"Audiophile-Grade"

[DonBattles]

I see some CD players listed as ''Audiophile-Grade" and of course they cost much more. But will the average person listening to music "at home" see (hear) any real difference

 

[trnqk7]

Short answer: "No".

If the cd player is competently designed, and the "cd player" has been around for a while now, they should all sound exactly the same. Their only job is to read the cd and transmit that information to the receiver. The goal of all them would be to do this without introducing any errors or extraneous information that would change the info on the cd...The circuits for all of this were perfected long ago. You are mostly paying for a name and looks-there's nothing wrong with a big, heavy cd player...it just won't sound better than a cheap one. Placebo effect in your mind may make you think differently though...more expensive always equals better, right?

 

[Pyrrho]

Short answer: "No".

If the cd player is competently designed, and the "cd player" has been around for a while now, they should all sound exactly the same. Their only job is to read the cd and transmit that information to the receiver. The goal of all them would be to do this without introducing any errors or extraneous information that would change the info on the cd...The circuits for all of this were perfected long ago. You are mostly paying for a name and looks-there's nothing wrong with a big, heavy cd player...it just won't sound better than a cheap one. Placebo effect in your mind may make you think differently though...more expensive always equals better, right?

One more thing: If two players have a slightly different output level, then unless one takes the trouble to level match them (which virtually no one ever does), then they will subjectively seem to be tonally different even if the difference it only in the volume level. The reason for this is that human hearing is not linear, and as one turns down the volume, the bass and treble seem to diminish faster than the midrange. This is the reason for having "loudness compensation" switches on equipment, to boost the bass and treble to make up for this aspect of human hearing when listening at a low volume level. And, of course, if one is slightly louder than the other, then a person will be able to hear more detail in the louder one. So, people often end up believing that there is a qualitative difference between different pieces of equipment when it really is just a difference in volume.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... But will the average person listening to music "at home" see (hear) any real difference

Very good question
Yes, we can all see a difference Hearing one is the question
The others have stated the case correctly

 

[jliedeka]

In all fairness, there are places where there can be quality differences among cd players. If you use the analog stereo outputs from a cd player, a cheaper unit may have lesser quality circuitry. It's not a huge difference and may not be noticeable in the average system.

Jim

 

[jostenmeat]

In all fairness, there are places where there can be quality differences among cd players. If you use the analog stereo outputs from a cd player, a cheaper unit may have lesser quality circuitry. It's not a huge difference and may not be noticeable in the average system.

Yeah, most/many/all 2 channel pre/pros or 2 ch integrateds don't have any SPDIF inputs.

 

[rded]

Short answer: "No".

If the cd player is competently designed, and the "cd player" has been around for a while now, they should all sound exactly the same. Their only job is to read the cd and transmit that information to the receiver. The goal of all them would be to do this without introducing any errors or extraneous information that would change the info on the cd...The circuits for all of this were perfected long ago. You are mostly paying for a name and looks-there's nothing wrong with a big, heavy cd player...it just won't sound better than a cheap one. Placebo effect in your mind may make you think differently though...more expensive always equals better, right?

With your statement, its just the same as saying that all DVD/bd players will have the same PQ output. Yet there is a significant difference. I have a BH200 and aPS3 and the PQ difference is quite remarkable in favor of the BH200 not to mention AQ is quite different as the PS3 upsamples cds. Not to stray from the current discussion, a lot of things go in to the construction of a CDP. Some are made with better circuitry and better DACs and upsampling capabilities. Some have better anti-jitter technology and better power supply enabling CDPs to have different sonic signatures. IMHO, although I'm not an engineer I believe that the biggest determining factor in the CDP's "sound" is in the digital to analog conversion hence some CDPs are perceived as having a weighty sound and others are faster(better timing) and/or more analytical.

 

[bandphan]

With your statement, its just the same as saying that all DVD/bd players will have the same PQ output. Yet there is a significant difference. I have a BH200 and aPS3 and the PQ difference is quite remarkable in favor of the BH200 not to mention AQ is quite different as the PS3 upsamples cds. Not to stray from the current discussion, a lot of things go in to the construction of a CDP. Some are made with better circuitry and better DACs and upsampling capabilities. Some have better anti-jitter technology and better power supply enabling CDPs to have different sonic signatures. IMHO, although I'm not an engineer I believe that the biggest determining factor in the CDP's "sound" is in the digital to analog conversion hence some CDPs are perceived as having a weighty sound and others are faster(better timing) and/or more analytical.

Im just gonna say huh?*?

 

[Cavediver]

I see some CD players listed as ''Audiophile-Grade" and of course they cost much more. But will the average person listening to music "at home" see (hear) any real difference

Only if they have "Golden Ears"

 

[TjMV3]

I think you guys are speaking in too much generality.

I agree that a lot of CD Players sound very similar and it's literally impossibly in blind tests to hear a difference. But there are players that have a certain sound, which can be heard.

I've done several blind tests with my Vincent CD S6 and my Rega Apollo and Rega Saturn, using the analogue outs.

I have been able to thear the difference between the three every time.

But the Rega players have a very unique, laid back......soft...organic....warm sound, compared to most players. And I am very familiar with them.

Just like with anything, at some point I believe there's a threshold of diminishing returns. I could never see myself spending $4,000 -$5,000 for a CD Player. I simply don't see the point.

I figure, if a designer/manufactor can't build a great sounding, high quality, well-built CD Player for under $2,500; then, it must be a fairly cr***y design. And the designer, not very good at what he/she does. And that's a generality, in itself.

But there are differences in sound, with some players. Differences don't always mean better, though. It's a matter of personal taste and what one can afford.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I've done several blind tests with my Vincent CD S6 and my Rega Apollo and Rega Saturn, using the analogue outs.

I have been able to thear the difference between the three every time.

But the Rega players have a very unique, laid back......soft...organic....warm sound, compared to most players. And I am very familiar with them.


But there are differences in sound, with some players. .

If that is the case, it will show up on the spec sheets

 

[Pyrrho]

If that is the case, it will show up on the spec sheets

Not necessarily. If he is not level matching them, then it might simply be slightly different output levels that he is hearing, which, as you know, subjectively will be perceived as being different tonally due to the nonlinear nature of human hearing. He did not say whether he bothered with the necessary step of level matching or not.

 

[KLR]

There can be a difference in sound from different CD players, but not necessarily correlated to price or prestige name. When the first commercially available CD player came out in SanFrancisco decades ago, I bought it, a Technics I believe. It worked perfectly but was a big disappointment---dry, brittle hard sound. The dealer took it back and recommended another that just arrived, Yamaha C-1 if my memory is right. Both were the same price. I took it and was overjoyed. The same discs, there were only a couple then, sounded soft and warm, a pleasure to hear. I asked the dealer why the difference in sound. Simple, he said, Yamaha had found that pure CD sound was worse than LP records so they added a tone compensation circuit to make it sound better, something that the consumer could do with an equalizer but audio fanatics(the early buyers)were compulsive about setting controls to flat so they heard the cold brittle sound.

Other CD player manufacturers must have done the same because they all boasted about their own superior sound and recording companies began doing things to their recording circuitry to sweeten the sound.

Never has any industry been plagued with as much hype as the audio industry has, except possibly the health food and diet supplement industry. It's successful because disproving the claims is nearly impossible, and a huge body of gullible buyers attest to the improvement that the products bring. I shake my head in disbelief as I read through the Mapleshade catalog full of thousands of dollars worth of gadgets each of which is supposed to produce earth-shaking improvement in sound far beyond what the audio equipment will do without the miraculous accessories.