Old CD's on New Hardware

[Inner Space]

Actually they were. But never mind. Long live the new flesh/god is great/whatever.

What a weird response. You said early 14-bit machines had "very rolled off treble". You were completely, demonstrably, measurably and categorically wrong. Man up and admit it.

 

[muslhead]

What a weird response. You said early 14-bit machines had "very rolled off treble". You were completely, demonstrably, measurably and categorically wrong. Man up and admit it.

I hope you aren't going to hold your breath waiting for it.

 

[julian_hughes]

I struggle to be impressed by a contextless reproduction of a 30 year old pdf or some people who imperiously tell me about their experience of several *different*(!) machines from the one I owned but from the same era. Those old 14-bit CD players sounded warm and syrupy and had rolled off treble. But don't rely on your pdf snippet or my 40 year old memory. Get a 14-bit CD Player and try it. Test it. Measure it. Record the output from the analog out to PCM, make it public. Show us all that 37 years of innovation has produced CD players that sound just the same as those 1st gen players. They don't. They really did sound warm and rolled off.

 

[restorer-john]

I have the reviews and own quite a number of the first generation players.

Here's the Akai CD-D1 which also used the Philips 14 bit converters (2xTDA-1540D philips chipset with O/S filter)

Louis Challis. A discerning discourse on CD players. Sept 1983. 6 first gen players extensively tested side by side.

 

[restorer-john]

Those old 14-bit CD players sounded warm and syrupy and had rolled off treble. But don't rely on your pdf snippet or my 40 year old memory. Get a 14-bit CD Player and try it. Test it. Measure it. Record the output from the analog out to PCM, make it public. Show us all that 37 years of innovation has produced CD players that sound just the same as those 1st gen players. They don't. They really did sound warm and rolled off.

Thing is, I own 5 CDP-101s, Two Akai CD-D1s, countless philips, Sony, Marantz, Denon, players of all costs, pedigrees and ages.

There is no truth whatsoever to your claims. Anecdotal revisionist history regurgitated from HiFi magazines. First gen machines are indistinguishable in blind tests to modern machines.

 

[julian_hughes]

So measure one that you own. Listen to it. Share the output of the 14-bit player's analog output as PCM/WAV using a well known and widely available CD. Let's deal with audio, not contextless snippets from unknown images and pdfs.

 

[julian_hughes]

I've never knowingly read "Anecdotal revisionist history regurgitated from HiFi magazines". That looks to be mere insult. I'm just going by my own experience with 1st gen Marantz CD-54 and subsequent players of later generations. That's where I'm speaking from. Not from snippets of unknown pdfs or jpegs or what appears to be groupthink by some who never owned those old machines. Those old 14-bit CD players sounded warm and syrupy and had rolled off treble. They really did.

 

[julian_hughes]

Thank you forum gods for the ignore function. And the option to unsubscribe.

 

[restorer-john]

Not from snippets of unknown pdfs or jpegs or what appears to be groupthink by some who never owned those old machines. Those old 14-bit CD players sounded warm and syrupy and had rolled off treble. They really did.

You think that by repeating your baseless claims over and over, they become fact?

Remember, it is you making the silly, baseless claims of "warm" and "syrupy". Therefore, the burden of proof lies with you, not me, or any of us here.

 

[MarkS]

I'm sorry for disturbing the audio taliban but wtf.

You wrote "My 1984 Marantz CD-54 had notably, unambiguously, obviously rolled off treble." Measurements show that this is not correct. You also wrote "The first generation players were effectively 14-bit and had very rolled off treble." Measurements show that they did not have rolled-off treble. Whether or not they were "effectively 14-bit" depends on the precise meaning of "effectively".

My earlier comments were solely about your incorrect claims of rolled-off treble in the early players. I went to the trouble to find the original reviews and post measurment graphs from them. If that makes me part of the "audio taliban", then I am proud to be a member.

 

[escksu]

This thread has become an argument about CD players instead.....

 

[escksu]

I'm trying to decide about keeping my old CD collection. I have about 200 CD's mostly from the 1990's and early 2000's. If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound? I have good hardware in the rest of the system. I listen to hi res streaming mostly with occasional records (not for the "sound" quality but because I like the whole experience).
Thanks in advance

One thing to note is most of these CD's were good recordings back in their day. A lot of classical.

Yes, it will work. Using your CD player as a dedicated transport and connect it to a better DAC. You might also want to check if your CD player is upgradeable (like some of the Arcam models). The DAC in some players could be upgraded to someting better. I do have a very old Arcam CD72. It is able to upgrade to the ring DAC, unfortunately its no longer available. Now, looking around for a used Alpha 9 to get the DAC.

I also have a DAC. Now, I am using the CD72 as a transport and connecting it to DAC.

Having said that, like what some has pointed out, you may want to rip them out and store them on a music server or something. IBut, 200 CDs is not going to be easy to rip.

 

[JSmith]

If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound?

Possibly, if the DAC in the CD player isn't great... get one, try it.



JSmith

 

[Leporello]

Get a 14-bit CD Player and try it. Test it. Measure it. Record the output from the analog out to PCM, make it public.

Friendly advice: it is you who tries to convince others of the syrupy and rolled-of treble. You provide the evidence. If not, you are asking others to accept your claims just because you say so. That's bad form.

 

[MarkS]

This thread has become an argument about CD players instead.....

The discussion is on point because the OP's question was "If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound?"

The answer is no.

 

[escksu]

The discussion is on point because the OP's question was "If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound?"

The answer is no.

No, I am not getting into your arugments. You can continue, I will stay out of it.

 

[restorer-john]

The answer is no.

If the new, 'highly regarded' D/A converter is competently designed, there will be no significant difference and most likely no audible difference between that and his older CD player.

 

[Doodski]

It would be ace if we could get a CDP-101 to @amirm for a test @restorer-john.

 

[nerone]

I'm trying to decide about keeping my old CD collection. I have about 200 CD's mostly from the 1990's and early 2000's. If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound? I have good hardware in the rest of the system. I listen to hi res streaming mostly with occasional records (not for the "sound" quality but because I like the whole experience).
Thanks in advance

One thing to note is most of these CD's were good recordings back in their day. A lot of classical.

 

[nerone]

I'm trying to decide about keeping my old CD collection. I have about 200 CD's mostly from the 1990's and early 2000's. If I drive digital out of an older CD player (good in it's day) into a new, highly regarded DAC am I likely to see any improvement in sound? I have good hardware in the rest of the system. I listen to hi res streaming mostly with occasional records (not for the "sound" quality but because I like the whole experience).
Thanks in advance

One thing to note is most of these CD's were good recordings back in their day. A lot of classical.

I have an old Grundig CD 7500 player equivalent but better than Philips Cd303, when I listen to a cd it is really exciting what I hear compared to modern cd and dac players.

So my answer is keep the cd