Audiolab 6000CDT experience

[Mart68]

I already spent it! Got the Audiolab last year.

I'd rather play discs than use a PC for music , it's what I'm used to, and I was prepared to pay the premium for my anachronistic tendency. Don;t get me wrong if it was stupid money I would find an alternative but the price is reasonable IMO.

 

[rdenney]

I like playing CDs. I rip them for the car, but I prefer to play them in three dimensions most of the time. I still buy them, too.

One point of the CEC mechanism is that it is built for durability (one hopes, at least), which is much more important to me than playback, because even cheap transports do well enough in that regard, for as long as they last.

How long will those disposable DVD players last?

In fact, how long will the DVD medium last? Computers are already giving them up. A cheap DVD player is not my preservation tool of choice, and I want to preserve the playback rights I've paid for. Nor do I want to sit there for half a minute waiting for the thing to boot up and read the track list.

I don’t sit at a computer or watch movies when I listen to music, so my use cases may be different from those who “don’t understand”.

Rick “observing that many systems fulfill different requirements than their owners need, with resulting dissatisfaction” Denney

 

[Bullwinkle J Moose]

Many retail CD's played on a $5000 CD player sound like crap

Once I rip them, touch up the EQ, fix the stereo image and/or use a bit of impact restoration, my 128Kbps MP3 edits sound MUCH better than the original CD's they came from (regardless of the player being used)

Yes, you heard that right!

and if you think that's impressive, you should hear my uncompressed edits

LoL
It's Funny because it's True

(I've wasted my life - I could've been a comedian)

 

[pjug]

The reason the DVD drive is louder is it’s 8x speed. Or 16x. Rip it once in 4 minutes, your file will play silently forever. If you feel like spending an extra $500 it’s your money.

The Sony X800 is quiet. I bought this on recommendation in this thread, noise of the mechanism being my main concern:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...player-as-transport-for-an-external-dac.7315/

 

[DSJR]

Do those slot loaders scratch CD's on loading? I've had horror stories of this but it could well be sour grapes... As for drives 'sounding different,' i honestly feel this is very ancient news now as if I read these reviews correctly, modern dacs do seem jitter-immune by and large as well as being largely power supply immune - another unnecessary audiophile upgrade I feel.

 

[jsrtheta]

Just try them yourself , if cd transports are identical and don't make a difference to you then stick to your DVD player. If cd transports and DVD player are identical then why there CEC belt driven transports that cost 2 to 3 grand ? Out right scam to part fools from their money?

IIRC it started out as a "Hey, I wonder if we could...?" project, and then they saw dollar signs. Or that was the story I heard.

I know of no reason why a belt-drive should sound different from any other competent drive. And I owned a belt-drive when it was hip.

 

[audiopile]

I can't think of why a "polluted" data stream is in any way beneficial -so if I can reduce jitter from the player -that's just fine with me. As far as scratching CDs (which would really concern me) - I think the drive slot is unlikely to cause that on the AudioLab -BUT -mishandeling CD's presenting them to the slot for loading is easily done -fingerprints on the read area will result. So maybe rate the CDT-6000 as a three beer product ?

 

[Deleted member 24508]

The reason the DVD drive is louder is it’s 8x speed. Or 16x. Rip it once in 4 minutes, your file will play silently forever. If you feel like spending an extra $500 it’s your money.

I have several DVD / Bluray players including a Cambridge Audio SACD player and a Naim CD player. I have recently bought a Audiolab 6000 CDT. It will play damage disks without a sign of a problem that the others either will not load or read or that jump like crazy. How can it do that if it is EXACTLY the same. Simple it's not exactly the same. By the way the level of detail is much much better even than the Naim, it's audible.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

I can't think of why a "polluted" data stream is in any way beneficial -so if I can reduce jitter from the player -that's just fine with me. As far as scratching CDs (which would really concern me) - I think the drive slot is unlikely to cause that on the AudioLab -BUT -mishandeling CD's presenting them to the slot for loading is easily done -fingerprints on the read area will result. So maybe rate the CDT-6000 as a three beer product ?

Have you listened to one especially with a more than budget DAC?

 

[restorer-john]

I have several DVD / Bluray players including a Cambridge Audio SACD player and a Naim CD player. I have recently bought a Audiolab 6000 CDT. It will play damage disks without a sign of a problem that the others either will not load or read or that jump like crazy. How can it do that if it is EXACTLY the same. Simple it's not exactly the same. By the way the level of detail is much much better even than the Naim, it's audible.

Scratches are easy. People don't realise that the focal point of the laser is well below the surface and even deep playing surface polycarbonate scratches don't affect the reflected light. Interuptions to the data layer are a different thing.

If you player can play a disc like this with extreme data layer damage and playing surface scratches, then we are talking.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../lets-talk-cd-players.9104/page-5#post-234887

 

[audiopile]

Yup- the little demon discs are a whole lot tougher than their 7" and 12" groovy predecessors -to the point where I've let down my guard when buying from my local thrift. On occasion this has led to me purchasing some amazingly abused CD's most of which still played thru -BUT-some of which I regretted putting in the player (if I looked closer - I might KNOW what that is and then feel compelled to do something for my poor CD player

 

[restorer-john]

Yup- the little demon discs are a whole lot tougher than their 7" and 12" groovy predecessors -to the point where I've let down my guard when buying from my local thrift. On occasion this has led to me purchasing some amazingly abused CD's most of which still played thru -BUT-some of which I regretted putting in the player (if I looked closer - I might KNOW what that is and then feel compelled to do something for my poor CD player

Like you, I tend to buy as close to perfect 2nd hand discs as I can, but sometimes a disc is so good/rare that a bit of abuse in terms of damage doesn't stop me. Especially at 20c to 50c, who cares- I know my players will play it!

