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better sound CD player or DVD player?


jtack

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Generally, you're probably better off going with a dedicated CD player if sound quality is what you're after...but not an el cheapo basic player that you can pick up for $80. You could also get a CD player with digital out and use it as a 'transport' (orthe DVD player via digital out), in conjunction with a separate external digital-to-analog converter (DAC) which you would likely go digital coax/optical in and analog L/R RCA out, and into your preamp or receiver. But a good DAC often cost more than many DVD players.

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As long as the player has a digital out (coax or optical), and you have a good receiver, a player is a player is a player. The signal being sent to the receiver will be the same on an $80 Pioneer unit as it will on a $700 Denon (although the Denon will likely have other improved features, such as a larger buffer to avoid preceived skipping, etc.). If you're using DIGITAL output, then it's your RECEIVER's DAC's that matter.

If you're using ANALOG outputs from the CD/DVD player, then the opposite is true, and now the DAC's on the player actually matter.

Hope this helps. 1.gif

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Transports are a dime-a-dozen, but where the rubber meets the road is in the DAC. That is where all of the manufacturing expense lies in a cd player of any quality.

The quality of the DAC is the deciding factor in any digital source.

I would also expect that a dedicated cd player would be of higher quality than a dvd player doing "double duty".

Also stay away from "changers" as they have weak and/or noisy transports and typically less than adequate DACs.

DM

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I agree with D-man about the changers. Actually, My Denon 2200 DVD player does a pretty-darn-good job on CD's using the 5.1 analog outs into my pre/pro. But since the Denon is already being used for DVD movies, DVD-A and SACD, I wanted to relieve it of some duties, which is why I got a dedicated CD player. I still own more CD's than any other format, and I wanted better performance (using analog outs...don't want to bother with an external/expensive DAC) than I would get from your typical Technics job or mega-changer. Hopefully, this will also help extend the life and performance of both players.

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On 3/22/2004 8:25:56 PM D-MAN wrote:

Transports are a dime-a-dozen, but where the rubber meets the road is in the DAC. That is where all of the manufacturing expense lies in a cd player of any quality.

The quality of the DAC is the deciding factor in any digital source.

I would also expect that a dedicated cd player would be of higher quality than a dvd player doing "double duty".

Also stay away from "changers" as they have weak and/or noisy transports and typically less than adequate DACs.

DM

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Actually, most DVD players stack up extremely well against similarly priced CD players in the DAC department for one simple reason:

Their FIR filters, on account of the 24/96 or 24/192 converters, do their dirty work completely outside of the range of human hearing.

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I would say a cd player. Usually a dedicated anything is better and less is better. I had one of those miracle toshiba players and gave it to my mother and bought an onkyo dvd player because it blew it away video quality. All though the toshiba did have a touch smoother sound it was older and the older a player gets before it dies it sounds better in my opinion. They tend to smooth out like everything does. But if you go cd use good quality interconnects so you use the warmer sounding dac that is used in the cd player. jUst my opinion. Anyone hear of Wolfson making good dacs? Cambridge audio cd players use them and are probally better than any of the entry midlevel receivers. I am thinking. My next purchase will either be a seperate amp or seperate cd after i get my electrial problems fixed. Mayby a sherbourn i was checking their site out and they have awesome power supplys their Griff. Or a Rotel i have heard of miracles happening with klipsch and rotel.

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OH yeah i was looking at pictures of the fifty watter and i couldn't believe the power supply. Do you have one of them? Two channel amp that is. I assume the cheapest one they make. I was interested to see the way the speaker wire connectors are. Can you use banana plugs? It doesn't look that way.

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On 3/22/2004 9:21:32 PM wheelman wrote:

But if you go cd use good quality interconnects so you use the warmer sounding dac that is used in the cd player. jUst my opinion.

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I have to agree. I bought a dedicated cd player, because it sounds so much smoother and warmer then my dvd player. I don't have a sacd player yet, but I will. not that they were out when I bought my cd player anyway.

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I recently picked up a Pioneer changer, YES I agree with all that has been said about changers and consumer units, this in no way meets my expectations of high quality. This unit is fairly new and I only paid $50 for it. It is LIGHT YEARS better than the dedicated single CD player I had before (over 20 years old) and will do until I can buy a good dedicated CD player. It has proven to be better in just the last recordings I played alone. CDs I thought sounded good have proven to be poorly mixed. I can hear it now but couldnt before.

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On 3/23/2004 12:25:12 AM wheelman wrote:

OH yeah i was looking at pictures of the fifty watter and i couldn't believe the power supply. Do you have one of them? Two channel amp that is. I assume the cheapest one they make. I was interested to see the way the speaker wire connectors are. Can you use banana plugs? It doesn't look that way.

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I don't have one right here, but the pictures I have show the 2-channel numbers having spring-loaded connectors, so no banana plugs.

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NAD makes a DVD player, the T562 i believe, that has wolfson DACs for the two channel output. Supossedly this way you can switch between digital output for DVDs and Analogue for CDs and have them both sound good from one player.

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