CD Player - does it make a difference?

[Xytech]

Hi all,

I would appreciate some advice or links on this question. Basically, I currently run all my music either from my hard drive to my Asus Xonar soundcard, with an optical link to my amp, or via my cd drive, plugged into my soundcard's DAC, to my amp. I've got the chance to pick up a Marantz cd6003 for a pretty good price - $350 AUD.

My question is: How much of a difference will it actually make? Whilst willing to make this purchase, I am sceptical as to how much of a difference the CD player actually makes to a system.

I would really appreciate an answer that isn't "yes" or "no" but really explains the reasoning/science behind why the audio quality of one CD player is better than another. It is that sort of quantifiable data that I find most useful in making decisions!

Thanks

 

[its phillip]

There are several other topics on this same subforum where people ask about dedicated cd players. Feel free to read them. The simple answer is that it is NOT worth it and you would be wasting $350 on that player - money that could easily go towards something that actually makes a difference.

 

[agarwalro]

I would appreciate some advice or links on this question. Basically, I currently run all my music either from my hard drive to my Asus Xonar soundcard, with an optical link to my amp, or via my cd drive, plugged into my soundcard's DAC, to my amp.

If you are using the digital outs (coax or optical) from the current player and intend to do the same for said player, it is 100% waste.

If you are using analog out from the CD player, the intent will be to keep the DA-AD conversions to a minimum. So, if the DAC on the current player is inferior and the new player and signal will go directly to analog input on the amp, only then will there be any point at all... Then you need to decide the device in which the DAC needs to happen. CD player or sound card or amp.