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Do CD players sound different to each other?

Because they believe what the mass marketers have told them: their all the same sound, anything more than cheap and it's how expensive do you want it to look.
Show me one mass market cd player ad where it is stated that all cd players sound the same. Just one.
 
And most buy cheap because they believe that any old CD player will be great (and they have no idea that there is a DAC inside it, what a DAC is, what it does or why it is important for it to be a good one). Because they believe what the mass marketers have told them: their all the same sound, anything more than cheap and it's how expensive do you want it to look. (I've been into stereo gear since I was 14 [1971] did not know about any such thing as a DAC until I came onto this site).

??? Mass marketers have done just the opposite: they each claim their CDP sounds distinctly great. Ditto amplifiers and cables. Literally none use ad copy saying 'ours sounds the same as all the others" and why on earth would they?
 
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Most people that own CD players are not audiophiles. They just want good sound (and think that they are getting it, when they are not.
I want the tide that we create here to lift ALL the boats.
What a ridiculous statement. Perhaps you should provide how you define audiophile. That you didn't know what a dac was using digital audio is quite amusing....but just makes you look rather naive.

ps Okay, overlooked "most" but still some of your other comments already had me scratching my head as to what you're on about. Wanting good audio though is pretty much what an audiophile is otoh.
 
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I didn’t say it was the norm for me.

Statistically streaming is the norm and CD players today are very much an afterthought with much more limited choice compared to two decades ago. Where I am in the UK most people look at you as if you have two heads if you mention you still play CDs (which I do).

The only streaming I do is from my own ripped CD library I am in a very small minority these days.
I do not know but 1 person that streams (not even their TV [on cable: yes, streaming: no]{and my wife and I have not owned a TV since 2007, so that's out for us})
It is my goal to, at some point this year, get configured so that I can put my CD's & record album's onto a NAS so that I, too can stream from my own library.
I think that I know one person that streams from where ever.

Many are looking to either repair or replace their CD players. (me included)
I can record from other sources to make CD's via my SONY CDR W-500C.
Statistical averages make a 1/2 white, 1/2 black cat out to be gray.
In my area I don't think that streaming is the norm, not even close.
 
What a ridiculous statement. Perhaps you should provide how you define audiophile. That you didn't know what a dac was using digital audio is quite amusing....but just makes you look rather naive.

ps Okay, overlooked "most" but still some of your other comments already had me scratching my head as to what you're on about. Wanting good audio though is pretty much what an audiophile is otoh.
I thought that audiophiles were composed mostly of snooty elitists (and I promise you that is the impression that most around here have [stores with names like British American sound that sell things apparently made out of unobtanium for us mere mortals.), not just someone that enjoys good audio.
 
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I thought that audiophiles were composed mostly of snooty elitists (and I promise you that is the impression that most around here have [stores with names like British American sound that sell things apparently made out of unobtanium for us mere mortals.), not just someone that enjoys good audio.
The term has been perverted by those believing in silly audio tweaks for sure. Basically it just means someone enthusiastic about good audio reproduction/gear. It's not a skill or how much you spend particularly, altho there are those who believe it is.
 
I thought that audiophiles were composed mostly of snooty elitists (and I promise you that is the impression that most around here have [stores with names like British American sound that sell things apparently made out of unobtanium for us mere mortals.), not just someone that enjoys good audio.
There are elitist types in one form or another in most hobbies, that doesn’t mean it’s an absolute for the whole group within any category.

What is different at ASR is that it is recognised you don’t need elitist kit to enjoy good fidelity. That’s the whole point of objective analysis. You aren’t going to be told you need to spend silly amounts of money to achieve imaginary gains.

There are no emperors new clothes.
 
I buy mass market cd/dvd/blu ray sometimes SACD players at thrift stores for $10 or less. Whether I use the built in DAC or a recent SMSL DAC they all sound great and the same with or without the good DAC.
 
I buy mass market cd/dvd/blu ray sometimes SACD players at thrift stores for $10 or less. Whether I use the built in DAC or a recent SMSL DAC they all sound great and the same with or without the good DAC.
Yeah, it's not like it's vinyl or tubes or cartridges, etc
 
Both of which are way 'up in the chain' by EJ3's standards. So 'the chain' doesn't mean much.

I wonder which your 90s devices was either broken by design, or broken by accident? Because if your anecdote is to be believed, it's one or the other.

I understand why you are using the term
“ broken” but in the end that may be somewhat question begging. If one or more of them were designed to sound the way they sounded, then they were a successful design.

I have no idea.

The Meridian at the time had the reputation for a more “ analogue” and even vinyl-like presentation. I wasn’t into vinyl myself back then so I wasn’t necessarily looking for that. I was perfectly fine with CD sound. As I remember, mostly bought it because it seemed highly regarded at the time.

But… yeah… it actually did seem to have a slightly analogue or vinyl-like sound. I mean, I could get why it would be described that way.
It was very easy to tell apart from the Sony CD player as well.

I agree that it should be easy to make CD players that sound indistinguishable, including from the standpoint of the analogue stage.
 
I understand why you are using the term
“ broken” but in the end that may be somewhat question begging, if one or more of them were designed to sound the way they sounded, then they were successful design.

I have no idea.

The Meridian at the time had the reputation for a more “ analogue” and even vinyl-like presentation. I wasn’t into vinyl myself back then so I wasn’t necessarily looking for that. I was perfectly fine with CD sound. As I remember, mostly bought it because it seemed highly regarded at the time.

But… yeah… it actually did seem to have a slightly analogue or vinyl-like sound. I mean, I could get why it would be described that way.
It was very easy to tell apart from the Sony CD player as well.

