TheEAR Posted November 30, 2003 Share Posted November 30, 2003 "What is the diffrence in sound quality between a $5k cd player and a $200 sony 300 disc changer?" First the better quality DAC and output stage,translation into better sound quality.Better construction,isolation from vibrations.Longer life of product. Some deaf people claim a cheapo CD changer will sound the same as a high end Mark Levinson or upscale Sony SCD1 player.That is BS and BS taken to extremes,how can they sound the same when the former use superior digital to analog converters and much better signal amplification? Its beyond me these people should replace their hearing aid power cells. And yes if you use the converters in your receiver you are wasting the higher quality converters in your high quality CD/DVD player.And only the best pre/pro and receivers units have very high quality DAC's. Oh BTW I have three high quality CD players(two are also SACD players),the Sony SCD1,Pioneer DVAX10 and Denon DCD-3520.No garbage will grace my systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonecj Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 I guess its time to repeat my favorite line from this forum... "Let your ears decide" I did some playing around on this subject after reading another topic about this same thing. It was about the same time I realized that my early-90's Adcom CD player sounded better using the analog outs than connecting it to my new Onkyo receiver's DAC (burr-brown etc). I thought for sure that ten year newer technology would be better. I was very wrong. After that, I started playing with different units (Onkyo, Sony & Apex DVDs, & 2 different Sony CD Changers) & found that they all sounded the same when using the digital out to the receiver, with one exception. When I hooked my cheapo Apex DVD player to the receiver, the sound seemed like it was "not as clean" as the other units. But using the internal DAC's & analog outputs, they all sounded very different. Again, the Apex sounded really bad comaperd to the others, almost like a 128 MP3! I came to the conclusion that a real cheap transport seems to add some noise to the digital stream, but any decent transport will send a clean signal. My lesson is that even with the best DAC chips, it is still up to the manufacturer to build the circuits around them. This is where the biggest difference is found, & you must use your ears to decide which is the best for you. Also... In defense of the Apex, I bought this thing for $39 for camping, where it gets packed & un-packed from the garage to the truck, then sits out in the sun & dust for days at a time hooked to a Wards 13" TV running off a 12v power inverter, and it has worked for over a year with no problems. Very much worth the $39! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Running a checksum test to verify the digital output of most transports will result in an identical file. The difference lies almost entirely in the DAC and it's associated analog circuit. Obviously there are exceptions like cyclonecj's bargain apex DVD player ... but most CD transports do well. The same goes for the digital cable used. Given the length involved and the low data rate required by a CD player... most cables have no problem. You can get some dropped bits if you go to extremes; like the online review i saw for a digital interconnect made out of a piece of a coat hanger !! ... but what do you expect? Later... Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale W Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 A transport does little more than read the CD . This means you need a outboard DAC componet or let your digital proccesor do the conversion. Real high end CD players will use an external power source the same as extremly high priced turntables , minimizing any corruption of the signal path is the high end goal. Most purists listen to orcastra music and can pick out a nat fart if its not suppose to be there. Crazy bastards if you ask me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eklipsched Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 All this talk about CD players and digital whatsits is quite confusing, to say the least. Sounds like a big expense for a noise-free (artificial) sound. I prefer the old (original) sound coming from my modest stereo setup. My primary musical listening devices consist of a high-end Micro Seiki turntable, with a CD-4 cartridge ( a device for playing a vinyl album, for the newbies), and a 4-channel Teac reel to reel deck. These are fed into a Marantz quad preamp, and then off to 2 Marantz power amps, with a modest 85 wpc (actual watts, not the bogus ratings of todays standards). From there it's off to 2 beautiful pairs of home-built (by me) walnut-faced K-horns (not the Speakerlab K clones), using my own design crossovers, with high-end parts. A digital camera is not in the current budget, so pics will follow at a later time. I obviously spend too much money on albums and blank reel to reel tapes. Oh well, it satisfies my musical hunger Eklipsched Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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