Which CD player has better sound and DAC?

[funkera91]

Hello dear All,
I am looking to buy CD player, as I just bough 250 new CD's
I will listen to them via RCA on its own DAC of the player, so I need a CD player which I am not gonna change in the next 5-10 years! And the problem is that I cannot see either listen to none of them, nowhere...
How would you put these models in order from best to worst?
Also I accept suggestions for other models.
Price limit - up to 1500 USD

SONY CDP-X777ES
DAC: 2 x CXD2552BQ - CXD1244
Mechanism: KSS-281A

Panasonic DP UB9000 - (Blu - Ray player)
DAC: ES9038Q2M: 768 kHz/32 bit //// ESS Sabre D2A

DENON DCD-S10
DAC: 4 x PCM1702-J - SM5845AF - YM3623B
Mechanism: KSS-240A

DENON DCD-3000
DAC : 4 x PCM1702-J - SM5845AF - YM3623B
CD Mechanism: KSS-240A

ONKYO DX-6470 Integra
DAC: PCM56P
Mechanism: KSS-152A


Thank you!

 

[scrubb]

I bought the DP UB9000 based on Amir's review here. As you can see it has a very good DAC. Works great for movie playback as well. It's pricey, but I wanted and endgame player which would handle all current disc formats, which it does except SACD.

 

[Robin L]

I would advise getting an outboard DAC. I've got a Topping E30. The current revision, the Topping E30 II, has slightly better specs. It costs $150. I've had good luck with my Sony Blu-Ray player (SACD capable), but what counts with the CD player in this type of configuration is having a digital out. I'm using the optical Toslink. I've owned a lot of different CD players over the years, have the best luck with what I'm using now. I wouldn't worry too much about having SACD capability - most SACDs are hybrid and the PCM layer of these discs usually has the same mastering as the DSD layer. I've got a few single layer SACDs, the Topping DAC manages to play those. If you don't have SACDs, it's a non-issue. Having an outboard DAC gives you more flexibility, the unit I use takes up minimal space and offers the best sound I've experienced with CDs so far. I've got a desktop stereo, so the computer I'm using is also hooked up to the DAC.

 

[Mr Swing King]

There is no magic in cd-players and their onboard dacs. At least there wasn’t back when I tried to upgrade from my old Rotel player. I blindtested it up against various flagship models from Onkyo, Sony and Pioneer and they all sounded completely identical once I couldn’t see what was playing. The same is true for modern dacs…unless there is something genuinely funky going on.
I would strongly recommend looking at build quality and functionality instead, if you’re searching for something that will last you 10-15 years

 

[voodooless]

What’s wrong with your original topic?

Buying a new CD player

Hello dear colleagues and friends! It is time to change my old DVD player with a CD player, on which I am going to listen to music CD's Analog - RCA outputs! The problem is that there are so many CD players nowaday, but I am really looking for the best ones which suites for mu budget. So I...

www.audiosciencereview.com

People asked plenty of questions to help you along… kinda rude to abandon them.

 

[NTTY]

This is ancient tech compared to new. So you'll be more into a statement towards an historic player than anything else.

Out of these, I only own and measured the Denon DCD-S10, which I plan to properly review here. For an R2R DAC, it's doing great, but does not compete against newer 1bit conversion (measurements wise). It has digital in, and if you fancy the DAC output, you could plug another digital source (it does not sync beyond 48kHz, though).
Note that there was the new Alpha/Lambda filter tech in this player which increased the bit-depth, and that allowed this player to exhibit better sine waves with very low digital levels. It's unfortunately rendered useless by the dither present on most of the Audio CDs (I guess since mid-90, if not before). There was also a mechanism to detect typical test tones (eg: square wave) which deactivated the oversampling filter to get more artifacts of the conversion, and therefore show nice square waves (bad boys at Denon).

I see the Denon DCD-3000 has the exact same OS filter, DAC and drive, so it should show same performances.