 

[Deleted member 24508]

Scratches are easy. People don't realise that the focal point of the laser is well below the surface and even deep playing surface polycarbonate scratches don't affect the reflected light. Interuptions to the data layer are a different thing.

If you player can play a disc like this with extreme data layer damage and playing surface scratches, then we are talking.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../lets-talk-cd-players.9104/page-5#post-234887

It seems you have missed the point. I have several CD players and several damaged disks. No player or computer will play them except my Audiolab. Some body on this page states frequently all CD players are the same and work the same, clearly this is not the case.

 

[restorer-john]

It seems you have missed the point. I have several CD players and several damaged disks. No player or computer will play them except my Audiolab. Some body on this page states frequently all CD players are the same and work the same, clearly this is not the case.

No "point" lost on me. I'm glad you like yours and it works for you. But this is a science site.

You may also be interested to know I've had communication with both the UK and Australian distributors of the product you bought, in July last year at a member's request. Unfortunately the Australian distributor failed to offer any facts on the abilities or lack thereof in relation to interuptions to data stream length on standard Philips 5A or Pierre Verany (graduated incremental burst and repeat data stream interuptions) test discs, simulated fingerprints etc. It is easy to quantify exactly how good machines are with those industry test discs.

Personally, until I've tested one (I even offered to do the requisite tests, as clearly, they had no means of doing it themselves...), I wouldn't reccomend the machine at all.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

No "point" lost on me. I'm glad you like yours and it works for you. But this is a science site.

You may also be interested to know I've had communication with both the UK and Australian distributors of the product you bought, in July last year at a member's request. Unfortunately the Australian distributor failed to offer any facts on the abilities or lack thereof in relation to interuptions to data stream length on standard Philips 5A or Pierre Verany (graduated incremental burst and repeat data stream interuptions) test discs, simulated fingerprints etc. It is easy to quantify exactly how good machines are with those industry test discs.

Personally, until I've tested one (I even offered to do the requisite tests, as clearly, they had no means of doing it themselves...), I wouldn't reccomend the machine at all.

I can only agree with all you have said however it has nothing to do with what I said.

 

[Mart68]

It seems you have missed the point. I have several CD players and several damaged disks. No player or computer will play them except my Audiolab. Some body on this page states frequently all CD players are the same and work the same, clearly this is not the case.

yes I have found the same, discs with errors that are unrecoverable on my other CD players will play flawlessly on the Audiolab, But it doesn't automatically follow from that that the Audiolab sounds better or that it even sounds any different then a cheap DVD player employed as a transport.

If you suspect that then you need to do some controlled listening tests to eliminate bias before you can state it as a fact.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

yes I have found the same, discs with errors that are unrecoverable on my other CD players will play flawlessly on the Audiolab, But it doesn't automatically follow from that that the Audiolab sounds better or that it even sounds any different then a cheap DVD player employed as a transport.

If you suspect that then you need to do some controlled listening tests to eliminate bias before you can state it as a fact.

I'm not suggesting that because the Audiolab will clearly play disks other CD players will not means it sounds better, there is no such correlation. I am suggesting that it does prove that all CD / DVD or other players are not functionally the same, as claimed by some on this site. A $20 CD does not sound like a $1000 CD (in general) indeed if you play several CD players through the same system differences are clearly audible. I know in one well documented case many years ago where in a blind test of several CD players one observer noted that a particular CD player had a distinct Musical Fidelity sound, he was correct. Of course he could have picked it by chance however the observers did not know what any of the players were so that chances of that are barely above zero. We seem to have people who make claims that all CD players or all amps or all days sound the same in the face of clear evidence to the contrary. The site measures the performance / parameters of all sorts of hi fi equipment, surely in does this in recognition of 2 things, all equipment does not measure the nor does it sound the same. I contend if they all sounded the same they would all test the same, what is more if it all sounded the same what is the point of testing anything anyway?

 

[Mart68]

There's a difference between a CD player and a CD transport though. It's a lot less likely that there will be differences between transports since there is no digital to analogue conversion happening in the transport.

I have not blind-tested CD players but from experience I'd expect the differences to be a lot smaller than we perceive them to be in sighted listening, and that many CD players will sound identical regardless of price, badge or topology.

 

[VintageFlanker]

I know in one well documented case many years ago where in a blind test of several CD players one observer noted that a particular CD player had a distinct Musical Fidelity sound, he was correct. Of course he could have picked it by chance however the observers did not know what any of the players were so that chances of that are barely above zero

If it is "well documented", then share it. That once was the all point of this site, BTW.

We seem to have people who make claims that all CD players or all amps or all days sound the same in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.

No, no no. You are changing the story. We are talking about CD transports, not CD players. Of course, CD players may sound different, starting from their output voltage variations (at, say, 1.9Vrms Vs 2.5Vrms, the difference would be clearly audible).

What is the clear evidence you are talking about? For now, I've read nothing but anecdotes from you.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

There's a difference between a CD player and a CD transport though. It's a lot less likely that there will be differences between transports since there is no digital to analogue conversion happening in the transport.

I have not blind-tested CD players but from experience I'd expect the differences to be a lot smaller than we perceive them to be in sighted listening, and that many CD players will sound identical regardless of price, badge or topology.

Well I think there are probably differences between many CD players but rather small and more likely from the DACs than the mechanism. I have had two transports the Rotes RDD 980 and the Audiolab 6000 CDT they actually do sound quite different, even with the same DAC. The DAC difference is really quite huge. I had the matching Rotel DAC it was terrible, I was given an Arcam Black Box and that was worse. Moved onto a Marantz DAC which was far too bright but now have a Denifrips Ares II which is superb.