I agree that it should be easy to make CD players that sound indistinguishable, including from the standpoint of the analogue stage.
So that's the extent of the experience, those two relatively obscure players?
 
I thought that audiophiles were composed mostly of snooty elitists (and I promise you that is the impression that most around here have [stores with names like British American sound that sell things apparently made out of unobtanium for us mere mortals.), not just someone that enjoys good audio.
I thought the definition of "audiophile" is someone who uses music to listen to his audio system. Everyone else does the opposite. ;)
 
So that's the extent of the experience, those two relatively obscure players?

The two CD players and the DAC.

Those are the only ones I ever blind tested.

I wasn’t running a testing lab :)


I don’t feel any need to with my benchmark DACs which sound and measure neutral.
Which is what I want.
 
The two CD players and the DAC.

I wasn’t running a testing lab :)

Those are the only ones I ever blind tested.

I don’t feel any need to with my benchmark DACs which sound and measure neutral.
Which is what I want.
Just wondering. Seems pretty much not useful information considering just you and the very small sample pool. I'd think generally just not an issue, especially as that is my experience with a wide variety of them. Can't imagine wasting time that way, really.
 
I thought the definition of "audiophile" is someone who uses music to listen to his audio system. Everyone else does the opposite. ;)
By that definition I am one and not part of the "everyone else does the opposite" group.
 
Watch how you use the quote thing....hard to see your actual response the way you did it.

I was being a bit cheeky as to why you would want to use music to listen to your gear (rather than the other way around, which makes much more sense to me)
 
Just wondering. Seems pretty much not useful information considering just you and the very small sample pool.

That’s why it’s FWIW for anybody to consider as they wish. I don’t think you’re gonna have many members here who have blind tested many CD players, so I thought I’d add whatever I had.

I'd think generally just not an issue, especially as that is my experience with a wide variety of them. Can't imagine wasting time that way, really.

Sure, I can see that. I don’t bother thinking about the sound of DACs or CD players these days.

But back in the 90s when I was really just getting into high-end audio, I was I guess
“ cautiously open” to some CD players sounding different or better than others.
And I was able to try a few different ones from friends, dealers etc. I had started out with the Sony CDP which was actually my wife’s when I met her, though it had been for picked out for her with other gear by her audiophile (in the ASR vein) brother and father. So it had probably measured well in stereo review or something.

When I got the Meitner DAC it seems to sound obviously different, as did the Meridian.

I was a member on one of the audio news groups at the time which comprised a number of engineer/objectivists (Arny Kruger, Stewart Pinkerton and others, for anyone who goes back that far).

There was talk that CD players should sound indistinguishable, and the technical account for this made sense to me, which is why my experience with those particular products felt at odds with my skeptical side. And that’s why I decided to do the blind testing.

The first day of the blind testing I could easily tell them apart, and I posted the results for people to investigate, and I asked for any tips to tighten up the protocol. The engineers chimed in with “ make sure you do this and that”…(which included matching the sound output levels using a voltmeter at the speaker terminals).

And I deployed those tips and did the tests again, easily telling each apart again, and posted the results. It was fun.

After that I bought secondhand Meridian 24 bit player, with some hopes of “ even better” sound. But it turned out I didn’t like it better: the 508.20 seemed to have a bit of texture that I liked that made imaging a bit more focussed and dense. So I sold the 24 bit player.

That was the last time I cared about the sound of a CD player or DAC. I eventually replaced the Meridian CD player with a benchmark DAC1 for streaming from my ripped CD collection, and never looked back (except replacing the DAC1 with the DAC2L
for some additional features I wanted).

These days I want assured neutrality from my digital source, and if I want some coloration, I play records.
 
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That’s why it’s FWIW for anybody to consider as they wish. I don’t think you’re gonna have any members here who have blind tested many CD players, so I thought I’d add whatever I had.



Sure, I can see that. I don’t bother thinking about the sound of DACs or CD players these days.

But back in the 90s when I was really just getting into high-end audio, I was I guess
“ cautiously open” to some CD players sounding different or better than others.
And I was able to try a few different ones from friends, dealers etc. I had started out with the Sony CDP which was actually my wife’s when I met her, though it had been for picked out for her with other gear by her audiophile (in the ASR vein) brother and father. So it had probably measured well in stereo review or something.

When I got the Meitner DAC it seems to sound obviously different, as did the Meridian.

I was a member on one of the audio news groups at the time which comprised a number of engineer/objectivists (Arny Kruger, Stewart Pinkerton and others, for anyone who goes back that far).

There was talk that CD players should sound indistinguishable, and the technical account for this made sense to me, which is why my experience with those particular products felt at odds with my skeptical side. And that’s why I decided to do the blind testing. The first day of the blind testing and could easily tell them apart, I posted the results for people to investigate, and I asked for any tips to tighten up the protocol. The engineers chimed in with “ make sure you do this and that”…(which included matching the sound output levels using a voltmeter at the speaker terminals).

And I deployed those tips and did the tests again, easily telling each apart again, and posted the results. It was fun.

After that I bought secondhand Meridians 24 bit player, with some hopes of “ even better” sound. But it turned out I didn’t like it better: the 508.20 seemed to have a bit of texture you that I liked that made feel a bit more focussed and dense. So I sold the 24 bit player.

That was the last time I cared about the sound of a CD player or DAC. I eventually replaced the Meridian CD player with a benchmark DAC1 for streaming from my ripped CD collection, and never looked back (except replacing the DAC1 with the DAC2L
for some additional features I wanted).

These days I want assured neutrality from my digital source, and if I want some coloration, I play records.
My take with initial digital was there wasn't a lot to consider (altho had to watch the actual chain....DDD wasn't the same particularly as AAD etc. Hard to know what unquantified "differences/preferences" amount to, if particularly experienced too
 
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