CD audio quality-low end vs high end

[mendef]

Hi, I'm new to audioholics. I purchased a nice amp over the summer, Jolida 801-A, and Totem speakers, Hawk; everything sounds great.
I have an $80 CD/DVD Phillips on which I listen to my CDs purchased at lo-end dept. store. What am I missing, in comparison to a higher-end dedicated CD player?
Thanks, Frank

 

[jaxvon]

A high-end player offers nicer aesthetics, better build quality, a better DAC (digital to analog converter), a better signal to noise ratio (SNR), better stereo separation, and possibly an altered frequency reponse for a certain characteristic sound.

 

[sweeppicker]

Dac

The quality of the DACs have a huge impact on sound quality. For the best cd sound get an outboard DAC. I have an Audio Alchemy DAC-in-the-box I bought over 5 yrs ago. As soon as I lock the signal through it I notice an immediate improvement in the bass extention and smoother treble response. And its not subtle.

 

[Buckle-meister]

I have an $80 CD/DVD Phillips on which I listen to my CDs purchased at lo-end dept. store. What am I missing, in comparison to a higher-end dedicated CD player?

Hello Mendef. Welcome to the Forum.

Assuming you use a digital output from your $80 CD player and let the receiver/amp do the decoding, you are not missing a single thing.

Regards

 

[abboudc]

Hello Mendef. Welcome to the Forum.

Assuming you use a digital output from your $80 CD player and let the receiver/amp do the decoding, you are not missing a single thing.

Regards

I second. Use the digital output and you won't miss a thing.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi, I'm new to audioholics. I purchased a nice amp over the summer, Jolida 801-A, and Totem speakers, Hawk; everything sounds great.
I have an $80 CD/DVD Phillips on which I listen to my CDs purchased at lo-end dept. store. What am I missing, in comparison to a higher-end dedicated CD player?
Thanks, Frank

Well, back a few years ago, The $ensible $sound ran an article comparing an $80 RCA 5 disc player, DBT against players costing $1000s. No one could differentiate between them. After further use, the author declared that RCA as bullet proof as well

But, as was mentioned, if you use the digital out, you have even less of a reason to worry, unless that $80 player doesn't have a feature you really need.

 

[anamorphic96]

Well, back a few years ago, The $ensible $sound ran an article comparing an $80 RCA 5 disc player, DBT against players costing $1000s. No one could differentiate between them. After further use, the author declared that RCA as bullet proof as well

But, as was mentioned, if you use the digital out, you have even less of a reason to worry, unless that $80 player doesn't have a feature you really need.

I dont suppose you have a link to this article. Granted you probably would have posted it if you did. But thought I would ask anyway.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I dont suppose you have a link to this article. Granted you probably would have posted it if you did. But thought I would ask anyway.

Link, no. Citation, Yes
RCA RP-8065, Carousel player;
T$$ issue #74, Apr/May 1999, page 28. Not sure if they have any of the back issues on line.

 

[anamorphic96]

Link, no. Citation, Yes
RCA RP-8065, Carousel player;
T$$ issue #74, Apr/May 1999, page 28. Not sure if they have any of the back issues on line.

Thats all the info I need. Thanks. I checked there website and they offer back issues for 8.00.

 

[corey]

When CD's were still fairly new I house sat for a friend with pretty good equipment. I don't recall what his speakers were, but the amp was McIntosh and the CD player Nacamechi. I AB'd the Nacamechi & a Sharp portable & couldn't tell much difference, even back then.

 

[indcrimdefense]

i have a denon 2910 & cary dvd6. i cannot distinguish between digital out between the 2 players. however, making an analog connection there is a pronounced difference, the cary has a much better sound quality than the denon, to the point that it can become difficult to distinquish between redbook cd from the cary & sacd from the denon. downside is for certain cd's this adds a level of noise, or perhaps due to less than stellar recordings the cary makes the noise far more noticeable.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thats all the info I need. Thanks. I checked there website and they offer back issues for 8.00.

There is an outside chance that your library may be able to find a library in the US that has it in their holdings and make a copy for free or a nominal charge. Now you can make choices

 

[mtrycrafts]

When CD's were still fairly new I house sat for a friend with pretty good equipment. I don't recall what his speakers were, but the amp was McIntosh and the CD player Nacamechi. I AB'd the Nacamechi & a Sharp portable & couldn't tell much difference, even back then.

Thanks. Interesting and not surprising.

An audio club also did a DBT on one of the first CD players, only 14 bits, not even 16, and a current player at the time. Only one person on the panel could tell them apart. Upon further inspection why, it was found that the old CD player's dac had a problem in one of its bit positions, not working.

There is an interesting CD for anyone to try something similar as it has music recorded with decreasing bit rate, sampling rates, other defects, etc:

The Digital Audio CD Markus Erne, should be available at Amazon. 93 tracks of goodies.