CD players vs high end CD players

[Revelation]

I purchased a Denon DN-300Z CD player which has a built in tuner, and Bluetooth. It cost around $425. I am wondering has anyone compared CD players and found if higher end ones like a Marantz CD6007 , ND8006, or Denon 6006 NE make a difference in quality in sound that we can really hear? Or is it more in the features that they cost more?

 

[Bernie Williams]

I have a thirty year old technics sl-ps900 cd player and an oppo 203 DVD/CD player. no difference between the two to my ears.

 

[ryanosaur]

People who are into DAC "specialness" will buy Transports... a CD player where the internal DAC can be bypassed (effectively just a glorified Disc reader).
These tend to cost more for a few reasons, but chief among them would be economy of scale: there simply isn't as big a market for such a niche product, so fewer are built, thus unit cost is higher.

I use my Sony X700 for my Disc needs. Quite content with that for now.

 

[lovinthehd]

Looks like it's a decent limited cd player altho I find it weird to pair it with an am/fm tuner, and bluetooth but no wifi .....wouldn't have any use for the tuner/bt myself. I'd rather use a good universal player so I can play multich discs in SACD, dvd, dvd-a, bluray and other optical formats.

 

[sterling shoote]

My means to CD pleasure: Sony DVP-S9000ES, OPPO-205, Sony CDP-C601ES, and Sony UBP-X800M2. All but the Sony UBP-X800M2 have internal DACs. I doubt I could discern the sound signature from any as being divergent from another, yet I seem to go to the Sony CDP-C601ES for CD play more than the others since I perceive its sound is less edgy than my other means to CD entertainment. At any rate, these days, lossless streaming from Apple Music to my Parasound P6's DAC via usb connection seems to sound best, although, if it were not for distracting pops and ticks I would enjoy vinyl more than other means to recorded music, from my Technics SL-1210GR Turntable fitted with a Shure V15 Type III/Jico SAS-B Cartridge.

 

[highfigh]

Looks like it's a decent limited cd player altho I find it weird to pair it with an am/fm tuner, and bluetooth but no wifi .....wouldn't have any use for the tuner/bt myself. I'd rather use a good universal player so I can play multich discs in SACD, dvd, dvd-a, bluray and other optical formats.

It's not actually designed for residential use, more for restaurants, bars and other commercial/PA applications. That's also the reason it's not multi-channel- those applications don't need it although I have to wonder why it doesn't have a network card and can't stream, since those don't use much internal space.

 

[mono-bloc]

[ I find it weird to pair it with an am/fm tuner, and bluetooth

The answer is quite simple. McIntosh Labs are not fools, They do considerable market research before introducing a new model, And strangle enough the American market is not the main buyer of High End. The North African and Middle East, together with Indonesia and Hong Kong are massive buyers of the Ultra High End. High End retailers the like of "The Sound Chamber" [Hong Kong} and Extreme Audio [Turkey] have multi display rooms with million dollar plus systems on display. There was a story about a speaker buyer, who wanted the speakers in a special color, Add a 100 grand to the price.

Really compared to these places the American market is considerable small , Just how many Ultra high end outlets are there is the USA .I only know of a couple. Further to that how many members on here have a 50 grand amplification system or have spend in excess of 20 grand on speakers. And I'm not putting anyone down, but that's the way it is. We in OZ have two high end retailers "Audio Connection" {Sydney] and "Class A Audio" [ Melbourne] And in both cases the doors stay open due to cheaper lines subsidizing the High End lines..

People these days, simple don't have money to spare, of such luxuries, The money's stretched on food and rent's, and the young people have even less. So there HiFi is restricted to Ear Buds and MP3 players. It's a Judge Judy world for Jo Average Of the Have's and Have Not's. And the Have Nots are way in front.

 

[mono-bloc]

As for High End CD players consider Gryphon Ethos, or a DCS Vivaldi Stack

 

[emorphien]

If it's high end you gotta call it a "transport" to be cool.

 

[mono-bloc]

If it's high end you gotta call it a "transport" to be cool.

Not really sure how you come to that conclusion . CD transports are restricted to the High-End market.. Simply using the coaxial S/PDIF output on a standard player does not make it a transport. Far from it.

 

[Revelation]

Had anyone A/B two CD players a stereo store and found much of a difference? I would think there is about a 5 difference in sound and some are more stable than others in tracking if your walking across the room.

 

[Trell]

Had anyone A/B two CD players a stereo store and found much of a difference? I would think there is about a 5 difference in sound and some are more stable than others in tracking if your walking across the room.

CD players is a mature technology and you won’t hear any difference between them with respect to playback/decoding, unless it’s badly designed or faulty.

An audible differences between CD players is mechanical noise from the drive, that might disturb you.

I’ve not owned a CD player for many years as I’ve been using universal players and the current one, an Oppo Blue-ray, I bought about a decade ago.

 

[Replicant 7]

Had anyone A/B two CD players a stereo store and found much of a difference? I would think there is about a 5 difference in sound and some are more stable than others in tracking if your walking across the room.

