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

[Herbert]

… and many SACD/DVD but this feature
is literally not connected to the main PCB.
Many unused (I think purple) diodes and
probably parts in the optical path. Never dug into how they manage both wavelengths with one lens.

 

[Robin L]

Thanks for the review Amir.
Great thing about dvd/br players is they genrally depreciate like a rock falling off a cliff. Makes them excellent cd transport solutions. I'm using a sony dvp-ns400d via coaxial out. Got it for £10 off ebay.

I'm using a Sony BDP-RX57 from Value Village, set me back $7 for the disc spinner, $10 for a remote via Amazon. Connected to the Topping E30 via coax. Don't have a video display hooked up to it [looking for something that won't eat up limited desk space], so DVD-Audio is hit and miss---one has to go to a menu on a monitor to navigate a DVD-A but some will play when one presses play. The Sony player will play anything CD or SACD, including old single layer SACDs. Hardly ever use it as most of the cd collection has been ripped as Apple lossless files.

Most of the time I rip CDs as lossless files via a Samsung "Portable DVD Writer Model SE - 218", $27 from Amazon back in 2014. As far as I can tell, there would be some audible advantages to a rip as opposed to straight playback, as this device would have more than one pass at a compromised section of a CD. I suspect there are other potential advantages as regards jitter as well. In any case, 2/3 of my CDs are now accessible via I-Tunes on my computer, in better sound that I can recall previously.

 

[Herbert]

Yep. I once tried to fix a CD player in a B&B where we spent 2 nights. After taking out the CD and cleaning it from the jam sticking to its reading side (the kids) it played fine, despite looking like being treated by sand paper . There was not a single spot where visibility was clear. Imaging treating vinyl like this ...

I confess: The only occasion I did shoplifting was Jon and Vangelis‘ „Private Collection“, from the tray of 1rst or 2nd generation Sharp player, around 1984.
To demonstrate how undestructable the CD format is the employees of the department store
must have played frisbee with it.
It already had a crack.
I saved it from complete destruction.
Though I have a test disc with artificial defects, I still use it for aligning and testing. Plays flawlessly on many players.

 

[GTAXL]

Should of also measured coax out. Would of been interesting to see how well it works as a transport.

 

[thunderchicken]

I've got an Arcam disc spinner tucked away- I used it mainly as a transport until the actual transport failed. Took more than 6 months and $200 to find a replacement for the Philips unit and a lot of nervous disassembly to fix it. It wasn't the laser or motor that broke, but the magnet at the top that locks the disc into the tray. When it failed, the disc couldn't stay centered when spinning and threw error after error. I should have upgraded to an Oppo around then, but got caught in the sunk cost fallacy. The Arcam was over a kilobuck originally, and I just couldn't part with it. Plus it matched my A80 and looked great on the shelf. Sadly I don't use either now and they're just sitting in storage.

 

[daftcombo]

Many thanks Amir, this is precious!

Glad you've finally found a way to create a CD with test tones. Will looking forward for other CDP reviews.

It was probably very easy to do for Amir, because I created one myself some time ago.

Otherwise there are "official" alternatives:

CD Focal Tools - Focal

Pour un rendu sonore optimal, téléchargez l’intégralité du CD Focal Tools et effectuez les réglages audio de votre installation

www.focal.com

@amirm , please test the Sony cheapo become famous thanks to this infamous blind test:

Matrix HiFi --> Blind testing high end full equipments

(I have the same at home, bought 25€ used.)

 

[VintageFlanker]

It was probably very easy to do for Amir, because I created one myself some time ago.

Didn't seem that easy: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measuring-cd-players.19676/post-773736

 

[daftcombo]

Didn't seem that easy: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/measuring-cd-players.19676/post-773736

Once again, REW is a swiss knife.

 

[Sal1950]

For me, having a physical CD player hooked up to a stereo is for the social interaction of being able to handle it with one's own two paws and play material in the moment without needing to have anyone stare at a screen.

Some of you are starting to sound as wacky as the vinyl guys here.

 

[restorer-john]

Some of you are starting to sound as wacky as the vinyl guys here.

In 20 years time, the diehard Roon guys will be saying "music is so more authentic when you can interact with your old-skool iPad instead of just thinking of a track and having it play from your neural implant"

 

[billmr]

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/

I think this is the first cd player review ?

Measuring CD Players?

I have a Linn CD player I could test one day. I don't think I have any other pure CD player anymore. Your Linn will probably hit the limits of 16bit or come close, like so many of the better machines did. Trouble is, people will try to compare 16 bit THD numbers with 24 bit THD numbers. I have...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I had asked about it once.

I have a pioneer pdr19rw it might be interesting to have you record some things and test the playback it back both on the original machine and maybe some other "high end" and cheap players and see what the differences are.

 

[musicforcities]

I’m waiting for the audiophiles who advocate for vacuum tube neural implants. And the audioquest $1m per cm tachyon-frozen implant wite upgrades that even ones wife will notice immediately.

 

[musicforcities]

For me, having a physical CD player hooked up to a stereo is for the social interaction of being able to handle it with one's own two paws and play material in the moment without needing to have anyone stare at a screen.

party time at radix’s sounds wild, where CD operation is a two paw operation. If you broke out a laser disk do you need to tag team the loading process?

 

[restorer-john]

party time at radix’s sounds wild, where CD operation is a two paw operation. If you broke out a laser disk do you need to tag team the loading process?

Nah, Ray Charles can do it double blind:

 

[radix]

party time at radix’s sounds wild, where CD operation is a two paw operation. If you broke out a laser disk do you need to tag team the loading process?

You know, I still have a few Laser Discs, like Forbidden Planet and Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Don't have the LD player anymore. I agree that a LD would likely take four paws, else it might be a faux pas. I hope I don't get booted.

 

[Aperiodic]

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.

With all due respect, I don't 'get' what the advantage is; under what circumstances does someone need a line level component to output 8 volts, even in balanced mode? I thought the standard in the 'balanced' world is 4 volts?

 

[musicforcities]

You know, I still have a few Laser Discs, like Forbidden Planet and Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Don't have the LD player anymore. I agree that a LD would likely take four paws, else it might be a faux pas. I hope I don't get booted.

For bad puns?

 

[buckaboo49]

If this were 4K I'd be all over it.

 

[Mulder]

With all due respect, I don't 'get' what the advantage is; under what circumstances does someone need a line level component to output 8 volts, even in balanced mode? I thought the standard in the 'balanced' world is 4 volts?

This CD player is labeled a proffessional gear. In the professional audio world 4 + volt is common.

 

[amirm]

With all due respect, I don't 'get' what the advantage is; under what circumstances does someone need a line level component to output 8 volts, even in balanced mode? I thought the standard in the 'balanced' world is 4 volts?

Only in consumer products. Professional interfaces produce and accept much higher voltage. And there are amps like Benchmark HPA4 and Purifi (without its buffer stage) which have low gain, making such interfaces useful for best performance.