decent cd player

[griffinconst]

I'm finally putting together a good system. I have an Onkyo 805 receiver and Jamo 450 front speakers. I want to upgrade my cd player now. It wouldn't take much as I have a Sony NS315. I'm guessing it's a real piece of **** since I paid about $100 for it 6 yrs. ago.
Now that I have some good componants, will a good cd player make a noticable difference? I don't really want to spend the money if I won't hear much difference.
What do you think? Is it worth doing?
What brands should I look at, and how little can I spend and still hear a big difference?
THANKS

 

[jamie2112]

I am going to say OPPO is the way forward. They make great gear at great prices http://www.oppodigital.com/ IMO these are the way to go unless you want to wait a bit month or so for Oppo's Bluray player....

 

[hjfischer]

I second the Oppo nomination. I have a 980H and it is a superb music and DVD player. Their customer service is outstanding also.

 

[agarwalro]

For digital outs, a $50 CD player will be no different than a $5000 one. The difference is only if you use the analog outs.

See if you can get a used Denon 3910 for cheap. When it was the flagship, it was considered to have reference quality audio, video. While it cannot do the latest and greatest in video, I imagine the quality of it's audio section can still be considered reference.

 

[griffinconst]

What can I expect in sound quality with an upgrade?

 

[agarwalro]

What can I expect in sound quality with an upgrade?

Is this a rethorical? IMHO, it is more a question of, what are you already missing, than, what more can you get.

Go to high end AV stores and demo their stereo setups, price no object. Once you hear what you like, try to reproduce that on your own setup.

The speakers, their placement and room acoustics play a much much greater role in sound quality than electronics. The first step is to determine what you are missing? Try doing a FR plot to determine if you are getting the most from your setup. If there are any major peaks or dips, try correcting them. Get as close as possible to a flat FR in-room (I believe the best FR is supposed to have a slight slope from low to high frequencies).

Once you have the best possible sound from your own setup, return to the demo stereo at the showroom and compare again. Now you will be able to truly say if you are missing something or not.

Needless to say, use the same media and make sure it is a good quality recording when doing subjective listening.

 

[aarond]

costco has the denon dvd-758 for $69