CD player or DVD player

Old Onkyo

Old Onkyo

Audioholic General
Any problem using a DVD player to play cd’s on my 2.0 system? Would I be sacrificing sound quality?
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
No, you shouldn't have any problems. I'm using a Sony Blu-ray for my disc based needs.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Doubt it. I use bluray players for all optical discs without issue, dvd players are too limited....somewhat depends on the actual player and if you're relying on it's dac or not....
 
Hunter21

Hunter21

Audioholic
I use a cambridge audio cmc transport, I personally think it sounds better than my blu ray player, but all it does is play cd's and nothing else. No mp3 or sacds.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I use a cambridge audio cmc transport, I personally think it sounds better than my blu ray player, but all it does is play cd's and nothing else. No mp3 or sacds.
How did you compare?
 
Hunter21

Hunter21

Audioholic
I was using my Panasonic UMP -UB900 To play my Cd's because I was in the market for a new 4K Blu-Ray player and I heard that this one had one of the better audio circuitry in it, and I had it hooked up using a dedicated HDMI out for audio, since my pre amp is not hdcp 2.2 compatible, and one for the TV. I also had the analog to channel outs connected to the receiver to to do DSD files. And when I played CDs on it it just sounded to lifeless if that makes sense, I was still going to my vinyl collection and just thinking this still sounds way better. I tried one of my dad's old yamaha cd players that I had and that sounded better than the blu ray, but I think the laser started to go on that cd player because it would just randomly skip tracks, and That's when I picked up the campbridge audio transport and that sounded even better than the old cd player, It just sounded like it had more detail in the track and I switched back-and-forth between the Blu-Ray player and the transport and I even did the tests in pure direct mode just to make sure there is no tom foolery going on in the pre amp, I even went as far as making copy of a CD and playing them at the same time and just switching back-and-forth between the inputs, and the transport still sounded better. What convinced me the most is when I put a CD in that was hootie and the blowfish greatest hits and played the first track, my girlfriend was flabbergasted and said Jesus that sounds so clear
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
I was using my Panasonic UMP -UB900 To play my Cd's because I was in the market for a new 4K Blu-Ray player and I heard that this one had one of the better audio circuitry in it, and I had it hooked up using a dedicated HDMI out for audio, since my pre amp is not hdcp 2.2 compatible, and one for the TV. I also had the analog to channel outs connected to the receiver to to do DSD files. And when I played CDs on it it just sounded to lifeless if that makes sense, I was still going to my vinyl collection and just thinking this still sounds way better. I tried one of my dad's old yamaha cd players that I had and that sounded better than the blu ray, but I think the laser started to go on that cd player because it would just randomly skip tracks, and That's when I picked up the campbridge audio transport and that sounded even better than the old cd player, It just sounded like it had more detail in the track and I switched back-and-forth between the Blu-Ray player and the transport and I even did the tests in pure direct mode just to make sure there is no tom foolery going on in the pre amp, I even went as far as making copy of a CD and playing them at the same time and just switching back-and-forth between the inputs, and the transport still sounded better. What convinced me the most is when I put a CD in that was hootie and the blowfish greatest hits and played the first track, my girlfriend was flabbergasted and said Jesus that sounds so clear
What I find interesting is that the clocking tolerances to process a bluray or dvd are far tighter than a CD. In other words, the circuitry to decode BluRays have far better error detection and far more processing power than a CD player. The granularity or resolution would be far finer on a bluray than a CD player. Personally, I would take a blind listening test to see if I could determine any differences in sound.
 
S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
I use a cambridge audio cmc transport, I personally think it sounds better than my blu ray player, but all it does is play cd's and nothing else. No mp3 or sacds.
Well, what sounds better is not the player, it's the DAC wherever it's located, Player or Preamp.
 
Hunter21

Hunter21

Audioholic
Yea the DAC in using is the one in my Yamaha cx-a5000 pre amp
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Hard to believe there are significant audible differences in mere transports....
 
B

Beave

Audioholic Chief
I'll take it a step further:

Hard to believe there are significant audible differences in mere DACs (and that includes the chip plus the supporting analog circuitry).

Really hard to believe there are any audible differences at all in mere transports (assuming they're functional, of course).
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Two comments:
1) If you are looking for a budget/value option, Sony is the only option that will play SACD's (if that matters to you).
2) I bought a Panasonic that I had to return because the transport was noisy (whirring sound as it played - not terrible, but too loud for those times when I am listening at low levels). I expect they fixed that, but it is something to pay attention to at the display or listen for when you get it home before the return period runs out..
 
S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
I have had the opportunity to compare and contrast, on numerous occasions, the DAC output from my Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD, Sony DVP-S9000ES, OPPO UDP-205, Sony TA-E9000ES, Sony PCM-7010F DAT Recorders, and Apple Airport Express. The only divergence I've sensed so far is when I use the OPPO's usb DAC, up sampling to 24/192, AAC downloads of 50's and 60's DOO WOP music seems to reveal tape splice edits. That could just be my imagination, or it may be I'm hearing tail end notes not as resolved from other listening means. At any rate, since hi-rez pretty much sounds the same as AAC from my OPPO's DAC I no longer see any point to downloading the more expensive hi-res media, except for 5.1 multi-channel music which is not available on SACD.
 
S

speedknot

Enthusiast
I've beat this thought to death when trying to figure out if a my old Sony CD player is any better than a $1000 CD player. Since I wasn't going to spend a cool grand on a new CD player, I hooked up an older Oppo DV-980H DVD/CD player I had laying around and compared the Sony and Oppo. The Oppo did sound better. The Sony player would skip if I was playing at almost ear bleeding levels. The Oppo didn't skip a beat. Better transport dampening? There are a lot of factors that could contribute to one component sounding better than another, but It just proved that not all CD/DVD players are created equal. I'm still not spending $1000 on a CD player though.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I've beat this thought to death when trying to figure out if a my old Sony CD player is any better than a $1000 CD player. Since I wasn't going to spend a cool grand on a new CD player, I hooked up an older Oppo DV-980H DVD/CD player I had laying around and compared the Sony and Oppo. The Oppo did sound better. The Sony player would skip if I was playing at almost ear bleeding levels. The Oppo didn't skip a beat. Better transport dampening? There are a lot of factors that could contribute to one component sounding better than another, but It just proved that not all CD/DVD players are created equal. I'm still not spending $1000 on a CD player though.
Curious, that was comparing analog outputs of each player? Or digital? Oppos have been pretty much state of the art, tho (and more solid construction than a lot of the lightweight disc players, of which I have a few of the bluray type, my older dvd players seem more solid). OTOH if you're able to vibrate the player into malfunctioning with high volume you could always stick some sorbothane feet under the player or something altho I've never made an optical disc player skip that way!
 
S

speedknot

Enthusiast
Curious, that was comparing analog outputs of each player? Or digital? Oppos have been pretty much state of the art, tho (and more solid construction than a lot of the lightweight disc players, of which I have a few of the bluray type, my older dvd players seem more solid). OTOH if you're able to vibrate the player into malfunctioning with high volume you could always stick some sorbothane feet under the player or something altho I've never made an optical disc player skip that way!
I used the optical outs from both.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top