CD Player advice and sugg.

[ahblaza]

Hello All,
I would like your opinion on the best way to go here, I respect most opinions here and know you will guide me in the right direction. I now have a mint Rotel RCD-955AX CD player with less than 100 hours use, that is heavy and sturdy, I was thinking to use it as a transport feeding a Cambridge DacMagic ($429). Second choice a new Marantz CD5004 ($315) delivered. I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
Thanks guys for your time.
Cheers, Jeff

 

[jliedeka]

What are you trying to accomplish? Or do you just have the itch to buy new gear? Nothing wrong with that.

I doubt you would see a huge difference in sound quality either way. Once you move out of the cheap discount store class of players, the differences are largely academic. The exception would be the audiophile voodoo products that have tubes and crap like that. Then you're back to discount store quality again.

Jim

 

[Lulimet]

What makes you think that a new DAC will sound better than your current CD player?

My advice is to save your money or just get better speakers if you're not happy with the sound.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello All,
I would like your opinion on the best way to go here, I respect most opinions here and know you will guide me in the right direction. I now have a mint Rotel RCD-955AX CD player with less than 100 hours use, that is heavy and sturdy, I was thinking to use it as a transport feeding a Cambridge DacMagic ($429). Second choice a new Marantz CD5004 ($315) delivered. I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
Thanks guys for your time.
Cheers, Jeff

I don't see why you need a DAC.

Just feed your Rotel via optical cable to your receiver, or to the receiver via analog cables.

 

[ahblaza]

I don't see why you need a DAC.

Just feed your Rotel via optical cable to your receiver, or to the receiver via analog cables.

Thanks Mark, I have it hooked up both of the ways you suggest and quite frankly it sounds very good to me with analog and coaxial. I get caught up with the snake oil voodoo jargon and thanks for bringing me down to earth as always.
Best regards, Jeff

 

[j_garcia]

Marantz fan here, but gonna have to say I'd avoid their players. Nothing you are going to buy in that price range is going to be better than that Rotel.

 

[jinjuku]

Get a Squeezebox Touch for $299 and an external 2TB HD for another $90 and rip your collection to a lossless format.

Ditch that clunker of a transport.

 

[j_garcia]

While I agree that media may be going away sooner rather than later, that clunker costs $0 and will definitely do the job

 

[ahblaza]

Get a Squeezebox Touch for $299 and an external 2TB HD for another $90 and rip your collection to a lossless format.

Ditch that clunker of a transport.

I don't consider it a clunker, quite the opposite, I have a PS1 SCPH-1001 that would also be considered a clunker, after some minor laser voltage calibrations and modest IC's sounds rather good to my untrained ears, total investment $10.
Jeff

 

[ahblaza]

While I agree that media may be going away sooner rather than later, that clunker costs $0 and will definitely do the job

Thanks John for the words of encouragement, you saved me money and time. I'm saving funds for what I feel will soon be a necessary upgrade, a new receiver to replace my Onkyo 702, I know this is not the proper forum, I am looking at Onkyo's TX-NR709 and 809 and Marantz 6005, the Marantz is at a very reasonable price right now, Newegg has some unadvertized prices for Onkyo receivers 709 and 809 which are also very tempting, I am not familiar with the Marantz line though, and have always been an Onkyo fan for their reliability. Thanks for your time my friend.
Best Regards, Jeff

 

[jinjuku]

I don't consider it a clunker, quite the opposite, I have a PS1 SCPH-1001 that would also be considered a clunker, after some minor laser voltage calibrations and modest IC's sounds rather good to my untrained ears, total investment $10.
Jeff

Compared to HD and solid state disk based media players, IMO, any traditional CD transport is a clunker.

It's an ancient technology that has gone as far as it can go compared to what is available.

 

[ahblaza]

Get a Squeezebox Touch for $299 and an external 2TB HD for another $90 and rip your collection to a lossless format.

Ditch that clunker of a transport.

