2008 - 22:13
The Bryston BCD-1, Cambridge 840C and Creek Destiny CD players have all received what I would term as rave reviews recently and all are in the same ballpark price-wise. I'm currently using the Rotel RCD-1072 and wonder if I would gain any significant improvements by updating to any of the above mentioned CD players. This would probably be my last CD purchase as it seems some type of hard drive or flash card device will replace CD and DVD in the foreseeable future. By the way, the Rotel replaced an early 90's Phillips-based Marantz unit and the difference, to me at least, was staggering. I had just about given up on CD as a format until that point.
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Try the Cambridge 840C. I bought one last year and it is by far the most musical player I've ever heard that didn't cost a bundle. An added bonus is that this CD player has a DAC input that is great for the Wadia iTransport. Hook the Wadia up to the 840C and fill an iPod with WAV files of your favorite music and you have a terrific music server! (At under $400 for the iTransport and less than $300 for a 120 iPod Classic, it's the cheapest way to go.)
I haven't heard the Bryston or Creek, but I can second "Sister Golden Ears'" recommendation of the Cambridge 840C.
My last CD player is my last DVD player, a Pioneer Elite DV-58AV (CD/DVD-V/DVD-A/SACD). Sounds great alone and even better driving my Lite Audio DAC 60 192 Khz / 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC with 6922-tube base I/V section. Tubes do a better job than any IC or discrete semiconductor I/V circuits because of their rejection of ultra-sonic noise, gain margin and simplicity - I/V conversion and output all in 1 stage. Nothing else I've heard plays ALL these formats as well for less than $ 5K.
The Rega Saturn is the best CD player ever made and it retails for about $2500 US. Don't believe me? Give it a listen, nothing compares.