CDP out of time or not? Is it worth to get a new one?

[EXIF68]

Hello Forum,

i have a small question bc. my older Sony CDP 707ES is going to be out of order. The internal DAC in the Sony CDP is not working any more, it is only possible to operate the CDP by digital output (F/O or Coaxial). The Transport itself is also at the end of its lifetime. The CD-Transport is not working as smooth as it should. You must help them to close and so on.
So, to my question above. I have the possibility to get an used but in very good conditions Accuphase DP67. This device is from 2006 but it works as a new one. The price is a little bit high, 1/3 of the price from them. So the question is: Is it worth to buy such a device in our days?

Greetings,

Walter

 

[anibal66]

Gruss Gott! Relative worth is a personal view.

There are good reasons to listen to ripped CDs, to stream from Spotify or Qobuz or..., to play CDs or vinyl or reel to reel...

Regarding CDs:
One may be attached to one's collection and enjoy just see it there.
One may want to keep one's well known recording/mastering, as the streaming services sometimes offer worse/less likeable/just different ones.
One may like the act of selecting and playing a physical disc.
Even if it is a much inferior experience in comparison to LPs, one may like CD covers and leaflets in order to see pics, read notes, follow lyrics.
One can avoid these damned phone/computer screens in late evening, as recommended.
CD players are inmune to sporadic problems with the internet and the wi-fi.
CDs are cheaper now.
...

If you decide to keep the CD collection for attachment reasons, maybe it is the right time to get a solid and eye-pleasing CDP. Maybe a second hand one with reliable sources of spare parts. Others here may help with models ore desirable features, as I have zero technical expertise. The Accuphase may fit the bill.

If you also decide to keep your DVDs and BluRays, you may consider a multiformat instead.

 

[digitalfrost]

So. I've never owned a CD player. I was always a computer guy and the first stereo I got from my grandpa, I connected it to my PC. It had a CD-ROM drive, so I could listen to CDs. Then came MP3 and the rest is history.

Personally, I would simply rip all the CD and stream the FLACs from the computer. But that is really a question of personal preference and the user experience you want to have.

 

[EXIF68]

The use of NAS with iPad and small PC (Mac mini) as source is working fine but it always depends on a working system. LAN-connection, Computer-Updates, Software-Problems, and so on are sometimes disturbing the listening pleasure. My old Sony CDP 707ES is from year 1997 and was running till today more or less with high performance. In the last years the DAC performance of this player was getting worse and worse. Now, the DAC has finished (no music audible, only disturbing noise signals).
And I have no big trouble with Blue-Ray or DVD´s bc. I don't have much of them and additionally I have a BlueRay player in the living room for using them. But I don't like listen to music by this Onkyo Blue-Ray-Player. 1st you have to wait very long till the system starts playing and also the overall quality is not regarding to the standards in my music room. On the other hand, the Accuphase would be the "highlight" of the used components:
- Accuphase DP67
- Yamaha A-S2100
- Heissmann DXT-MON Speaker System
I think so far so good.

Greetings,
Walter

 

[RayDunzl]

I use an inexpensive Tascam CD200 player as a transport to send digits to a DAC.

 

[Willem]

Is it worth to buy such a device in our days?

My answer would be no, but not because the CD format is slowly disappearing. It is, of course, but DVD and particularly (UHD)Bluray are not, at least for the time being. My suggestion would be to buy an affordable (UHD)Bluray player and use its digital output into your DAC. That way its audio performance will be as good as it gets, and you can also use the player to connect it to the TV and watch the various video formats. I think for example opera is so much better if you can also see the stage. And you can watch movies with good stereo audio. These days such players are dirt cheap in the case of ordinary Bluray players, and fairly cheap for UHD players. The only thing to watch for with the cheaper players is whether they have an optical or coaxial output. These days many only have hdmi.

 

[Gregm]

o the question is: Is it worth to buy such a device in our days?
Greetings,
Walter

I join Willem above in answering no, for the same reasons.
However, you could just do... nothing: the Sony transport has a nice, punchy, and dynamic sound. Even if transport's opening & closing mechanism (i.e. the belt & rollers) is a bit stiff why not just live with the small inconvenience until it dies out?
BTW, didn't Accuphase use a Sony transport mechanism in its cdps?

