• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Tascam BD-MP1 Review (CD/Blu-ray Player)

Mulder

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
624
Likes
871
Location
Gothenburg, Sweden
I do not think I really understand the test result. The measurements from a CD show slightly worse values than what the CD format can produce. But at the same time, the measurements show that the player's DAC has better values than CD. What is it that prevents the measurement of the CD sound from reaching its full potential, even though the underlying DAC has the capacity to reach this potential?
 

LTig

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
5,760
Likes
9,442
Location
Europe
I do not think I really understand the test result. The measurements from a CD show slightly worse values than what the CD format can produce. But at the same time, the measurements show that the player's DAC has better values than CD. What is it that prevents the measurement of the CD sound from reaching its full potential, even though the underlying DAC has the capacity to reach this potential?
One reason could be that the conversion from 16 bit to the number of bits the DAC chip expects is not perfect.
 

GXAlan

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 15, 2020
Messages
3,866
Likes
5,953

Mulder

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
624
Likes
871
Location
Gothenburg, Sweden
One reason could be that the conversion from 16 bit to the number of bits the DAC chip expects is not perfect.
Hmm…. But adding bits do not degrade sound, or does it? Is there resampling going on?
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,067
Likes
16,597
Location
Central Fl
And there are amps like Benchmark HPA4 and Purifi (without its buffer stage) which have low gain, making such interfaces useful for best performance.
But why are things all over the map like this. My current Adcoms are all rated at 1.25V rms for full output into 8 ohms and my old VTL's were 0.750mv, a great match for a passive pre-amp. What's the reason for the high numbers in the Pro world, where's the advantage, better for long cable runs?
 

LTig

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
5,760
Likes
9,442
Location
Europe
What's the reason for the high numbers in the Pro world, where's the advantage, better for long cable runs?
To improve SNR. The longer the cable the more noise it can pick up.
 

SMJ

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2021
Messages
23
Likes
94
I'm guessing the slowness of response is down to using a combo drive rather than pure audio CD transport. It's really designed to be controlled remotely via the RS232 input from a mixing desk. Slam a CD in, skip up to the track required with the index button and pause. Hit play from the sound desk when needed. The RS232 protocol is available on the Tascam website BD-MP1

Historically, there were better machines out there with XLR outputs such as the Technics SL-P1200B (with the ASC BBC mod), HHB CDR-850 Pro or the Studer D730. There is also a 2008 review of a twin unit HHB at hhb-cdr882-dualburn on the Sound on Sound archive.

SMJ
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,381
Location
Seattle Area
I do not think I really understand the test result. The measurements from a CD show slightly worse values than what the CD format can produce. But at the same time, the measurements show that the player's DAC has better values than CD. What is it that prevents the measurement of the CD sound from reaching its full potential, even though the underlying DAC has the capacity to reach this potential?
The encoded format (16 bit dithered) has the best case dynamic range I showed. This is why CD format is not transparent for all playback level (without noise shaping).

The player handles other formats with higher bit depth (Blu-ray, USB Thumbdrive, etc.) and hence the reason the DAC is designed to do better and delivers that.
 

Mulder

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
624
Likes
871
Location
Gothenburg, Sweden
The encoded format (16 bit dithered) has the best case dynamic range I showed. This is why CD format is not transparent for all playback level (without noise shaping).

The player handles other formats with higher bit depth (Blu-ray, USB Thumbdrive, etc.) and hence the reason the DAC is designed to do better and delivers that.
Yes I understand why it need higher than CD capability. But why does it not reach maximum perfomance when playing the test CD? The Audio Analyser show us the tested CD is able to deliver higher SINAD etc than what the CD player manage to get out of this the same CD.
 

Rich90

Member
Joined
May 30, 2022
Messages
6
Likes
0
Continuing our theme of testing "older" formats, here is a review and detailed measurements of the Tascam BD-MP1. It was purchased new and kindly sent to me by a member. The BD-MP1 costs US $499.

Consistent with its marketing theme, this is a "professional" rack mounted optical player:

View attachment 156149

I must say it looks pretty nice. Operationally though, I found it quite slow and frustrating. User interface is quite non-intuitive as well when trying to play anything from USB input. I had to connect a monitor to it to see what it was doing and then use combination of keys to navigate it. I did not get the remote control with it so maybe it is easier using that.

The back panel shows a nice array of connectivity:

View attachment 156150

I really appreciated the balanced outputs. I don't think there ever was a player in this price range with balanced outputs.

Tascam BD-MP1 Measurements
Owner purchased this unit to play CDs so I decided to test it that way. Alas, I had thrown out all my blank CDs but fortunately my wife had some CD-Rs. So I created a few test tracks in 16 bits/44.1 kHz and burned them on one in my older PC. Navigating them was a pain as there is naturally no titles so I had to look at the signals to figure out what they were. Anyway, here is our standard dashboard but keep in mind that this is 16 bit content whereas my normal testing is always with 24-bit files:

View attachment 156151

As you see, the output is a healthy 8 volts which is very nice. The test file is dithered so theoretical dynamic range will be around 93 dB so we are a few dBs short of that with our SINAD. Playing the same file in Audio Precision and measuring it, gives us that number:

View attachment 156152

Notice the far lower distortion from Audio Precision than what the Tascam was showing.

Next I ran the dynamic range test:

View attachment 156153

So we see again that we are 3 dB short of what we should be getting.

To test the limitation of its DACs, I played my standard 24-bit files using USB Thumbdrive:

View attachment 156154

100 dB SINAD lands it at the bottom of our "very good" category of DACs which is a relief.

