Klipsch RF7 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Hi Guys, What is the diffrence in sound quality between a $5k cd player and a $200 sony 300 disc changer? I mean if you are outputting via optical to the reciever then the reciever is doin the DAC process, so what gives on these multi thousand doller cd players??? Thanks Georg F. Handel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 I dunno but your name plus your icon are way cool. It reminds me of a classical pianist. Would you happen to be one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 23, 2003 Author Share Posted November 23, 2003 Actually i am a late 17th century baroque composer and wrote many oratorios and opera's, my famous bieng The Messiah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Your right. If your are outputing Toslink or SPDIF to your receiver it makes no difference and you should not waist your money. People buying and appreciating these are the Analog pureists. Mostly the guys in the 2CH section of this forum. Ususally these high cost CD players have a better DAC and do a better job of creating a much nicer Analog musical wave output to input into an Analog preamp and amp system. Mine for example has dual 32 bit UNIX processor (from the 80's) doing the DAC that takes the bits and converts them into a 130db output range instead of the 95-100 you normally get. Makes it sound much more like an LP without the limits of a traditional CD. Some even have Tube line stages. As for your second post GFH. I bet you hate what us modern people have done to the bass strings of the piano and how we have re-arranged the Orchestra over the years from what you remember from your composing days. Im glad to see your back. This Eminemm crap people are listening too gives me a headache Also welcome to the Forum. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 23, 2003 Author Share Posted November 23, 2003 I actually like the modern instruments, think of it as a progression in technology. Back then we were constantly trying to upgrade the sound and technology of the instruments but were limited by the technology of the time, composers back then would love to hear thier music on the new, much better sounding updated instruments and soundstages of today:) Kind of like the analogy of saying that a late 1940's mainframe operator prefered the Univac over todays supercomputers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRBILL Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 ---------------- On 11/23/2003 12:06:13 PM Georg Fredrich Handel wrote: Actually i am a late 17th century baroque composer and wrote many oratorios and opera's, my famous bieng The Messiah. ---------------- Yo, Geo, Just what WAS your interest in the Foundling's Home? Do you and Michael Jackson have something in common? Signed, CURIOUS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arj Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Hi Handel..really love your "Messiah" ! Anyway what i have understood is that the CD player business is not all that simple. it is basically composed of the Transport & the DAC, the DAC being the more complex critical component But apparently the transport has a role to play too and does contribute to the quality of output. Since that is also composed of a moving part ( the motor) and the reading system (The laser lens and decoding) the quality as well as the level of control does contribute to sound quality. I used to use a Pioneer dvd/vcd...bla blah player and when replaced with a dedicated NAD542 cd player the difference in sound quality, especially in my case the bass, was apparent, although i did like the music earlier too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodog Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 ---------------- On 11/24/2003 11:11:09 AM DRBILL wrote: ---------------- On 11/23/2003 12:06:13 PM Georg Fredrich Handel wrote: Actually i am a late 17th century baroque composer and wrote many oratorios and opera's, my famous bieng The Messiah. ---------------- Yo, Geo, Just what WAS your interest in the Foundling's Home? Do you and Michael Jackson have something in common? Signed, CURIOUS ---------------- oh, I'm figuring just the makeup, the wigs, the pomp and circumstance (sorry Elgar), and.. oh.. all things castrati. Woo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klewless Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 j-malotky, Could you elaborate a bit on your hardware? It sounds very interesting. Where is it available? affordable? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Klewless The CD player I have is an old Magnavox CDB650 from 1985. In that day, if you remember, there was still the debate where Philips was doing the 4X oversampleing and Sony was doing the 3 laser setups. Anyhow, there was a company called something like applied dynamics or applied technologies I can't remember, may be way off with the names, would have to dig up my old receipts. The 650 was the only CD player they would modify. Basically you would buy the 650 and send it to them, they would replace the DAC and line stage with there proprietary system as well as replace some of the transports with beefy-er aluminum parts. The CD player has worked flawlessly for almost 20 years. I have never even cleaned the lasers lens. Once in a while I put a CD in my DVD player to compare sound. The old rebuild Magnavox sounds so much more detailed than the newer CD/DVD devices. Even when using my Lexicon DAC's. The day it does fail will be sad. Will be a very hard piece to replace. I am thinking of trying a HTPC in the next year and see if that may be a possible replacement. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 25, 2003 Author Share Posted November 25, 2003 Right, but is that going analog out to the reciever or Optical? I am wanting to do optical into my Rotel RSX-1055 and i am using currently a Sony 300 disc changer with optical out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwoods Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Sorry to stray off on this but The CD player I have is an old Magnavox CDB650 from 1985. A friend and I had both purchased one of these back then also. I bought mine with the knowledge of " being able to open her hood up like an old Chevy". Closer tolerance caps, gold RCA's and what not. I really like the favorite track feature and the " extra " filtered outputs to remove any digital harshness. Never been cleaned & still plays like new. This was one of the best audio purchases I can type about, 2nd only to my Heresy II's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Palm Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 I think multi K players are just something to sell to very wealthy people who boast about how much they spent for something. I really don't think there is a dime's difference in actual sound quality. There's measurable differences but we don't hear numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klewless Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 j-malotky, Thanks for the info. Wonder if anything like that is available today? We need more real gear and less of the crap that seems to be all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arj Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 IMHO, these Multi K equipment are Good but are Spoilt Brats ie they need the Best equipment the ideal placement, As many accessories as possible and to top it all reference recordings...add of course the accoustic treatments. If all of the above exist then it is heaven else ...well..a waste of money ! This very well ends up where the "soul" gets lost and the 'Pedigree" is what rules this is where the Budget and the medium stuff excel, they are much more forgiving ! An Me...I believe in Forgiveness as a Virtue...And I should not drink so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZAKO Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 HANDEL.......Like your hair style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 26, 2003 Author Share Posted November 26, 2003 Thank you gentlemen:) I work hard to keep my hair like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 ---------------- On 11/25/2003 12:12:29 PM Georg Fredrich Handel wrote: Right, but is that going analog out to the reciever or Optical? I am wanting to do optical into my Rotel RSX-1055 and i am using currently a Sony 300 disc changer with optical out. ---------------- Like I stated earlier, if you do the Optical out you are using the DAC's in your Rotel to convert the digital signal to an Analog wave. If you do this the cheapest $35 dollar Best Buy special of the week will work fine since all you are asking the CD player to do is to read data stream off the disk. Just remember, you are at the mercy of your Receivers DAC quality when you do this. The general rule is the use the best DAC you have available, if it is your CD, use analog. If your receiver, use Optical or COAX. LonePalm, you are confusing the data off the disk with the Analog signal you are actually listening too. You are correct that the data stream off the CD (the 1 and 0's) are the same on any old CD player. The DAC converts the data stream into the Analog signal you listen too. Remember that CD audio is a compromise at best. No negitive phase and a 95-98 DB SN tops. If you want a CD to sound like a real recording, compared to a high quality analog recording like a high quality LP or a 7 FPS master tape, you need a DAC that can fill in the many gaps that are missing on the CD data stream. Of course if you have low quality Analog amplifiers or something less than big Heritage you may not hear a difference. But those of us who do hear the difference. Kind of like watching a DVD on a HDTV. The DVD is also a compromise since it will only put out 480i or 480p which is not close to HD. If you plug it in directly to your HDTV the internal progresive processor will make it look OK. But use a better external line doubler and scailer or HTPC you have a lot better HDTV image than the built in chip can produce. Of course if you have a low quality or small screen HDTV you may not see a difference as well. Klew - I am thinking and planning a HTPC project for my system. A HTPC with an M-Audio audiophile 2496 sound card and the right software (still reaserching) it looks possible to get a good real time Analog conversion of a CD for a few hundred dollars, not a few thousand. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale W Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 The bucks come in to play when purifying the power source and reduction in jitter. Other than that you pay for balanced outputs and dither funtions, most highend players have no toys . Just a transportation and reading device. My 3k player( transport olny ) sounds leaps and bounds better than my combination DVD/CD player which was still $1500.00 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted November 30, 2003 Author Share Posted November 30, 2003 ---------------- On 11/29/2003 4:09:11 PM DALE WALKER wrote: The bucks come in to play when purifying the power source and reduction in jitter. Other than that you pay for balanced outputs and dither funtions, most highend players have no toys . Just a transportation and reading device. My 3k player( transport olny ) sounds leaps and bounds better than my combination DVD/CD player which was still $1500.00 . ---------------- What does a transport do? What brand and what interconnects are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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