Another nod towards Class D amps.

TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
Although many manufacturers will not be happy, in 2015 there really should be a lot more awareness of the EASE of buying a quality disc player that is capable of being its own preamp for a 2.1 system.

Fewer wires, fewer remotes, all the sound!
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
Although many manufacturers will not be happy, in 2015 there really should be a lot more awareness of the EASE of buying a quality disc player that is capable of being its own preamp for a 2.1 system.

Fewer wires, fewer remotes, all the sound!
Examples (other than Oppo)?
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Examples (other than Oppo)?
Parasound zCD

It has digi out, fixed analog out, and variable volume analog out. Hook the variable volume analog out straight to an amp.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Parasound zCD

It has digi out, fixed analog out, and variable volume analog out. Hook the variable volume analog out straight to an amp.
I have been using one of those with powered monitors. It works well for my purposes; however, I would point out to any prospective buyers that it probably has 10 steps between silence and loudest setting. Doesn't allow the ability to fine tune volume as well as I would prefer.
The Salk system has a remote for controlling volume and input and is designed to work with any normal source (or phono if you supply the preamp).

Edit: I just checked and it has 13 bumps of the RC button to get from loudest to quietest. It actually never reaches dead quiet (but you have to be within 2' to hear anything at the lowest volume)
With my Marantz SR6001 receiver, the bottom 5 steps are uselessly low volume. I was surprised there were 4 more steps as I was going from loud to quiet, but it does offer range for different gain structures.
Also, if using this as your main volume control, another issue is it gives you no visual feedback whatsoever - there is no way to tell if you have changed the volume or whether you are at one extreme or the other (aside from how loud the sound is).
 
Last edited:
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
I have been using one of those with powered monitors. It works well for my purposes; however, I would point out to any prospective buyers that it probably has 10 steps between silence and loudest setting. Doesn't allow the ability to fine tune volume as well as I would prefer.
The Salk system has a remote for controlling volume and input and is designed to work with any normal source (or phono if you supply the preamp).
I don't use the variable out too often, so I guess that I never noticed. Again, my amps typically have gain knobs too, so I have a bit of flexibility on that side too.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
however, I would point out to any prospective buyers that it probably has 10 steps between silence and loudest setting. Doesn't allow the ability to fine tune volume as well as I would prefer.
Now I can take the Zcd of my eBay watch list thanks to that helpful bit of information. That's the first I've heard that mentioned. It is also of note that the Zcd is no longer in production, it was discontinued only after a year or two.

I know some older Sony CD players had level control on the remote, as well as Adcom. I had a thread going about this a couple months back.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Now I can take the Zcd of my eBay watch list thanks to that helpful bit of information. That's the first I've heard that mentioned. It is also of note that the Zcd is no longer in production, it was discontinued only after a year or two.

I know some older Sony CD players had level control on the remote, as well as Adcom. I had a thread going about this a couple months back.
Curious, what do you plan to hook it up to?

I've actually got an old portable Panasonic CD player which came with remote (mainly for auto use during the transition from Cassette to CD in cars) It came with AC and DC adapters and does a nice job with pro monitors using the headphone out.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Although many manufacturers will not be happy, in 2015 there really should be a lot more awareness of the EASE of buying a quality disc player that is capable of being its own preamp for a 2.1 system.

Fewer wires, fewer remotes, all the sound!
But they may not have enough inputs, which will require some kind of switch. Multiple devices connected to something that does the switching means it should probably have some kind of isolation between the units, which adds to the cost.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Now I can take the Zcd of my eBay watch list thanks to that helpful bit of information. That's the first I've heard that mentioned. It is also of note that the Zcd is no longer in production, it was discontinued only after a year or two.

I know some older Sony CD players had level control on the remote, as well as Adcom. I had a thread going about this a couple months back.
Yeah, but if you notice, they also discontinued that silly Halo CD-1 too! It wasn't on the market for very long at all!

