CD player a waste of money?

[tbewick]

This is exactly my point about high end CD player manufacturers tweaking the sound of their CD players.

Your old Pioneer CD changer is probably giving you a accurate reproduction of the musical signals recorded on your CDs. Your rega is probably cutting off some of the trebble frequencies, giving a slight boost in midrange and midbass frequencies, to make the output sound more "analog."

My opinion is that each high end CD player manufacturer has their own specific "house sound." And that "house sound" is each company's specific freqquency tweaking in sound output.



I have no problems with signal adjustment. I just have problems spending a couple of thousand dollars on a set of fixed parameter signal adjustments built into a CD player, when I can spend a couple hundred dollars on an infinitely more adjustable digital equilizer.

I think that this is a slightly unfair criticism of more expensive CD players. Do you know for a fact that these more expensive units apply equalisation? If they do, then it would be reflected in the frequency response specifications.

I have recommended high end CD players in the past because they most likely do provide at least technically superior performance and are probably of high build quality. Based though on the DBT references mtrycrafts gave, I doubt whether this technical improvement is very audible in normal listening conditions. I haven't read those DBT references, but the fact that mtrycrafts provided them would suggest that that no difference was recorded.

If I was very bored I might browse around on ebay for a separate CD player. This is because when it comes to usability, my Pioneer DVD player behaves like a complete moron when playing CD's. Compared to the dedicated CD players I've used, I have noticed that my DVD player makes slightly more mechanical noise (like whirring sounds) when playing CD's. This however is a very trivial criticism.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Based though on the DBT references mtrycrafts gave, I doubt whether this technical improvement is very audible in normal listening conditions. I haven't read those DBT references, but the fact that mtrycrafts provided them would suggest that that no difference was recorded.
.

Some of the older ones may have been different, but they had FR to show this differences.

 

[tbewick]

Some of the older ones may have been different, but they had FR to show this differences.

I was browsing using Google to find those references you gave (search: Do All CD Players Sound the Same) and came across this wonderful link:

http://www.whathifi.com/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=29&newssectionID=3

Titled 'Sound Advice', it is written by those knowledgable people at What Hi-Fi? (from the writers who gave us DAC break-in).

'...what's going on? Digits are either there or not, right? The answer to that is 'kind of...' since all digital systems rely on error correction to get the sound from the disc to the analogue outputs in a recognisable form. The less hard the correction systems are having to work to reconstitute the original sound, the better the reproduction becomes...No, all digital equipment doesn't sound the same, however much logic might suggest otherwise - in fact, it's a miracle most of it is so consistent... '

 

[furrycute]

Very few manufacturers of high end CD players manufacture their own CD reading mechanisms, DACs, etc. Most of those companies just purchase off the shelf components, assemble them, add some fancy case and displays and sell them for big bucks.

If I recall correctly, in the old days only Philips and one or two other big companies made all the generic audio CD reading mechanisms.

Nowadays, no one makes them anymore. And maker of dedicated CD players are increasingly turning to using CD Rom drives. And we all know computer CD Rom drives have been ripped by the "audiophile" circle for poor music production.



So DACs need breaking in. Ohhmmm, I wonder if it is due to those quackerons in those fancy interconnects that need to reach an equilibrium state once a specified 110v 60Hz highly regulated current is passed through the circuit boards...

 

[tbewick]

So DACs need breaking in. Ohhmmm, I wonder if it is due to those quackerons in those fancy interconnects that need to reach an equilibrium state once a specified 110v 60Hz highly regulated current is passed through the circuit boards...

Don't forget the gold-plated mains plug. There is a grain of truth in this statement, because I read somewhere that ADC/DAC's are quite temperature dependant. You would hope though that the engineers at Sony, Pioneer etc. are clever enough to account for this. Then again, What Hi-Fi? did give a £6000 Naim CD player five stars - 'worth every penny'.

 

[furrycute]

Don't forget the gold-plated mains plug. There is a grain of truth in this statement, because I read somewhere that ADC/DAC's are quite temperature dependant. You would hope though that the engineers at Sony, Pioneer etc. are clever enough to account for this. Then again, What Hi-Fi? did give a £6000 Naim CD player five stars - 'worth every penny'.

You can find gold plated terminals on your average $800 mass market receiver, DVD player.

Stereophile routinely give 5 stars to six figure components, ranging from amps to CD players, and for each and everyone of them, they are considered "worth it." Are they really worth it? Or is the advertising dollars those companies are spending at Stereophile making those components considered "worthwhile?" It's an individual judgement call.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I was browsing using Google to find those references you gave (search: Do All CD Players Sound the Same) and came across this wonderful link:

http://www.whathifi.com/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=29&newssectionID=3

Titled 'Sound Advice', it is written by those knowledgable people at What Hi-Fi? (from the writers who gave us DAC break-in).

'...what's going on? Digits are either there or not, right? The answer to that is 'kind of...' since all digital systems rely on error correction to get the sound from the disc to the analogue outputs in a recognisable form. The less hard the correction systems are having to work to reconstitute the original sound, the better the reproduction becomes...No, all digital equipment doesn't sound the same, however much logic might suggest otherwise - in fact, it's a miracle most of it is so consistent... '

Yes, it is a wonderful link and full of silliness, bs, voodoo

Easy to speculate and make believe, harder to show reality and evidence

 

[skrivis]

Also if you use cable elevators to lift your cables off the floor and reduce static electricity, it will work wonders

All kidding aside, save your money and invest in improving your room acoustics. You will go much further with improving your room acoustics than upgrading an already good CD player.

I can make fun of Cable Elevators here? Cool! How about Peter Belt?

I often make the same recommendation to spend the lion's share of your time, effort, and money on improving things like your speakers and listening room.

You might also want to get a good pair of headphones (I like Grado). They're very useful for giving a better idea of what your electronics are really capable of. (I also find them enjoyable to use too.)

You can get a pair of SR-80s for $95 shipped in the US.

Another good recommendation would be to take the money you'd spend on a new CD player and spend it on new CDs instead. More music is always a good thing.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I can make fun of Cable Elevators here? Cool! How about Peter Belt?

Yes, of course you can. Neither has immunity here

Have at it. By the way, I exchanged some posts with Peter at a site some time back. I rather talk to the wall.