Let's talk CD Players!

[Robin L]

Beautiful CD player. But what is the purpose of connecting it to the Topping DAC? Surely it has an onboard DAC which will be equally transparent?

Makes certain kinds of connection easier---my two digital sources (Sony BluRay and my laptop) take up one input in the Yamaha AVR. Having another digital device without a digital output, a FIIO DAP with only analog out to another analog in on the AVR.

 

[Angsty]

Beautiful CD player. But what is the purpose of connecting it to the Topping DAC? Surely it has an onboard DAC which will be equally transparent?

You are probably right. And that “difference” I heard between the Modi 3 and the Integra CD changer. Turns out it was entirely a lack of level matching. Once the output levels were matched, the differences faded quickly. An embarrassment that I did not sort that out earlier.

 

[fuzzychaos]

I use a Sony UBP-X700. It works really well, and I send it to a Topping d10s DAC.

 

[Carnatux]

Figure I'd post an update on the CD players I own now. Currently Have A Sony CMT-EX1 and Denon DN-950FA

https://imgur.com/7mLaTvT

I absolutely adore the show the Sony puts on while loading/playing.

The Denon is chonker and has been the most silent player I've owned to date. It only has XLR outputs and requires CDs to be in a caddy to work. I curently have XLR to RCA cables attached and have turned down the L & R output channels otherwise my speakers would probably blow.

 

[Deleted member 47224]

I bought a Denon DCD 620 some years back for the price of a brand new CD album. It stopped working last week and I was kind of hoping it really broke so I could find a more fancy looking one, but nope, it was just the belt. The damn thing won't die !
Of course if an opportunity arise to buy a better looking one, I won't hesitate. I like top loading ones, portable ones, and vertical ones, including the Muji CD player. Too bad it doesn't show track and time.

 

[fuzzy_logic]

I use a Sony UBP-X700. It works really well, and I send it to a Topping d10s DAC.

How do you do that? I thought the d10s was USb input only?

 

[fuzzychaos]

How do you do that? I thought the d10s was USb input only?

Oops, I use the SMSL Sanskrit mk2 for the CD player, 8muse the d10s for my computer with Roon.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Most sound very good, certainly not a night and day difference with modern dacs and in some cases better.

So fascinating that it is so accepted here (ASR) that all DAC sound essentially the same, looking for opinion about CD players, all I could find is one thread on CD player, as the assumption is that a rip flac will sound the same as the CD, so why use a CD.
Back in the days, I could hear differences between CD players and still today, when listening actively, meaning only listening while doing nothing else, I often find listening to CD more satisfying.
I find that the often touted evolution of sound in this forum is not true, system have become less expensive, more practical, more energy efficient, but better music? Not so much in my book.
As if measurements had all the answers, but something is missing.

 

[Mart68]

So fascinating that it is so accepted here (ASR) that all DAC sound essentially the same, looking for opinion about CD players, all I could find is one thread on CD player, as the assumption is that a rip flac will sound the same as the CD, so why use a CD.
Back in the days, I could hear differences between CD players and still today, when listening actively, meaning only listening while doing nothing else, I often find listening to CD more satisfying.
I find that the often touted evolution of sound in this forum is not true, system have become less expensive, more practical, more energy efficient, but better music? Not so much in my book.
As if measurements had all the answers, but something is missing.

I think at last count I had 22 CD players and they (mostly) sound different to me too. But that's not with any sort of listening controls.

There should be no difference between a FLAC copy of a CD, and playing the CD. You maybe right they do not sound the same but I wouldn't draw that conclusion unless you have compared with rigorous controls.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I wouldn't draw that conclusion unless you have compared with rigorous controls.

No conclusion to draw that would concern anyone but me except that I know what I am hearing and at the end of the day that is all that matter to me, between some measurements, some, often unintelligible, graphs and what I hear, the choice is easy as what conclusion apply to me.

 

[Mart68]

No conclusion to draw that would concern anyone but me except that I know what I am hearing and at the end of the day that is all that matter to me, between some measurements, some, often unintelligible, graphs and what I hear, the choice is easy as what conclusion apply to me.

some players have deliberate variation from flat FR so they are going to sound different - subtly, but I'm assuming we're taking subtle.

I had my favourite too until the draw mech began playing up - like you say it doesn't actually matter if it's objectively different, it was still the one which sounded the best to me, so it was the one I used. It was far from being the most expensive one too.

 

[Vacceo]

I use a Pioneer PC usb blu ray. Cheap, simple and works like a charm with the AVR connected to the GPU HDMI.

 

[sonci99]

I wonder if any of the scientists in this site, can explain how 30 years old cd players with old dacs sound the same or better than modern design? I have a lot of cd players, some are built like tanks, but even a supercheap Sharp with an old Sanyo dac, which is empty inside, sound superb, much better than most dacs I've listened too.

btw, I don't consider a blu ray player a cd player, the analog out is a joke and the noise of the drive is too much.