Seems that there is currently no CD player in the lineup at all.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Now I can take the Zcd of my eBay watch list thanks to that helpful bit of information. That's the first I've heard that mentioned. It is also of note that the Zcd is no longer in production, it was discontinued only after a year or two.

I know some older Sony CD players had level control on the remote, as well as Adcom. I had a thread going about this a couple months back.
I also edited my earlier post for the Zcd to add the following:

I just checked and it has 13 bumps of the RC button to get from loudest to quietest. It actually never reaches dead quiet (but you have to be within 2' to hear anything at the lowest volume)
With my Marantz SR6001 receiver, the bottom 5 steps are uselessly low volume. I was surprised there were 4 more steps as I was going from loud to quiet, but it does offer range for different gain structures.
Also, if using this as your main volume control, another issue is it gives you no visual feedback whatsoever - there is no way to tell if you have changed the volume or whether you are at one extreme or the other (aside from how loud the sound is).
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
I also edited my earlier post for the Zcd to add the following:

I just checked and it has 13 bumps of the RC button to get from loudest to quietest. It actually never reaches dead quiet (but you have to be within 2' to hear anything at the lowest volume)
With my Marantz SR6001 receiver, the bottom 5 steps are uselessly low volume. I was surprised there were 4 more steps as I was going from loud to quiet, but it does offer range for different gain structures.
Also, if using this as your main volume control, another issue is it gives you no visual feedback whatsoever - there is no way to tell if you have changed the volume or whether you are at one extreme or the other (aside from how loud the sound is).
If I remember, the zCD can only have the volume adjusted via the remote, right? At least I'm pretty sure the silver version is like that.

I also never noticed that it won't go "completely quiet". You mean that you can still faintly hear the music, right (not some hiss or noise).

As mentioned, I rarely use the variable outs. If I use those, it's usually for testing other gear real quick like--that's one of the reasons this zCD fits my needs so well--it is small and easy to move and I can hook it up for a quick check on new (or recently built by me) gear for a quick check.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
I've got a 10 year old Sony DVD Player that does the trick!
Which one is that? I've never seen a Sony DVD player with volume control (from remote, digital).

Curious, what do you plan to hook it up to?
I would have connected it to a Niles SI-275. It would be used in the bedroom if anything, so I would need a level of precision volume control.

KEW said:
I've actually got an old portable Panasonic CD player which came with remote (mainly for auto use during the transition from Cassette to CD in cars) It came with AC and DC adapters and does a nice job with pro monitors using the headphone out.
I've done that before. I have a Panasonic CD player that has analog level control and no remote. That's not particularly useful for this kind of setup. Right now I'm using this (not a picture of mine, but the same model).



It does a fine job and honestly I only recently started using it (not long after I had the thread about the CD player with volume control). It's got plenty of power for the bedroom and the CD player portion works great (tracks & reads more reliably and faster than the Teac CR-H220 I had). It does have an analog input for connecting another source, but lacks a dedicated subwoofer output. The omission of the subwoofer output is odd on a midi component of this type, but a minor issue I'm willing to overlook.

I also edited my earlier post for the Zcd to add the following:

I just checked and it has 13 bumps of the RC button to get from loudest to quietest. It actually never reaches dead quiet (but you have to be within 2' to hear anything at the lowest volume)
With my Marantz SR6001 receiver, the bottom 5 steps are uselessly low volume. I was surprised there were 4 more steps as I was going from loud to quiet, but it does offer range for different gain structures.
Also, if using this as your main volume control, another issue is it gives you no visual feedback whatsoever - there is no way to tell if you have changed the volume or whether you are at one extreme or the other (aside from how loud the sound is).
Sounds like the ZCD would never have held the right cards in the first place. I thank you for that information. I also recall you saying the ZCD ran quite warm to hot, which is another significant drawback. A little too much going on inside that small chassis for my liking, and the fact they only produced it for a year or two is also troubling. I would think if you spent a lot of time and money developing an efficient design for such a component you would want to run its production life as long as possible. The short lived production leaves an impression that the design may not have been that competent.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
If I remember, the zCD can only have the volume adjusted via the remote, right? At least I'm pretty sure the silver version is like that.

