Anyone using tube CD players?

[HarryO]

I recently acquired a Sheng Ya / Vincent tube HDCD CD player. After a bit of tube rolling ending up with vintage Bugle Boys and Seimens,I am blown away with the smoothness of this nice unit. Even the lower quality recordings sound very good. Now my questions are...1) What types/models might I try to get a very high end player? 2) Can I get higher quality in sound? Preferably multi disc.

Thank you,

HarryO

[Daddy Dee]

HarryO,

I think it would be a real challenge to improve over what you've got. It would take some head to head time for comparison to come to terms with that decision, IMO.

[HarryO]

D D,

Thanks.

I'm really looking for a multi disc unit. I got spoiled with numerous full cartridges laying around for selections. Also, on 2 disc sets it's nice to let the player auto load the second disc. I do NOT want to give up sound quality for convenience though. I'm probably just lazy but I do like the comforts of technology. Next is a nice remote controlled tube preamp.

Lazy in Indy,

HarryO

[mark1101]

I have a Jolida JD-100A. What I found to improve upon what you can get out of these type of players both with and without the suggested upgrades is this. Absolutely nothing beats an upsampler. The upsampler is the ultimate key to getting to the next level. The tube CD players are nothing more than a gimmick in my opinion.....and I have one and I finally have it sounding very nice.

Look at DACs using just the transport from the CD player. The best ones will have an upsampler. You have to get to 24/192 upsampled minimum. The MAC DAC samples at 24/768. My friend you are not going to beat these type of devices with any CD player and some upgrades. You won't even come close.

That said, the Ah CDP with the upsampler upgrade is the closet I've seen (in one box) to what I suggest.....and it absolutely blows away my Jolida (who does not offer an upsampler).

I'm looking at DACs with upsamplers myself as a next source purchase.

[Duke Spinner]

'nother Jolida owner here ...

it was a Big step up, from my older CDP's

[mark1101]

It will cost some $$$ to get to the next level using the separate boxes (transport/DAC). That's for sure. I guess it depends on how important it is to sound even better than what you have. My Jolida does sound very nice right now. But if I hadn't heard JC's Ah with the upsampler, I wouldn't have done any research on some of these DACs. I heard JC's player in 3 systems: Richard Albright's on his Jubs, at JC's house in his system, and at my house in my system. It's a fantastic player IMHO. When we did the shootout at my house I had run down Bugle Boy tubes in my Jolida and did not know it at the time. I subsequently fixed that situation and it sounds much better. We have another shootout planned for a future visit.

I heard the Philips transport (Jolida) and the Benchmark DAC1 are supposed to be an excellent combo. Benchmark has an odd upsampler but it gets rave reviews. Still, it is $975.00.

[Daddy Dee]

I will add an amen to the comments on the upsampled AH! Njoe Tjoebs. I was skeptical of the Dick Olshner's review which praised the upsampler, but eventually added it to the AH! and as they say in audiofile land, it was like a veil was lifted from the music. I hate it when I say things like that.

I suppose the proper terminology for the AH! upsampler is that if serves as a dedicated and proprietary DAC..

[HarryO]

You guys are selling me what I wanted and I was correct in my thoughts on this. I love the ShengYa 24-bit / 96 with the Philips transport. I've always been a vinyl freak and the last couple of years I've been getting into the CDs. Last year I bought the Jolida and played a bit with it and liked the sound but I still liked my vinyl best. Now the ShengYa has me selling off my turntables and vinyl collection I've had since the mid 60's.

As with most audio the more I hear the more I can find need for improvement. I figure this import player can be improved upon and I know there are many fellow forum members as serious as I am. This HDCD tuber woke me up on CD sound and I'm the type to find out what I can before I make the switch. I've already got an AMC DAC but not the upsampler. I haven't even heard of upsamplers until you guys brought it to my attention. This is why I asked.

NOW FOR THE BIG QUESTION! Are the differences worth the bucks? I love my audio and it's probably my biggest vice and most relaxing and stimulating of my diversions to the daily grinds.

HarryO

[mark1101]

My opinion is that once you have a really good player like some of the ones mentioned in this thread......you are going to have to spend some bucks for sure to get better.....and that may be only a fraction better......but it may make a big difference to the particular listener and be worth it to him/her.

I feel that the best money spent is not in CD player upgrades. That will not yield the performance you can get in a DAC for the same money. Most of these DACs upsample and are versatile too. I can improve my CD playback plus I can get my PC to sound better than my Jolida. The Benchmark DAC1 has a model with a USB input. I have a lot of digital music on my PC. I talked to their tech support today and got all my questions answered. I think that may be the one for me at $975.00. To upgrade my Jolida at Underwood it was $1,100.00 (ridiculous in comparison). With the Benchmark DAC1 you do not even need a sound card in your PC.