 

[EXIF68]

I think you are right. It is not worth to update bc. the price of the used Accuphase is also not cheap, in comparison with other players. And yo are right, the Accuphase DP67 was the last one using the Sony transport mechanism. Later they used then a homemade CD-Transport. But this Players are on the other side of affordable. Price tag in +4k€ and more.... typical high end equipment.... therefore the DP67 is moderately "cheap" in comparison.
And the Sony CD-Transport mechanism is from exceptional quality. The CDP 707 ES is from the year 1997 (!) and the Transport is still working. I don't think that new and cheap CDP are still working in more than 20 years ;-)

LG Walter

 

[somebodyelse]

If you're lucky one of the members here with experience of servicing CD transports will reply - it may be relatively easy to get it working properly again. I've seen detailed comments on the things that specific mechanisms may need, but unfortunately I don't remember who posted them. A thread with a specific title like 'help wanted servicing Sony CDP 707ES transport' might tempt them out.

 

[Hipper]

How many CDs do you have?

Ripping CDs is not difficult but it is time consuming. It requires a PC, some suitable software and well thought out procedures to manage your ripped music. You then need some way of playing the stored music. For a large number of CDs it's a major operation. The advantages should be an ability to easily access all your music, make playlists (compilations of tracks from your whole collection) and to play random songs from your whole library, a feature I like as you can listen to material that you haven't heard for a while or originally disliked but now becomes enjoyable. If you still collect music by CD (as well as downloads of course) you can add them to your library later.

You may wish to abandon a music collection completely and go with streaming.

If you still like playing CDs though, then you should get a suitable player. You could see if your Sony machine can be fixed (if it can't it will cost you nothing to open it up and see if you can do something with the tray mechanism), get another integrated CD Player, or a separate Transport and DAC. I would look for reputable makes that are known for their longevity and good support. You may pay a bit more but over ten years or so that won't amount to much.

 

[EXIF68]

Thanks for the info. The CD-Transport (the drawer) was hanging a little bit so that you must service the operation with the fingers to change the CD. So i have tried to oil the steel guide rops with a little bit maintenance oil from "Würth". So after a few tests, the drawer is now in operation more or less without issues. The "reserve" force of the drawer-mechanismus is also very small but what shells.
The DAC in the 707 is completely finished and also the headphone output. It sounds like the deepest earth-drilling hole in USSR (Kola-Hole): Horrible.
But with optical output and connected to my benchmark DAC2 it works fine.

 

[Tigi]

Hello EXIF68. A year ago, I was in a similar situation. My Sony X779ES from 1992, although still in good shape and functioning as a transport without any major problems, began to seem morally obsolete to me. I was thinking about replacing it by something more modern, but of sufficient quality. It was purely a matter of transport which would provide data to a separate DAC. I was thinking about CD players from the late nineties (like Sony XA50ES or Marantz CD14) or blue-ray players. Each solution has its advantages and disadvantages.

In the end, I bought Cambridge Audio CXC (compared it also to the Audiolab 6000CDT) that suits me perfectly, both from a functional and aesthetic point of view. I started to collect CDs in the second half of the 90's and I still enjoy buying new or used discs. So I will operate some transport of physical media for as long as possible. Switching to HDD or streamer is out of the question for me.

 

[EXIF68]

Hello, i have several hundrets of CD´s and i love to operate them with a solid CDP. And additonally it is really a major work to rip all of them to the NAS. I have tried to do this but this needs weeks of time and i don´t have this time. Additonally i like to read the booklets of the Covers and enjoy the zeremony of playing them. A cheap acutal CD-Player is also no question for me. I have thougth about a Yamaha CD-S 2100 ore something like that... and now the chance for the Accuphase. The price from the used Accuphase and the new Yamaha is more or less the same. mmhhmm

 

[Willem]

There is one important thing you should realize: the sound quality depends on the DAC used, whether internal or external. So if you already have a good external DAC you can use the digital output of the player. For that any transport will do as long as it is quiet.

 

[Mnyb]

Yes if you have a DAC or AVR any old DVD or BD player will do the job.

A dedicated CDP has one thing goin for it , speed . You just pop in the CD and press play . Universal players are bit cumbersome and slow to load.

Personally i have moved to streaming my ripped CD's as FLAC files , but i still display my collection in the living room

 

[Willem]

I have a BD player (and soon an UHD player) for video (with optical out for digital audio), and I can use it to play CDs, but I rarely do that anymore. Instead I use streaming services for music and internet radio. TV, Chromecast Audio and BD player all go into an RME ADI-2 DAC.

 

[pocketchange]

Think about the age, amount of use and lack of maintenance...
Streaming is great, but less than positive opinion about CD players... is a waste.
AS for CD's dying out.. BS.

BUY an older (hi-end) player, spend some time learning the ends and outs of
CD players (get off your butt) and
remember streaming IS NOT for everyone. pc

 

[TonyJZX]

to me its always a case of... how do you get the music off a CD?

and if you have a PC or laptop with an optical drive then your answer is there

CD is still relevant as there's some music i like that is only on CD and once you have the disc you can then put it on a phone, server etc.