Can you direct me as to where to get this setup and how to implement this modern technology, I am completely ignorant to this, seriously, but would definitely like to get educated and at the modest price you mention, seems viable to me. Thanks jin. No sarcasm intended!!! I just see people buying CD players at rediculously outrageous prices in the thousands of dollars, Bryston comes to mind along with so many others, why is that if this format is at it's pinnacle and can go no futher, the only reason I have stayed with media is I don't know any better, I have not heard of the Squeezebox Touch or other devices of this nature but am truly interested, if you could be so kind as to enlighten me I would be grateful. Thank you for your time.
Jeff

 

[bikemig]

I'm a big fan of Squeezebox products. I use the SB Boom in my bedroom; it's great being able to stream all your music at night. I have a SB Touch connected to the RCA inputs of my AV receiver and use it essentially as my CD player. I use analog bypass because the dac on the SB Touch is pretty good. I've ripped all my music to apple lossless and it resides on a mac mini that is also connected to the AV receiver and which I use to stream netflix and other content from the web. The SB Touch is pretty easy to set up. Logitech has good phone support and the Logitech forums are very helpful as well. You will also find some useful information to get you started here, http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq. You'll really like the SB Touch once you get started.

 

[ahblaza]

I'm a big fan of Squeezebox products. I use the SB Boom in my bedroom; it's great being able to stream all your music at night. I have a SB Touch connected to the RCA inputs of my AV receiver and use it essentially as my CD player. I use analog bypass because the dac on the SB Touch is pretty good. I've ripped all my music to apple lossless and it resides on a mac mini that is also connected to the AV receiver and which I use to stream netflix and other content from the web. The SB Touch is pretty easy to set up. Logitech has good phone support and the Logitech forums are very helpful as well. You will also find some useful information to get you started here, http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq. You'll really like the SB Touch once you get started.

Thanks so much bike for the very informative reply, I will check this streaming and ripping stuff out, it's seems intimidating to me since I have no experience at all with this, thanks again.
Jeff

 

[bikemig]

I got into high end audio from a different direction than most since I started with trying to figure out how to get good sound from a computer and bought my gear to make that happen over time as I learned what I was doing. It can be intimidating at first but you can't go wrong if you keep it really simple to start out with. Rip your music in a lossless format that you like (flac or apple lossless or the two best in my opinion but there are other formats out there that others like). Keep a good backup and you can't really go wrong. The next step is to get those 1 and 0s out of your computer and playing music. Then just think about your set-up. If your computer is not next to your music system, then a streamer like the SB Touch is really the way to go. I tend to think it is the way to go period. If, on the other hand, your computer is next to your sound system, then you can rely on an outboard dac (which will be much better than the one in your computer) and you don't need to pay a bomb for one (although you can as with any audio gear). I am using the HRT streamer ii (which is around $150) in one of my systems and it sounds very, very good. This is a useful source of information as well and is what I used when I got started, http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/index.html.

 

[ahblaza]

I got into high end audio from a different direction than most since I started with trying to figure out how to get good sound from a computer and bought my gear to make that happen over time as I learned what I was doing. It can be intimidating at first but you can't go wrong if you keep it really simple to start out with. Rip your music in a lossless format that you like (flac or apple lossless or the two best in my opinion but there are other formats out there that others like). Keep a good backup and you can't really go wrong. The next step is to get those 1 and 0s out of your computer and playing music. Then just think about your set-up. If your computer is not next to your music system, then a streamer like the SB Touch is really the way to go. I tend to think it is the way to go period. If, on the other hand, your computer is next to your sound system, then you can rely on an outboard dac (which will be much better than the one in your computer) and you don't need to pay a bomb for one (although you can as with any audio gear). I am using the HRT streamer ii (which is around $150) in one of my systems and it sounds very, very good. This is a useful source of information as well and is what I used when I got started, http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/index.html.

I really need to start researching this, my computer is fairly close to my sound system, so I believe I do have a few different options here, the first being, to get educated and not bite off more than I can chew. Thanks Bike again for the reference sites, I will get to work and familiarize myself with this technology, again I am really intimidated by all this, I hope you don't mind all the questions that will surely result once I get started.
Jeff

 

[gpost3]

the cheapest cd player will work. Use it as a transport with external DAC.

 

[gpost3]

Ok time to step in as I have a bit more time to write now.

again I am really intimidated by all this

No need to be. You are being kind and being attentive. With a little bit of patience, you will learn it all. We are all here to help each other out.

I don't consider it a clunker, quite the opposite

It is definitely a clunker. The reasons are already provided by others here.

