What CD Player would you like to see tested?

[Sublimity of Analog]

Onkyo C-7000R
View attachment 458730

Arcam CDS50
View attachment 458731

Marantz CD17mkII
View attachment 458732

Thanks
Which is the best player here in term of sound quality?

 

[BenF]

I'd like to see that one tested: Technics SL-PS 670 A
Back in my youth, you could find that player in every store and on every street corner.

 

[FuzzPizza]

Onkyo C-30
Onkyo DXC390

Whatever this is
https://tinyurl.com/bdfc4wax

 

[NTTY]

Coming soon:

Tip: it's not a CD Player

 

[Salt]

Coming soon:

View attachment 533838

Tip: it's not a CD Player

There are harmonics at 50, 600 and 800 Hz missing ?

 

[NTTY]

A number of you have been asking if a simple modern Blu-Ray Transport from Sony would make a decent CD Transport too. Well, you're about to know soon

It is the Sony BDP-S1700/K. Stay tuned!

 

[Roland68]

A number of you have been asking if a simple modern Blu-Ray Transport from Sony would make a decent CD Transport too. Well, you're about to know soon

View attachment 535328

It is the Sony BDP-S1700/K. Stay tuned!

I'm really looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, it's one of the few devices in Sony's lineup that cannot play SACDs.

P.S.: Is the drive really that small, or is the cat just that big?

 

[NTTY]

P.S.: Is the drive really that small, or is the cat just that big?

Both

 

[MARCD5123]

For a Denon DVD-A1UD in good condition, you can expect to get approximately €600–800; for units in mint ("1A") to like-new condition, you may get even more.
At auctions, or if the unit is in poor or defective condition, the price will be significantly lower.

Denon A1UD just sold very recently a few weeks back here is the UK and it was 100% complete fully working and more or less in mint condition very similar to mine for £1.4K ...So yeah these units are super popular and pretty rare to find now I was watching it and it sold within days of being up for sale .

 

[NTTY]

Interesting! Beyond reasonable but that makes one happy seller

 

[NTTY]

Hi everyone,
I published the review of the Marantz NA-11S1, not a CD player, no, even if it looks like one, and I thought it was at the beginning

 

[pinger]

Thanks
Which is the best player here in term of sound quality?

Its been well established on these forums that CD players all sound the same. Purchase decisions should be based on price, build quality, looks, ergonomics , features etc. Not sound quality

 

[NTTY]

Hi everyone, I’ve been busy recently and decided to pause CD players reviews for a moment and go higher resolution devices.

After the pure digital interface SMSL PO100 Pro that was fun to test and an opportunity to share some PCM info, I went for the inexpensive, high performing, full of functionalities but buggy Topping DX1 II. This one kept me really busy for quite some time. I loaned it to a friend so he can test it, and I’ll be back to it at the end the summer, waiting for Topping to finalize the Software development. I did not have issues using it from a CD player and of course measured it this way, and it is best in class. In case you have a CD player/transport you want to pimp, this is more than a good alternative.

And the big one I was waiting to test is the SMSL DO400. It’s been reviewed by Amir, couple of months ago, and I asked him to send it to me so I could sort of calibrate my testing gears against the big Audio Precision. I also used that review to set a baseline for the ones I’d like to perform in the future.

The DO400 reached a SINAD of 127.35dB per the protocol of Amir, meaning that I’m good to test very high precision DACs. More to come soon!

 

[Mojo Warrior]

I have always wondered if CD Changers have significantly degraded/measured performance compared to a single disc player, as a transport?
Maybe, you can test a Denon, Yamaha, or Sony ES changer and post the measurements, as a transport.

 

[Roland68]

I have always wondered if CD Changers have significantly degraded/measured performance compared to a single disc player, as a transport?
Maybe, you can test a Denon, Yamaha, or Sony ES changer and post the measurements, as a transport.

Why would that be the case?
The actual drive mechanism—meaning the spindle that holds the CD and the laser—isn't different; they are the same components found in conventional players.
The actual changer mechanism plays no part in the CD playback process itself.

At the digital output, any differences would be as negligible as they have been in all previous tests.
There certainly have been—and still are—CD changers with basic, cheap DAC implementations that might measure and sound worse as a result, but the exact same applies to standard CD players.

 

[Mojo Warrior]

Why would that be the case?
The actual drive mechanism—meaning the spindle that holds the CD and the laser—isn't different; they are the same components found in conventional players.
The actual changer mechanism plays no part in the CD playback process itself.

At the digital output, any differences would be as negligible as they have been in all previous tests.
There certainly have been—and still are—CD changers with basic, cheap DAC implementations that might measure and sound worse as a result, but the exact same applies to standard CD players.

Agreed 100% However, there is a persistent myth that only single disc CD players are SOTA and this is reflected by seeing that nearly all performance reviews are of single disc CD players. This is why science tests theories and challenges myths.

 

[Henreid]

So the question to you is: Which CD Player would you like to see reviewed next?

First let me say I have a HUGE appreciation for your reviews of CD Players. I find your evaluations of these players to be absolutely fascinating (in part because I have collected literally thousands of Classical CDs since they were introduced in the '80s, so at this point I'm definitely committed to the medium). I did a quick search of this thread and these 2 players have already been suggested for testing, but I thought I would second the recommendation. Both these players are able to play SACDs (a feature that's becoming rare) which furthers my interest in them.
OPPO BDP-103 - You've reviewed the BDP-95 (and an altered BDP-105) so I'd love to see how the 103 performs (especially since I own one). Unfortunately, this discontinued model is not likely to be found at a reasonable price, these days.
Sony UBP-X700U This model is still available new, and I'm guessing its performance as a CD transport would be fairly decent.
Finally, here is a rarity from the past that was truly unique at the time it was introduced:
Dynaco CDV series that included a tube-type "preamp" stage. I own a CDV-2 that was, for several years, my stalwart player in a minimalist audio system connected to a pair of full-range actively powered speakers. This player does include a digital coax output, though I have no idea how well it performs as a CD transport. I imagine its tube analog output is pretty pathetic (!) Since it is a "niche" component its used price has become rather inflated...
Thanks again for your in-depth testing of audio equipment.