 

[rdenney]

I wonder if any of the scientists in this site, can explain how 30 years old cd players with old dacs sound the same or better than modern design? I have a lot of cd players, some are built like tanks, but even a supercheap Sharp with an old Sanyo dac, which is empty inside, sound superb, much better than most dacs I've listened too.

btw, I don't consider a blu ray player a cd player, the analog out is a joke and the noise of the drive is too much.

Measure, carefully, the voltage coming out of it. The old ones may be a tenth of a volt or two higher than the modern ones you have listened to, given the same data coming off the CD. That will account for what you hear.

Also, some older players roll off the top octave just slightly because their reconstruction filter isn't super sharp. It makes no difference to me any more, but might make a CD player sound a little less crispy-fried to those who can hear up into the 17-20KHz range. My 2002 Naim CD5 (when it worked) does that, according to measurements, but I doubt most could hear it even with young ears--it was just a fraction of a dB.

But a tenth of a volt makes a difference.

Rick "noting that players sometimes push the 2-volt RMS standard into the unbalanced output to 2.1 volts or even a bit more" Denney

 

[rdenney]

I recently added to my CD player collection by snagging a Marantz Professional PMD-331. Very nice deck, with an abundance of controls for precisely locating and cueing up music. This is quite useful to me, given that I occasionally play along with recordings. It was made in about 1999, right at the end of Philips's ownership of Marantz, and it has a Philips VAM1205 pickup (same as my 2002 Naim that it is presently replacing). It also has balanced and unbalanced outputs, and the balanced outputs have gain control. It is mechanically robust (considering the transport) and easy to maintain. And I also have the service manual for it (which I cannot get for the Naim).

(thumbnail from here.)

It did not come with a remote, but uses the Philips RC-5 protocol, so the remotes from my newer Cambridge Audio, older Magnavox, and Naim players all work fine with it.

So far, it plays everything I have thrown at it.

Rick "need to open it up and look at the belt" Denney

 

[Cote Dazur]

I wonder if any of the scientists in this site, can explain how 30 years old cd players with old dacs sound the same or better than modern design?

I am not an engineer, but I have my theory.
The issues with source, TT back the and then CD, electronic, solid state amp, and transducer have been resolved for more than 40 years, possibly even more than 50. We had great sound in the 70’s. We had great recordings and the means to play them. There is that belief, partly because of advertising and marketing, but not only, that audio, but not just audio, is improving, but it is not true. Trough the years, we got more convenience, better affordability, for in the best case scenario similar performance. Most, if not all the so called advancement are either not audible or not implemented in a way that gives us any audio benefit.
All the industry really came up with is changing the format again and again so some people can buy the same content in a different bottle again and again. They also came up with adding amplification and speakers, 5.1, 7.1 or .2 when it is not .3, to 9.x, when a pair of decent speaker properly placed in a decent room will do a better job.
So yes a 30 years old CD player fed with a good 30 years old recording, with the matching 30 years old 2.0 system properly installed in a decent room will still produce state of the art music reproduction. Yet 90% of the post, here and other forums are about the new gizmo and replacing item a by item b as if it will make any difference.
Funny, isn’t it?

 

[jcarys]

This is my favorite CD player of the many that I've owned. It's not even in my system now, so I really should sell it, but it's a heavy beast.
I currently play CD/SACD/DVD/Bluray/UHD through either a Sony UBP-X800 or Oppo UDP-205.

 

[Herbert]

I am not an engineer, but I have my theory.
The issues with source, TT back the and then CD, electronic, solid state amp, and transducer have been resolved for more than 40 years, possibly even more than 50. We had great sound in the 70’s. We had great recordings and the means to play them. There is that belief, partly because of advertising and marketing, but not only, that audio, but not just audio, is improving, but it is not true. Trough the years, we got more convenience, better affordability, for in the best case scenario similar performance. Most, if not all the so called advancement are either not audible or not implemented in a way that gives us any audio benefit.
All the industry really came up with is changing the format again and again so some people can buy the same content in a different bottle again and again. They also came up with adding amplification and speakers, 5.1, 7.1 or .2 when it is not .3, to 9.x, when a pair of decent speaker properly placed in a decent room will do a better job.
So yes a 30 years old CD player fed with a good 30 years old recording, with the matching 30 years old 2.0 system properly installed in a decent room will still produce state of the art music reproduction. Yet 90% of the post, here and other forums are about the new gizmo and replacing item a by item b as if it will make any difference.
Funny, isn’t it?

That theory is damn right! The ECM Label sometimes releases concert recordings decades later.
Keith Jarrett's "Hamburg '72" was released 42 years later. Sounds like yesterday and it was recorded
with standard broadcast equipment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_'72

 

[deniall83]

New Schiit Urd CD Transport. Supposedly has dual unison USB inputs.

 

[Indy]

Looking for a quality older cd player under $200. Please recommend a few. Had an older Sony Es unit that finally died. My cheap blu ray player is just used for movies