DSJR
Major Contributor
I have here two old CD players, a heavy and circuit-complex Denon DCD 1520 (I love the transport operation and it still tracks ok) and a later very much simpler DCD 1015 with a slightly crabby mechanism that doesn't like being stored on one side for some reason. Both 'sound' identical from their fixed analogue RCA outputs and both make good transports. I remember the latter cheaper machine from my retail days and it always sounded pretty 'honest' I thought and a now retired mastering engineer pal uses one to this day. As with the Rotel machine from twenty years ago (I knew one or two Rotels from that era and again believe them to have a pretty 'truthful' sonic quality, differences being more construction and resulting selling price I recall), I doubt the latest dacs from the likes of Schiit and Topping will be 'bells and whistles' better 'sounding' than these old timers (I thought I could tell a difference but it was unmatched levels in a comparison*) but maybe superior linearity and acceptance of higher sampling rates etc. may well swing it, at least academically.
* I can't shout loudly enough how easily our ears and minds are fooled in comparative dems. many audio hobbyists in the first few years of 'discovery' seem to hear *massive improvements* and *massive differences* in any change they make, as I did nearly half a century ago now. When one gains experience and discovers what *really* makes a difference (speaker/room interface being the most important these days I'd suggest), the rest becomes as gaslight in comparison. There's one forum I know full of decent friendly folk that I just can't post in any longer as the regulars are hearing 'huge differences' in things that I just don't think matter any more and old sourpuss here just lowers the enthusiastic mood... A bad room-speaker choice totally kills it for me and NOTHING can really fix it, as I gather DSP if overused is almost worse than none at all.
* I can't shout loudly enough how easily our ears and minds are fooled in comparative dems. many audio hobbyists in the first few years of 'discovery' seem to hear *massive improvements* and *massive differences* in any change they make, as I did nearly half a century ago now. When one gains experience and discovers what *really* makes a difference (speaker/room interface being the most important these days I'd suggest), the rest becomes as gaslight in comparison. There's one forum I know full of decent friendly folk that I just can't post in any longer as the regulars are hearing 'huge differences' in things that I just don't think matter any more and old sourpuss here just lowers the enthusiastic mood... A bad room-speaker choice totally kills it for me and NOTHING can really fix it, as I gather DSP if overused is almost worse than none at all.