Recommend a CD-Player for $800US

[s8n187]

hi team...........i am looking for a new CD Player to replace my older one.....i want to spend around $800 US , the Arcam CD73 CD Player has caught my eye......but i need some other suggestions if there are any better CD Players around the $800 US mark.

any help and info is great

please no noobs

s8n

 

[agarwalro]

Do you plan to use the Digital Out (Optic or Coax) or do you intend to use the Analog outs? It will determine if you need a $100.00 or $800.00 player.

The reasoning is, if you use the Digital Outs, the CD player has no contribution to sound quality since the digital to analog conversion is not being done by it. On the other hand, if you use the Analog Outs, you want a player with good DACs (Digital to Analog Converter).

So depending on your situation, you could go with any budget player or a Denon DVD-3910 which is available at discount since its an older model.

 

[s8n187]

hi agarwalro , i am going to use the Analog outs [i have a Denon PMA-1500R amp].........

 

[agarwalro]

I recently got my Denon 3910 for $800.00 shipped from Vann's. They are an Authorized Dealer, so no worries regarding warranty, etc.

It does sound better than when I was using Optic connection with my previous DVD player. I have not re-calibrated the system since I put in the Denon, so it might be in my head .

 

[spyderphil]

I'm shopping in that range too, also with analog out.

I'm leaning toward the Marantz 8001 SACD/CD player though haven't listened to one yet. Heard good things about the analog sound out of a Denon 3910 but does anyone have idea how it might compare to the Marantz or Arcam 73?

I'm somewhat interested in SACD too so that's another plus.

 

[Seth=L]

The Marantz doesn't play DVD audio, where as the Denon does. The Denon is the most versatile of the listed players. I would go for that Denon unit most likely.

There is a mod here for the Denon DVD-3910-

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/transports/dvd-players/denon-dvd3910-Underwood-Mod

 

[s8n187]

i did a bit of searching for reviews on the Arcam CD73 CD Player....and it does get great reviews for sound , .......but at www.audioreview.com there are 2 reviews for Arcam CD73T CD Player they complained about the same problem 1 said ' Sometimes won’t read any factory bluebook CD’s until the unist is powered off and on several times. Also, skips occasionally. '

http://www.audioreview.com/cat/digital-sources/cd-players/arcam/PRD_299820_1586crx.aspx

i did some more searching on Google and didnt find anymore complaints about ' Arcam CD73 CD Player not reading CDs '

im thinking its a isolated problem......or should i steer clear of the Arcam CD73 CD Player ?

the complaint is for the Arcam CD73T , are there 2 Arcam CD Player models ...ie 1 CD73 and 1 CD73T?....

 

[spyderphil]

s8n187,
Did you make a decision?
I ended up buying a Musical Fidelity X-DAC and will use my Oppo as a transport for stereo. Hopefully the multi-channel on the Oppo will be great!

 

[s8n187]

hi spyderphil..........im a bit lost after reading the possible problems i could have with the Arcam CD73.......i was pretty set on it till i read that info on the link i supplied earlier.......i guess i should start looking again for models around the $800 mark.........thanx for the update and question.

 

[mtrycrafts]

hi spyderphil..........im a bit lost after reading the possible problems i could have with the Arcam CD73.......i was pretty set on it till i read that info on the link i supplied earlier.......i guess i should start looking again for models around the $800 mark.........thanx for the update and question.

Why do you think you need an $800 CD player?

 

[riceaterslc]

if you want a marantz player with SACD, DVD-A, and standard redbook, look at the DV7600 MSRP $899
http://us.marantz.com/Products/349.asp

 

[mfabien]

Read why an HD-A1 or HD-XA1 DVD player is such a good CD player and what it compares with:

http://www.highdefforum.com/showpost.php?p=151905&postcount=1

I use my HD-A1 with the 5.1 multichannel analogs to listen to CD's, DTS Music discs and I get the impression that the musicians are present in the same room. The player has 7 DAC's.

 

[riceaterslc]

Read why an HD-A1 or HD-XA1 DVD player is such a good CD player and what it compares with:

http://www.highdefforum.com/showpost.php?p=151905&postcount=1

I use my HD-A1 with the 5.1 multichannel analogs to listen to CD's, DTS Music discs and I get the impression that the musicians are present in the same room. The player has 7 DAC's.

nice! i was wondering how the HD players were doing in terms of audio only. glad to see you like it.