I just see people buying CD players at rediculously outrageous prices in the thousands of dollars, Bryston comes to mind along with so many others, why is that if this format is at it's pinnacle and can go no futher, the only reason I have stayed with media is I don't know any better

For the very same reason that you see many people buy cigarettes - are you going to buy them too?

They buy/sell the ridiculously priced outrageous CD players because they have a lack of present "working knowledge" on audio products or they just want to show off or simply to make money. The clunker that you have is nothing to be proud of but some self-proclaimed so called "audio enthusiasts" in a high-end audio store will be happy to sell you one even today. The solution for them is to learn about new products which is what you are here to do. Audio information is 0s and 1s whether it is on a CD or on a solid state. Solid state/Hard disks are efficient and more reliable than a CD at any given day/time. People at most high-end audio stores are generally very reluctant to give up and accept the new and more efficient ways to store digital audio. I don't have time to argue with them because I know they aren't going to think out of the box anyway simply by me telling them. What they need are a few dozen trips to their university/local library, and read through a book on Compact Disk Drives and how digital media is encoded/decoded.

They also need to realize that the "sound quality" depends on the DAC being used and not the clunker. Put a quality DAC (like the logitech squeeze box or an external DAC) with a $10 phliips cd player you bought for your daughter when she was 8 and it will be just as good (if not better) than your ROTEL clunker. Hard but 100% true if you are willing to accept it.

The person who suggested you a 2 TB hard drive seems to understand the whole idea behind efficiency.

I really need to start researching this, my computer is fairly close to my sound system,

You definitely need to re-consider your options but you may also want to re-evaluate your goals. What is it that you are trying to do? Are you unhappy with the sound or are you unhappy with the way you store your audio record? Otherwise like the first responder asked, do you have an itch to buy new audio stuff (and no there is definitely nothing wrong with that). But you are doing the right thing - learning. Then you will be able to make a well informed decision of your own and that's the way to do it.

 

[gpost3]

I realized my long post but it was needed. Let me finalize a few more things for you.

that is heavy and sturdy

Weight is not a measure of how sturdy something is going to be but rather it is just one of several variables. This type of an argument was mainly used back in the 80s. Today, kevlar is known to have higher strength and less weight than polypropylene. Other composites like light weight carbon fibre are also known to have higher strength than heavy weight steel or aluminum. Weight is just one indicator and it alone doesn't give you the whole picture of how sturdy something is going to be - atleast not in the 21st century. This type of an argument has no merit today.

Only sources like stereophile mag make comments like these. (and here is a link) But then again, stereophile doesn't know arse. Infact let me quote them:

If all the nuts and bolts in the kit aren't enough to let you know you've got a high-end piece of gear, then the 18 pounds of heft will

Hey how about I make a shell like that with those bolts and nuts, and put a $10 philips player inside with a bunch of rocks. That should convince your sorry a$$ to buy one.

Analogy - Distance = V*T. Time alone isn't sufficient and velocity alone isn't sufficient to predict how far this object will travel.

Ask a chemist (or even a physicist), they know better about this than an underpaid electronic engineer or a desparate audiophart at stereophlop. There is no denying that high-end audio market is full of hype which is why we are all here to help each other out. And I am not implying that you simply go out and buy the cheapest thing but rather to seek efficiency while maintaining a reasonable level of quality. (reasonable enough to you that is, not gpost3 and not anyone else on this forum, not even your mom). Hope this helps.

 

[jliedeka]

It really is true that a cheap CD player with a good DAC will sound just as good as a high priced model. Of course, there are other considerations with buying high priced stuff. Brands like Bryston and McIntosh are expensive but snake oil free. Their products tend to be over-engineered and look high end. If you can afford to have a Lexus in your driveway, you wouldn't want to settle for a Sony in your equipment rack if if the Sony is perfectly good.

There's very little difference with transports nowadays. The cheap ones have plenty of buffering and oversampling. The other two parts of the equation are the DAC and the analog out circuitry. I'm sure a Bryston CD player will have a noise level that is barely measurable but you don't really need that for it to be inaudible.

We're mostly bang for buck people here. I'd rather have a player that is good enough and save my money for something else like more movies and CDs.

Jim

PS: The heft thing sort of applies to amplifiers but it is only part of the story.