I see also the Sony uses CXD1244 oversampling filter, which has a staggered output, and I suppose this is why two stereo DACs are used (2xCXD2552BQ). I own the Sony CDP-337ESD, which had the previous CXD1144 oversampling filter and was using two R2R Philips (funny) DAC (the 1541). With the staggered output from their digital filter, Sony could go 8x oversampling with DACs running at 4x the sampling rate only (the TDA1541 in that case). Each DAC was processing half of the oversampling filter output, in a staggered (and overlapping) mode. This was elegant and that's why it's a keeper for me. I don't know if they implemented the same concept in the 777Es though, a deep analysis of the schema could probably reply to that question.

If you're into old R2R style conversion, I'd suggest to add the Denon DCD-3560 to your list. This is pre-Alpha filtering and it's a statement of a CD player. I'd need to review mine here too. It's the best CD Player with R2R conversion I own.

Regards

 

[Roland68]

Hello dear All,
I am looking to buy CD player, as I just bough 250 new CD's
I will listen to them via RCA on its own DAC of the player, so I need a CD player which I am not gonna change in the next 5-10 years! And the problem is that I cannot see either listen to none of them, nowhere...
How would you put these models in order from best to worst?
Also I accept suggestions for other models.
Price limit - up to 1500 USD

SONY CDP-X777ES
DAC: 2 x CXD2552BQ - CXD1244
Mechanism: KSS-281A

Panasonic DP UB9000 - (Blu - Ray player)
DAC: ES9038Q2M: 768 kHz/32 bit //// ESS Sabre D2A

DENON DCD-S10
DAC: 4 x PCM1702-J - SM5845AF - YM3623B
Mechanism: KSS-240A

DENON DCD-3000
DAC : 4 x PCM1702-J - SM5845AF - YM3623B
CD Mechanism: KSS-240A

ONKYO DX-6470 Integra
DAC: PCM56P
Mechanism: KSS-152A


Thank you!

The DP UB9000 is definitely a good choice if you also use other formats of the player, otherwise it is too expensive just as a CD player.
A good and cheap alternative would be a Sony UBP-X700 with an external DAC and would also play SACDs.

I would absolutely advise against the other players listed, unless you want to buy a rarity or a collector's item. I say that because I know these devices quite well and they were overtaken by the next generation around 10 years later (around 2000).
I fear that the comparison with a cheap Onkyo DX-7355 or a Sony DVP-NS900V could be very sobering. A test magazine had created a new device class for the Sony DVP-NS900V at the time so that there were no problems with the evaluation and comparison of the DM 5000,- CD player price range at the time.

In the target price range, the Cambridge CD Transport CXC (V1 and V2 only differ in color) in combination with a CXN V2 or CXN100 would be my first choice.
The CXC is very fast when opening/closing the drawer and reading the CD, as well as being absolutely quiet when playing. That is the negative point with the old CD players listed.
In addition to being a DAC for the CD player (and other devices, including USB), the CXN are also streamers, media players, preamplifiers (for digital devices) and other functionalities, including RCA and XLR outputs.

 

[funkera91]

So I will buy UB9000 in the end, and if I dont like how the player sound Analogue, I can always buy AMP with better DAC and connect to it via OPTical ?
I guess Denon PMA-900hne has better DAC than Panasonic UB9000?

 

[Roland68]

So I will buy UB9000 in the end, and if I dont like how the player sound Analogue, I can always buy AMP with better DAC and connect to it via OPTical ?
I guess Denon PMA-900hne has better DAC than Panasonic UB9000?

No, the Panasonic UB9000 has the newer, larger and slightly better DAC chip.
However, you can get external DACs with significantly better measurements and test results for 100 - 200 €/$.

 

[funkera91]

Thanks a lot, so my wife bought me UB9000 as gift to me , to surprice me bsically she saw my browsing history that I read too much about that player.Still didnt tried it!

 

[ahofer]

she saw my browsing history