Help Shape Our Upcoming CD Player for 2024

[JCM800]

Sorry it was a direct reply to JCM800 Idea that cds couldn't be played due to lack of media players. Adding to that I think everyone still has cd ROMs floating about in boxes aswell I know I do.

You’re totally right. I was thinking of single-purpose players but of course there’s a ton of optical disc players out there.

 

[SSS]

Don't need a CD player anymore. Had digitized all my CDs with my PC. New music for me to buy will be file download only. Also listening Amazon Music which has a great inventory for my taste of music.

 

[JCM800]

New competition from Shanling out this month.

Shanling’s CR60 is a $269 CD transport + CD ripper | Darko.Audio

Rip to a PC, Mac, USB storage device, Android smartphone or DAP.

darko.audio

Price is still too high for me ($269), and I've no need for the ripping feature. Room to compete, Fosi.

 

[amper42]

Would like to see the Shanling CR60 measured. It's design reminds me of an old computer external CD player.

Introducing Shanling CR60_Shenzhen Shanling Digital Techno

 

[Tell]

Would like to see the Shanling CR60 measured. It's design reminds me of an old computer external CD player.

Introducing Shanling CR60_Shenzhen Shanling Digital Techno

It's a transport, not much to measure.

Personally I don't understand the price at all, CD transports have been in existence since the 80s and by now they should be as perfected and brought down in price and size as much as humanly possible by now. Sure they've probably been in dwelling for some time now, but is it really that hard to build something small, performant and cheap?

 

[amper42]

It's a transport, not much to measure.

Personally I don't understand the price at all, CD transports have been in existence since the 80s and by now they should be as perfected and brought down in price and size as much as humanly possible by now. Sure they've probably been in dwelling for some time now, but is it really that hard to build something small, performant and cheap?

It has the ability to RIP CDs without a computer which is an interesting trick. Just attach a drive, insert CD and push the RIP menu button. How well this is done or what formats it supports is not disclosed. It would also be interesting to know if Mac OSX sees the device.

 

[EJ3]

I would assume that most would connect the CD player to their DAC via a digital connection.

I think that (at least around here) that is a false assumption.
I checked with 12 other people I know that play CD's & not one of them owns a stand alone DAC (me included).

 

[EJ3]

Introducing Shanling SCD1.3_Shenzhen Shanling Digital Techno

This is a nice “premium” SACD player.
$1300
It’s basically a SACD 30n competitor with a nice touchscreen.

I like it (although I would prefer a non-sliding tray loader [such as a top loader with a clear or half clear cover).
Also, this statement makes the sound suspect: Sound tuning of the SCD1.3 was based on...
Sound tuning seems to mean: not quit accurate.
Now, if it is a selectable choice from accurate, I am good with that BUT I have questions about the "presentation".
IF it is accurate, then the price doesn't bother me (unless it is designed to fail & be unrepairable at some point in he future).

 

[amper42]

I think that (at least around here) that is a false assumption.
I checked with 12 other people I know that play CD's & not one of them owns a stand alone DAC (me included).

It's hard to believe someone has been on ASR since 2019 and never purchased a DAC? You must ignore all the reviews?
You can plug the Shanling CR60 into any optical input on your AVR as well - just like any Denon CD player.

 

[EJ3]

It's hard to believe someone has been on ASR since 2019 and never purchased a DAC? You must ignore all the reviews?
You can plug the Shanling CR60 into any optical input on your AVR as well - just like any Denon CD player.

My region free oPPo 205 UDC has a DAC, should I ever want to use one. But I HIGHLY prefer a CD Player to have it's own, thank you very much.
I do not follow others unless I choose to.
So far, I see a need for a stand alone ADC but not a stand alone DAC. At least, not yet.
I had a Denon AVR that I ended up converting to 6.2 in 1990 (because I mistakenly followed the crowd). I eventually gave it away.
I have been 2 channel (with a pair of custom subs & sometimes quadraphonic with the same subs) since then.
I have not owned a TV or a Monitor since 2007 & don't see much use for one. I live far enough away from things that streaming is NOT an Option.
But I will be getting a 48" 4K Samsung for Christmas to use for my DVD, Blu Ray & 4K disks with my oPPo.
The only good thing to come out of the AVR experience was the 4 Dahlquist M-905 speakers that I bought:

Dahlquist M-905 Speaker System Review​

Dahlquist M-905
Dahlquist’S first speaker, the DQ-10, was—and still is—an unconventional product: a free-standing system whose drivers are not mounted in the usual box enclosure. Reduction of coloration from box resonances and maintenance of an accurate phase relationship between its drivers are the key features of the DQ-10, which has been on the market for fourteen years and has been acclaimed for its sound quality.
The Dahlquist line has since been expanded to include a number of box-type speakers. Despite their familiar appearance, they have also been designed to be as free as possible of the usual box colorations. Moreover, they have the high sensitivity and linearity needed to reproduce the dynamic range of digital recordings. Typical of Dahlquist’s current line is the new M-905 High Performance Monitor, a moderately priced two-way system.
The walnut-veneered cabinet of the M-905 measures 24 inches high, 13-1/2 inches wide, and 12-1/4 inches deep. The black cloth grille has solid-walnut trim strips and is retained by plastic snaps. Each speaker weighs 35 pounds, and for optimum results they should be mounted on Dahlquist ST-9 stands ($80 a pair), which match the finish of the speakers and support them about 11 inches above the floor, with a backward tilt of 3.5 degrees for optimum coverage of the listening area. Like most free-standing speakers, the M-905 gives its best performance when it is placed at least a foot from the wall and angled slightly inward toward the listener.
The 8-inch woofer of the M-905 is a polyvinyl-acetate-laminated cone operating in a vented enclosure. The outlet of its tuned port is on the front panel of the speaker cabinet. At 2,500 Hz there is a crossover to a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter.
The nominal system impedance is 8 ohms (6 ohms minimum), and the M-905 is recommended for use with amplifiers rated to deliver from 20 to 125 watts per channel. The fiveway binding-post terminals recessed into the rear of the cabinet will accept dual banana plugs. The drivers are protected by individual fuses (0.8 ampere for the tweeter and 3 ampere for the woofer). The system’s sensitivity is rated as 91 dB sound-pressure level (SPL) at 1 meter when the speaker is driven by 1 watt at 1,000 Hz. The rated frequency response is 40 to 24,000 Hz.
Dahlquist refers to the cabinet of the M-905 as an “Un-box” enclosure, likening its construction to that of a violin. The wall panels are of varying thickness, and there is special internal damping and bracing designed to suit the individual characteristics of the drivers in the


system, all to minimize coloration of the sound by the box. The front panel is coated with a black flocking material whose thousands of fibers are electrostatically aligned perpendicular to its surface during application. The flocking and the flush-mounting of the tweeter are said to minimize diffraction from front-panel discontinuities, preserving image focus. Price: $590 a pair. Dahlquist, Dept. SR, 601 Old Wil-lets Path, Hauppauge, NY 11788.

Lab Tests

Preliminary listening tests of the Dahlquist M-905 speakers—in-

stalled on the ST-9 stands, as recommended—revealed a very wide-range and balanced sound whose smoothness and lack of coloration were far beyond what we would have expected from speakers in their price range. In fact, the sound from the M-905’s would be more than acceptable at several times the price. In view of this, we were not too surprised to find that with respect to flatness and freedom from peaks and holes the measured room response was among the best we have encountered.

The close-miked woofer (and port) response was also considera-
bly flatter than we have measured from most speakers, with a very small bass-resonance peak. At the system resonance of 60 Hz, the output was only about 2 dB above its average level in the upper part of the woofer’s range, and even that minor output variation was spread over almost two octaves. When the bass curve was spliced to the room-response measurement, the resulting composite frequency response was flat within about ±2 dB from 26 to 20,000 Hz. The horizontal directivity of the tweeter was only discernible in the room measurement above 10,000 Hz.
We measured the sensitivity of the M-905 as 87 dB SPL, which was lower than the rated 91 dB but still about average for speakers of its size. The difference may have been a result of different test conditions since we used a full-range pink-noise signal while Dahlquist’s rating was made at 1,000 Hz. The system’s minimum impedance was about 4.8 ohms in the 8,000- to 10,000-Hz region, and it measured 7 ohms at 150 to 200 Hz. Its maximum impedance was 28 ohms at 60 Hz, and there was a broad peak of 18 ohms in the vicinity of 1,500 Hz.
We measured the woofer’s distortion with a 4-volt drive level, corresponding to a 90-dB SPL at 1 meter. The distortion was less than 1 percent from 100 Hz down to almost 60 Hz, the effective crossover to the port. Below that crossover the distortion rose to 5 percent at 45 Hz and 9 percent at 35 Hz. In high-power tests with single-cycle tone bursts, the woofer began to sound “hard” at about 350 watts into its 8.5-ohm impedance at 100 Hz. At higher frequencies the amplifier clipped—at outputs of 490 watts at 1.000 Hz and 1,380 watts at 10,000 Hz—before distortion became visible on the acoustic waveform.
Quasi-anechoic FFT measurements showed an overall group-delay variation of about 0.1 millisecond between 4,000 and 20,000 Hz and 0.5 ms between 1,000 and 20.000 Hz, convincing evidence of the attention paid to the phase characteristics of the M-905.
Comments
Although we have often commented on the difficulty of correlating the measured response of a speaker with its sound, the Dahlquist M-905 seems to be an exception: whether you look at its response curves or listen to its sound, it has an extraordinarily smooth, uncolored response. We tried to find some recording that would reveal a weakness, but we soon realized that was a fruitless quest.
As so often happens, there is little in the speaker’s external appearance, or in the manufacturer’s description of its internal design, that would give a clue to its remarkable performance. Many speaker manufacturers claim unique qualities for their creations, which only too often turn out to be “just another speaker.” The M-905, however, really does what Dahlquist says it does, and we were very impressed by the way a two-way speaker with an 8-inch woofer could perform.
The best way to sum up our reaction to the M-905 is to say that it sounded like a far more expensive speaker than it is, especially in the middle and high frequencies. Regardless of its physical size and its price, its sound says, unmistakably, that it is a top-quality speaker.