Measuring dynamic range now gives us a few more bits as well:

View attachment 156155

So the underlying DAC is better than the CD format which is what you want to see.

Conclusions
This being our first CD player tested with 16-bit content from CD itself, we don't have a reference. As is, we are coming up a bit short but not enough to get me upset. :) 24-bit sources create good enough performance which is reassuring although nothing like what we get with desktop DACs. Those DACs won't output 8 volts though (most won't anyway) so here the Tascam has an advantage.

If you are in the market for optical drive with this kind of form factor, the Tascam BD-MP1 is not a bad option.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
l was thinking of getting one so i could play all my CD,Flac and mp3 files thought it and Mpeg DVD and blue-ray instead of using my Computer quick time VLC etc, thinking along the lines that while l am doing that my computer will have more resources for other things so my Mac doesn't slow down from reading from external hard drive..and also as a CD player.
 

Dogen

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
Messages
360
Likes
612
Location
Durham, NC USA
l was thinking of getting one so i could play all my CD,Flac and mp3 files thought it and Mpeg DVD and blue-ray instead of using my Computer quick time VLC etc, thinking along the lines that while l am doing that my computer will have more resources for other things so my Mac doesn't slow down from reading from external hard drive..and also as a CD player.
Reading audio files from a hard drive takes very few system resources. Are you noticing a slowdown? If so, something else might be going on.
 

radix

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 1, 2021
Messages
1,358
Likes
1,289
l was thinking of getting one so i could play all my CD,Flac and mp3 files thought it and Mpeg DVD and blue-ray instead of using my Computer quick time VLC etc, thinking along the lines that while l am doing that my computer will have more resources for other things so my Mac doesn't slow down from reading from external hard drive..and also as a CD player.
I agree with @Dogen that playing media files should be pretty low effort for your computer. Also, ripping CDs/etc. to files can result in better playback because the ripper is not real-time and can re-try reads. That said, I'm the one who sent in the BD-1 to Amir and I do have it in my rack.

It's a little slow to start up, but once going it works just fine. I mostly put a CD in and play through, so I do not have much experience using the remote. If I did use a remote, I'd likely get a universal so I could control the CD player and my SHD with one stick. My sig other also has a bunch of CDs and she's more comfortable using the physical media that messing with smart phones or streaming services.

My system is BD-1 via XLR to SHD and turntable to DA-3000 via coax to SHD, then to AHB2. I find the BD-1 has really nice output levels on XLR. That said, I'll likely swap the BD-1 to coax and use the DA-3000 via XLR.

My main complaint about this system is the SHD cannot re-program the input names, so I have to teach Sharon that XLR means CD and SPDIF means turntable.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,067
Likes
16,597
Location
Central Fl
Reading audio files from a hard drive takes very few system resources. Are you noticing a slowdown? If so, something else might be going on.
I believe he's more referring to DVD and BluRay playback.
 

Rich90

Member
Joined
May 30, 2022
Messages
6
Likes
0
I agree with @Dogen that playing media files should be pretty low effort for your computer. Also, ripping CDs/etc. to files can result in better playback because the ripper is not real-time and can re-try reads. That said, I'm the one who sent in the BD-1 to Amir and I do have it in my rack.

It's a little slow to start up, but once going it works just fine. I mostly put a CD in and play through, so I do not have much experience using the remote. If I did use a remote, I'd likely get a universal so I could control the CD player and my SHD with one stick. My sig other also has a bunch of CDs and she's more comfortable using the physical media that messing with smart phones or streaming services.

My system is BD-1 via XLR to SHD and turntable to DA-3000 via coax to SHD, then to AHB2. I find the BD-1 has really nice output levels on XLR. That said, I'll likely swap the BD-1 to coax and use the DA-3000 via XLR.

My main complaint about this system is the SHD cannot re-program the input names, so I have to teach Sharon that XLR means CD and SPDIF means turntable.
Ok to explain it a bit better, if i go USB for all my avi files and mpg video and then audio mp3 flac etc into the USB on the Tassie BD-MP1, create folders for them so i then can choose from the remote control. Use the CD/DVD drive for playing my CD's plus having it connected up to my other monitor which has 2 HDMI inputs which i can flick from 1 to 2 display and also which i will run the Tassie BD-MP1 into my my presonus mixer XLR which then i could also bypass computer altogether would be better than playing files from my External HDD drive which is slow and takes a bit to get going and if left for a bit l have to close it and reopen, l have purchased a external SSD drive (super speed) which i will mainly use for Cubase, Ezdrummer working files, because l originally was after a CD player to play my CD's through my mixer out to my Eve`s for a smooth crystal clear Rock n Roll sound. But! then l seen the Tascam BD-MP1 and thought of the versatility l could get out of it.. oh and plus play my other region DVD disc`s aswell. Because i know once i start doing some recording into cubase l will need my Mac to just focus on doing that, than if l want to watch some training vids use the Tascam CD/DVD so to me i see some advantages but on the other hand l don't want to get something like that, and it gives me some grief.
 

jae

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 2, 2019
Messages
1,208
Likes
1,508
What are some similar accessible rackmount products for CD/DVD/BD playback (and/or recording)?
 

jae

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 2, 2019
Messages
1,208
Likes
1,508
Denon pro gear
I encountered these as well; all I really found were the tascam and denon, seems like tascam is the only one currently with a 4k model (BD-MP4K).

If let's say I wanted to forego BD and just stick to CD/DVD or CD only, any idea of some more current or "new old" units from other brands I could consider on the used market other than these two?
 
Top Bottom