I also never noticed that it won't go "completely quiet". You mean that you can still faintly hear the music, right (not some hiss or noise).

As mentioned, I rarely use the variable outs. If I use those, it's usually for testing other gear real quick like--that's one of the reasons this zCD fits my needs so well--it is small and easy to move and I can hook it up for a quick check on new (or recently built by me) gear for a quick check.
Yes, remote only for volume.
Right, the music is ever so faint, but still there.
Same for me, I end up using it more often than I otherwise would because it is so easy to move around.

I really am happy with mine, but focused on the above drawbacks for anyone who might want to use it in lieu of a pre-amp.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Sounds like the ZCD would never have held the right cards in the first place. I thank you for that information. I also recall you saying the ZCD ran quite warm to hot, which is another significant drawback. A little too much going on inside that small chassis for my liking, and the fact they only produced it for a year or two is also troubling. I would think if you spent a lot of time and money developing an efficient design for such a component you would want to run its production life as long as possible. The short lived production leaves an impression that the design may not have been that competent.
I really do like my zCD! I researched and read forums and looked high and low before I settled on this unit.

I got mine used for about $225 (silver model), and I'm quite happy at that price.

But, like most things, personal preference is a big deal. For me, the zCD was the perfect tool for the job, but YMMV.

And, yeah, my only real complaint is that it runs hot for a CD player. Not Onkyo AVR hot.....but warmer than any other disc player that I have ever used.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Sounds like the ZCD would never have held the right cards in the first place. I thank you for that information. I also recall you saying the ZCD ran quite warm to hot, which is another significant drawback. A little too much going on inside that small chassis for my liking, and the fact they only produced it for a year or two is also troubling. I would think if you spent a lot of time and money developing an efficient design for such a component you would want to run its production life as long as possible. The short lived production leaves an impression that the design may not have been that competent.
Since Parasound is still making their line of "z" components, it is especially surprising. If I was buying a Zpre and a Zamp, the Zcd would be a shoe-in.
But then again Parasound seems to march to their own drum - here are some other discontinued "Z" components:





I seriously hope they didn't discontinue these because of reliability!!! Most of them seem too simple to fail!:)
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Sounds like the ZCD would never have held the right cards in the first place. I thank you for that information. I also recall you saying the ZCD ran quite warm to hot, which is another significant drawback. A little too much going on inside that small chassis for my liking, and the fact they only produced it for a year or two is also troubling. I would think if you spent a lot of time and money developing an efficient design for such a component you would want to run its production life as long as possible. The short lived production leaves an impression that the design may not have been that competent.
If you check the "discontinued" section of the Parasound site, they indicate that it was in production from 2011 to 2015......that is actually LONGER production run than any other Parasound CD player!
http://parasound.com/vintage/

In fact, if you look at that link, you will see that many of the Parasound products from all lines have had very short production runs. They must be competing with Emotiva on that regard too :D
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
@Seth=L and @highfigh Sorry, should have clarified, the Presonus speakers I tried had their own volume control. The Pro Audio market has lots of useful features like that, that combine with old DVD players for little cost! I believe that also included optical connectivity, but I can't remember...
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Since Parasound is still making their line of "z" components, it is especially surprising. If I was buying a Zpre and a Zamp, the Zcd would be a shoe-in.
But then again Parasound seems to march to their own drum - here are some other discontinued "Z" components:





I seriously hope they didn't discontinue these because of reliability!!! Most of them seem too simple to fail!:)
Richard Schramm said they decided that they weren't a video company, so they got out because the rate of change was too fast for a small company to absorb the design and tooling costs incurred making annual changes to their lineup. I traded e-mails with him about the phono preamp they discontinued- it had resistance and capacitance settings and an A-D converter, which would make it great for people who want to digitize their vinyl collection. I also think they just didn't sell enough units and since they have now made the face narrower/made rack ears optional, I have to believe they heard that the rack mounting holes weren't being used.
 

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