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Is there a good HD-DVD player that is a GREAT CD player


G.Kennedy

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Seems like with the recent news about Blue -Ray ... the market on HD-DVD players may plummet. With all of the technology in a HD-DVD player ... do they make good CD players????

Or would it still be better to get a stand alone CD player .... I don't actually own a TV .. so this will be strictly for CD's.

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Um... I don't know ..... many of the mass market HD-DVD players were selling for $250 -$500 .... today I am already seeing them for under $100

Is the technology used in the audio portion of a HD-DVD player better than a comparably priced CD player ..... I think we will be seeing HD-DVD players for $50 soon.

Or is a HD-DVD player so focused on the video portion of the equation, that a regular CD player is better at that task of playing music.

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Quoted from the AVS Forum:

"The A1, XA1, and XA2 use Burr-Brown PCM-1755 DACS, which are
exceptionally good. My A1 beats out the California Audio Labs CD player
I used to rely on. The A2 and A20 use Analog Devices DACS, which are
not quite as good."

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Quoted from the AVS Forum:

"The A1, XA1, and XA2 use Burr-Brown PCM-1755 DACS, which are
exceptionally good. My A1 beats out the California Audio Labs CD player
I used to rely on. The A2 and A20 use Analog Devices DACS, which are
not quite as good."

The XA2, IIRC, also is the best available upscaling DVD players (Realta HQV scaler chip inside....) if you happen to be in the market for such a crittrer: These had been selling consistently in the $500-$600 range, and are already hitting eBay for $330 BIN.

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Glen,

Too bad I didn't know you were thinking about a CDP when you were here. We were running Todd's modded Dennon, which is an expensive beast, prolly about $3-4K. I have an Arcam DV 137, which is a multi player. It's not as detailed as the Dennon, but at less than half the price, the difference is too slight to justify the expense of the larger beast. The Red Book section is warmer on the modded Dennon, but the SACD is very close. If you wish to hear it, email me, we can get together for that...

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Funny thing Andy ... listening to the Dennon is whats motivating me. We listen to lots of AAC's here ... I think the biggest thing I "heard" last Saturday was the CD's .... It has me looking and thinking

My bank account says otherwise..... now that the strike is over..... that should be on the upswing though. I would like to hear the Arcam for sure.

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Funny thing Andy ... listening to the Dennon is whats motivating me. We listen to lots of AAC's here ... I think the biggest thing I "heard" last Saturday was the CD's .... It has me looking and thinking



My bank account says otherwise..... now that the strike is over..... that should be on the upswing though. I would like to hear the Arcam for sure.

AACs?? My brain is not working this morning,,,

That Dennon mod is sweet, but it is too pricey for my pocketbook. Todd also picked up a Marantz modded by Don Allen for $500, but it's only a CDP, IIRC. We haven't compared that one yet. Maybe I'll have to do a CD/Multi-player shootout.

The Arcam has some design deficiencies, such as the fact that to play SACD in 2 Channel mode, I need the monitor to be turned on to make the switch. It defaults to multi-channel. Also, there is a stereo output, but it doesn't give you the hi-def of SACD or DVD-A, you have to get that off the LF & RF outputs.

Anyway, let's plan on that maybe for next month?

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..........

AACs?? My brain is not working this morning,,,

AAC= Advanced Audio Compression ..... way better than Mp3's .... but a lossy compression format from Apple. More files can fit on an Ipod .... as my system get better ... the AAC's are showing their limits.

I may opt for a stand alone CD player ... the DVD thing was just a question on wether the technology help the audio portion... I do not need a multi.

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