 

[NTTY]

Thanks and I guess I can test the Sony UBP-X700U, it’s easy to source, indeed.
About the Dynaco, I think I have results from a clone of a Marantz which had a tube output stage too. I recall it was adding distortion. Digital output is, most of the time, unaltered from these old CD players since it was more expensive to add processing than not to

 

[Henreid]

Thanks and I guess I can test the Sony UBP-X700U, it’s easy to source, indeed.
About the Dynaco, I think I have results from a clone of a Marantz which had a tube output stage too. I recall it was adding distortion. Digital output is, most of the time, unaltered from these old CD players since it was more expensive to add processing than not to

That's a great kindness, though I'm feeling somewhat guilty for proposing such a substantial purchase on your part (The Sony player costs over $300 these days). I'd suggest making the investment only if you believe that testing it would truly be of value to ASR members and yourself. Actually, I'm very likely to buy the Sony UBP-X700U (that is, before Sony decides to discontinue it) because I already feel confident it meets the specs I'm looking for in a player. I have also purchased several 4K Blu-ray movies, and my esteemed BDP-103 is only 2K capable. As for the Dynaco series of vacuum tube CD players - I ought to confess that I wasn't seriously encouraging you to find a model to test, but I thought to include it simply because it's rather a unicorn. And I totally agree with you that there's little doubt the tube stage adds distortion to the analog output, just like the Marantz. Even though I don't claim to have "golden ears", once I invested in the BDP-103 my long-held hunch was verified that the tubes of the Dynaco sounded significantly more "congested" than the solid state signal path of the OPPO. Still, the Dynaco held special value to me when I bought it because it enabled me to streamline my audio system down to the barest essentials: a CD player that by itself could preamplify a signal for a good pair of actively powered speakers. And I may just try dusting off the Dynaco and using its digital output on my desktop, even if its footprint is somewhat large and cumbersome for that purpose. It has the virtue of being an already paid-for CD Player that's available to me right now. (I'll add that I'm a frugal audio enthusiast.)
Your reviews of CD players are always a pleasure to read because it's gratifying to see the respect you have for these components.

 

[NTTY]

Work in progress, I’m thinking about a ranking for CD Players, related to this post.

It’s based on the test I created to compute true resolution at -12dBFS. It is based on a pseudo 1kHz (999.91Hz) with shape dither. The span for THD+N is restricted to 20Hz-6kHz. With that, the max possible ENOB is 18.7bits when the WAV file is processed directly by the software (REW).
The best DACs achieve the max on this test, while older ones have difficulties. And it was my initial intention to show that. Indeed, many CD Players and their DACs can reach the theoretical THD+N of -98dB. But with shape dither, it is possible to go below that level, at least locally, but older DACs might not be able to.

I’m only documenting here:

CD Player model or DAC	Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz)	Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better)
SMSL PL200MKII	18.7bits	100%
SMSL PL200	18.7bits	100%
OPPO BDP-95	18.7bits	100%
Denon DCD-900NE	18.5bits	98.93%
Denon DCD-SA1	18.5bits	98.93%
OPPO BDP-105	18.5bits	98.93%
Pioneer BDP-LX58	18.5bits	98.93%
SMSL PL20*	18.5bits	98.93%
Orpheus Zero	18.4bits	98.40%
Yamaha CD-S2000	18.4bits	98.40%
Azur 640C V2	18.3bits	97.86%
Consonance CD 120B	18.2bits	97.33%
Onkyo C-733	18bits	96.26%
SMSL PL150	18bits	96.26%
TASCAM CD-200	17.9bits	95.72%
SMSL PL100	17.9bits	95.72%
Sony CDP-X559ES	17.9bits	95.72%
Fosi Merak	17.7bits	94.65%
Pioneer PD-D9	17.7bits	94.65%
Denon DVD-A11	17.6bits	94.12%
Sony CDP-597	17.5bits	93.58%
Onkyo DX-7355	17.3bits	92.51%
Denon DCD-3560	17.2bits	91.98%
Onkyo C-7030	17.2bits	91.98%
Shanling EC Play	17bits	90.90%
PROCEED PCD 3	16.9bits	90.37%
Yamaha CD-S303	16.8bits	89.84%
Revox B-226S	16.8bits	89.94%
Revox B-126	16.7bits	89.30%
Accuphase DP-70	16.6bits	88.77%
NAD C540	16.6bits	88.77%
Sony CDP-337ESD	16.6bits	88.77%
Teac VRDS-25x	16.5bits	88.24%
Yamaha CDX-396	15.9bits	85.03%
Marantz CD-73	14.9bits	79.68%
Fiio DM15	13.5bits	72.19%
Philips CD610	12.9bits	69.98%

*Not gapless playback

Missing values for:
- Fiio DM13 (double check EC Play too since it should be the same)
- Moondrop Discdream
- Myryad Z-210
- Pioneer PD-30
- Denon DCD-720AE
- Denon DCD-655
- Marantz CD 63/2
- Marantz CD5400
- Marantz CD6700
- Marantz DR700
- Marantz CD-80
- Sony DVP-7700S
- Yamaha CDX-393

Ranking for CD Transport or CD/Universal Players used as a Transport: to be defined.