bertsummerkids Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Just wanted to get your feedback on whether it would be worthwhile upgrade to buy a high quality cd player versus my existing denon 1600 dvd player for 2 channel audio for cds. Would there be a significant improvement in cd audio quality or would it just be a marginal change. Do most of you have a dvd player and cd player or do you let your dvd handle everything rf7, rc7, rf3, rs3, svs pc+20-39, denon 3802, B&K 200.2, denon dvd 1600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I myself have the opinion that my little old DVD player does very well on audio CD too. Sounds good to me. My thought is that if all the sampling, decodeing, reconstructing is good for video, and the attendant sound track, it must be okay for audio CD too. That is a bit of a leap of faith. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I have a Denon 2900 DVD player and a NAD C542 CD player and for 2 channel music I prefer the NAD C542. The C542 sounds more detailed, and just overall sounds better. The 2900 does a good job on CDs but it sounds too laid back for my taste. The 2900 sounds better than the C542 when I play a very good SACD disc or DVD audio disc. Also depends on how much money you have to spend, does it have to be used or new? I highly recommend a NAD C542 but it does not have many features but sounds great! The Jolida has a excellent player that I compared to my NAD C52. If I did not already own the C542 I might have bought the Jolida player. However it is $400 more and I would have had to spend more money to get some better tubes. So I think the C542 for someone who has $400-550 depending on where you get is a excellent value. IF you can spend $1000 or more then get the Jolida with better tubes. There is also another cd player that many people on the forum have something like the Ahtjoeb but not sure about the spelling. I think it is around the same price as the C542 but you can also get a upgraded version for more. Find dealers that carry whatever cd players you want to demo and arrage for you to take home and listen to it in your system. I did this with both the C540 and the Jolida cd players. You leave a deposit and pick it up just before they close say on Sat and then bring it back in a day or two. If they are not willing to do this then tell them you will take your business elsewhere. If they want to make the sell they will do it. Denon has the 2910, 3910, 5910 out now and I would love to try it but putting my money into other areas of the system. Good luck with it!! Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Where do you live? Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I use a DVD player from the year 2000 (Pioneer DV-333) for CDs. It was worth C$300 then. I have a neighbour who sells electronics who says there are very suttle differences between that and his C$1200 Denon CD player. I have another audiophile neighbour with an expensive Rotel CD player who says I would hear subtle difference with an C$800 player. My KHorns image a soundstage that you could cut with a knife. If it can get better, then great. But I'm sceptical. I'm thinking that a $150 Pioneer univeral player might blow a $1000+ CD player out of the water, just because of the SACD format. Comments about that? Otherwise I'm torn. I have a DVD player already. I could get a universal player for SACD/DVDA but don't see myself getting a NAD CD player as well. Which one would you buy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Interesting to hear this many so far skeptical of high dollar CD players, as am I. I used a 150.00 Sony CD changer for years and heard nothing I could trace it that was very wrong. I THINK the Pioneer CD burner I purchased as an "alibi" backup for location recording with its Burr-Brown DAC sounds a bit better. I am CERTAIN my audio server running CD ripped to WAV played back through the Card Deluxe or ESI Pro cards sounds better than any standalone player at any price I've heard. But even that difference is nowhere near as profound as various TT/arm/cartridge combinations and such. Eventually, someone will say their 5k CD player is far superior, etc., and I am sure they hear that, and equally sure I will not, and about 4300.00 better off for it. Now, the difference between various CD's sound quality is DEFINITELY audible, even in a car! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Remember everyone hears the way music is reproduced differently. To me the Denon 2900 DVD player is a very good player for cds but it has small differences that I can hear and prefer the overall sound of the NAD. When I compare good SACDs on the Denon to a good CD on the NAD the Denono has a better overall sound. It's a personal choice or maybe I should say it's a persons ears choice. Soon you will not be able to hear any difference between the two players and only CD players worth very high dollars will be around. Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 jbsl, how do you have your two units connected? (via analog or digital connections?) I have found that a cheapy cd or dvd player will sound great when using a high quality DAC...even better sounding than an expensive cd or dvd player running the analog outputs. When it comes down to it, the only differences between players are the transports and the DACs. (transport refers to the buttons on the front and all the playlisting features). I always recommend that a person purchase a cd player based on it's transport and then use the digital output into a worthy DAC. If you're powering everything with your reciever then you might as well use the DACs in your reciever (that way everything sounds the same). In other words, the only time to invest in an external DAC is when you're running seperates. As far as analog output goes, there are some dvd players that sound like mega crap, just like there are some cd players that sound like mega crap. There is however nothing inheritanly wrong with running a CD off a dvd player. (chances are the dac's in a dvd tend to be better because they have to be capable of higher bit rates) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erukian Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 iirc, the toshiba $80 dvd-player has a DAC that can resample to 24bit/192khz. also, i think vinnie from redwineaudio did some major modding on these $80 dvd players and made them compete with ones that cost $2000+ so yeah, dvd-players are going to give you more bang for the buck when it comes to music playback on cd formats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 ---------------- On 8/7/2005 4:42:11 PM Erukian wrote: iirc, the toshiba $80 dvd-player has a DAC that can resample to 24bit/192khz. ---------------- All of the Pioneer multi-format SACD, DVD-A players feature 24bit/192kHz DACs as well. From the DV-578A and 'up'. And the avg. retail pricing starts at about $125. I got one on sale for $99 just after this past Christmas and am very pleased. And they also have great picture quality. After having the Pioneer CD-45 as well, I can't justify the difference in price! You can spend ALOT more, but I don't think the difference is going to necessarily be worth the difference in price. I know, I know...if only I had the $20K model! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I only use my Denon 4800 A/V receiver for movies and my Luxman preamp and a Cayin tube amp for 2 channel music. For SACD or DVD audio I have the left and right channels going through my Luxman with the center and rears going through my Denon. The Luxman does not have a digital input only analog. I fell the NAD sounds good enough for what I want so don't see any reason to buy a DAC. I've compared my NAD to a stock Jolida cd player and the Jolida was a little better in bass and mids but it was too laid back on the highs. So I did not buy the Jolida since I would have to sell my NAD and end up paying over $400 more for a player that did not sound that much better. With better tubes in the Jolida it would have brought up the highs but I still would not buy it cause TO ME the Jolida player did not sound like it was worth $400 more. Again this is how it sounded to me on my system with my cds. If I took my NAD with me to someone else's system the Jolida might sound much better. My DVD player is based on technology from 3 years ago so to me my CD player does a better job of playing cds. If you buy a DVD player today the technology has made it very difficult if at all to hear better quality sound from a CD player. If anyone feels their DVD player does not play cds very good then they should look into a better DVD player or a CD player. Does a CD player sound better than a DVD player for CD playback? That is something that only you can answer. Yes my CD player sounds better than my DVD player with CDS in my system. I may change my mind when I replace my DVD player in a year or two. Xman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 My Sony NS999ES does a great job at both , and saves space by not having 2 components . Only problem is that I can't pop in a movie and listen to music at the same time . A minor drawback , but still a drawback if you know what I mean . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 A pal bought the cheapie Toshiba and did a $25 mod to the outputs. We took it to another pal's house and compared it to that guys big-buck Cary CD player. Both fellas thought the Toshiba sounded better. I didn't pay any attention myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erukian Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 The cheap-o toshiba uses teh same DSP (DAC and Video chips) as the big-wig dvd-players costing up past 2000, what matter's in the end is the quality remote, the look of the player and of course, the higher end materials inside. Sort of like comparing a bel-canto tripath amp to a teac I suppose. Same core, different components inside which affects the overall sound. -Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scriven Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Any idea what the mod was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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