I have A/B'd, CD player's (music) only and a Sony 4K UBP-X700m player. My CD-S303 has, analog out, one optical out and one coaxial out. The 4K player has HDMI audio/video out, HDMI audio only out, and a coaxial out. Absolutely no difference in sound quality between any of the outputs and or player's. I've owned many CD only players over the years, Sony ES multi disc, Onkyo multidisc, Onkyo 7020 player, Yamaha CD players just to mention a few. To many to count Blu-ray and 4K multi-format players. Nothing that I could tell give me any reason to believe one sounded better than the other for music use. I personally just like a stand alone CD player in my setup. Now as for those high-end CD players, went into a BB Magnolia department they had a high end Yamaha CD player can't remember the model but do remember the price was over 1k, didn't sound any better than my Sony 4K player, to me anyways. I do understand the fascination with CD players, being it all starts with the source. Like that old saying goes, crap in crap out, same goes for a good source Hi-Reg in Hi-Reg out. All starts with the recorded source. People hear what they want to hear. If you listen to those, Synergy cable guys, hell one or two of those fake cable's can make a pair of Bose speakers sound like a pair of RBH speakers on steroids. This home audio, has and always will remain a very subjective hobby.

 

[lovinthehd]

Had anyone A/B two CD players a stereo store and found much of a difference? I would think there is about a 5 difference in sound and some are more stable than others in tracking if your walking across the room.

Have had early portable optical disc players be subject to vibration, but rarely generally.

 

[Verdinut]

CD players are products of the past and not worth spending money on. Any Blu-ray player will play CDs as well as they are designed to play more complex Blu-ray and surround audio tracks.
IMO, just get a Sony blu-ray player and it will read any CD without any problem. It also has the advantage of being able to play Blu-ray discs and older DVDs. Moreover, it will play CDs just as well as the more expensive Marantz and other flagship CD players. On top of that, you will save money.

 

[mono-bloc]

Moreover, it will play CDs just as well as the more expensive Marantz and other flagship CD players. On top of that, you will save money.

Nearly all CD players with a external draw loader, as opposed to slot load and top load players are based on the Phillips CD mechanisms. See HTTPS://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/classics/digital-classics/the-almost-complete-Philips-cdm-range-of-swing-arm-cd-mechanisms/ While my choice in players is really limited to Top Load players a Cyrus dAD 7 and a Rega Apollo. The Cyrus was in a bad way when I got it, and I had it completely rebuilt by a Cyrus specialist in Sydney. https://tunedinaudio.com.au/electronic-servicing/ Give Tim a call if you have something special in need of attention. The guy's a magician, and can work wonders. I do own a couple of Oppo's A Harmon Kardon DVD 47 and a couple of Rotel's But a lot of the output performance comes from the amplification being used. If that's not comparable, your never going to get a good result.

 

[Verdinut]

Nearly all CD players with a external draw loader, as opposed to slot load and top load players are based on the Phillips CD mechanisms. See HTTPS://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/classics/digital-classics/the-almost-complete-Philips-cdm-range-of-swing-arm-cd-mechanisms/ While my choice in players is really limited to Top Load players a Cyrus dAD 7 and a Rega Apollo. The Cyrus was in a bad way when I got it, and I had it completely rebuilt by a Cyrus specialist in Sydney. https://tunedinaudio.com.au/electronic-servicing/ Give Tim a call if you have something special in need of attention. The guy's a magician, and can work wonders. I do own a couple of Oppo's A Harmon Kardon DVD 47 and a couple of Rotel's But a lot of the output performance comes from the amplification being used. If that's not comparable, your never going to get a good result.

I also have two Oppo blu-ray players, but my Sony X800 plays Blu-ray discs and Cds just as well. IMO, there's no reason to look any further.

 

[mono-bloc]

I also have two Oppo blu-ray players, but my Sony X800 plays Blu-ray discs and Cds just as well. IMO, there's no reason to look any further.

Your probable correct in what you say, however it's not really the nature of the beast, We all collect, Sometimes it's simply stuff, which really has no use, and sometimes it's connected with a hobby, And all hobbies are expensive, Be it fishing, [[ boats, tackle etc ]] Golf, [ ground fee's, new clubs , bragging rights ]] Some people collect Cars, can you drive more then one at a time [[ I have two ]] Wives, sometimes yours, sometimes other peoples. Enough said on that subject.. But it can get expensive, for little return. But it does feed the ego.

 

[Replicant 7]

On a note: Anyone that may have Yamahas CD player, Model CD-S303, there is a firmwear update for it.. 1.37. Just go to Yamahas support website for audio. Download it to a flash drive, has to be done with a PC first than to your flash drive. I know what would a CD player need a firmwear update for. Did mine yesterday. This is my 1st ever firmware update of a stand alone music only CD player. Just forget to post up about that. Carry on Lady's/Fellow's, enjoy your day.

 

[Trell]

Your probable correct in what you say, however it's not really the nature of the beast, We all collect, Sometimes it's simply stuff, which really has no use, and sometimes it's connected with a hobby, And all hobbies are expensive, Be it fishing, [[ boats, tackle etc ]] Golf, [ ground fee's, new clubs , bragging rights ]] Some people collect Cars, can you drive more then one at a time [[ I have two ]] Wives, sometimes yours, sometimes other peoples. Enough said on that subject.. But it can get expensive, for little return. But it does feed the ego.

Please change the way of your posting: it’s nearly unreadable.