 

[spyderphil]

Thanks for the link on the Toshiba players. Need to do more research on these for sure. One thing that influenced me to go with an external DAC was it could also hook up to, and hopefully improve, a Squeezebox if I should go down that road in the future. Toshiba looks like it would prove to be an excellent transport - I was thinking of the Oppo 970H but it seems pretty light and flimsy to be convincing in that role?
I'm trying to optimize stereo playback as opposed to SACD or DVD-A but if one particular player is good at it then that's a bonus. Oppo seems pretty good.

 

[tbewick]

Read why an HD-A1 or HD-XA1 DVD player is such a good CD player and what it compares with:

http://www.highdefforum.com/showpost.php?p=151905&postcount=1

I took a quick look at this forum and I'm rather puzzled with some of the comments:

One of the things that makes a CD player play well is the transport mechanism. Vibration is the #1 enemy of CD's (DVD's too).

What effect does vibration and the transport have on sound quality?

...Then comes the "innards", as I call them. The components inside the component. CD's use 16 bit technology. A good CD player will have a 24bit/96kHz DAC (digital to analog converter). A better CD player will have more than one. High end? How about a 24bit/192kHz DAC. Or better yet, how about several of them!

How many DAC's does you need for good sound quality?

Ideally a 24 bit/96 kHz converter would have a signal-to-noise measurement of around 145 dB. In order to assess the performance of a digital converter, you need to run tests on it. For example, my Pioneer DVD player has a 24 bit DAC, but the signal-to-noise value is not 145 dB, it is 75 dB.

Next time your at the bookstore, pick up a copy of The Absoloute Sound, Stereophile, Sound & Vision,The Perfect Vision, and there is another really good one out of Canada that Barnes & Nobles carries called Inner Ear...Many audiophiles listen to records, beleive it or not. Turntables aren't what they used to be.

What is it about vinyl records that makes them so magical?

 

[Seth=L]

I have 6 decent disc spinners and they all sound the same to me. They vary in age from 86' to 2002'. I cannot tell any difference between them.

 

[mfabien]

I took a quick look at this forum and I'm rather puzzled with some of the comments:

One of the things that makes a CD player play well is the transport mechanism. Vibration is the #1 enemy of CD's (DVD's too).

What effect does vibration and the transport have on sound quality?

...Then comes the "innards", as I call them. The components inside the component. CD's use 16 bit technology. A good CD player will have a 24bit/96kHz DAC (digital to analog converter). A better CD player will have more than one. High end? How about a 24bit/192kHz DAC. Or better yet, how about several of them!

How many DAC's does you need for good sound quality?

Ideally a 24 bit/96 kHz converter would have a signal-to-noise measurement of around 145 dB. In order to assess the performance of a digital converter, you need to run tests on it. For example, my Pioneer DVD player has a 24 bit DAC, but the signal-to-noise value is not 145 dB, it is 75 dB.

Next time your at the bookstore, pick up a copy of The Absoloute Sound, Stereophile, Sound & Vision,The Perfect Vision, and there is another really good one out of Canada that Barnes & Nobles carries called Inner Ear...Many audiophiles listen to records, beleive it or not. Turntables aren't what they used to be.

What is it about vinyl records that makes them so magical?

The HD-XA1 has anti vibration feet. For my HD-A1 I purchased anti vibration pads from Supersoundproffing:

http://www.soundproofing.org/

Each sound channel has its own DAC. Therefore for 5.1 analogs, 6 DAC's are used. With HDMI Passthrough and a playback of 6.1 sound decoded by the player, 7 DAC's are used.

Believe me I don't need to borrow anybody's ear to find a much improved sound using the HD-A1 with the multichannel analogs. And once I invited my son in law to bring his best CDs for a test to compare... he found the difference awesome.

 

[Seth=L]

The HD-XA1 has anti vibration feet. For my HD-A1 I purchased anti vibration pads from Supersoundproffing:

http://www.soundproofing.org/

Each sound channel has its own DAC. Therefore for 5.1 analogs, 6 DAC's are used. With HDMI Passthrough and a playback of 6.1 sound decoded by the player, 7 DAC's are used.

Believe me I don't need to borrow anybody's ear to find a much improved sound using the HD-A1 with the multichannel analogs. And once I invited my son in law to bring his best CDs for a test to compare... he found the difference awesome.

I would honestly say, that if HD-DVD wins I will be happy. I already own a flagship DVD player of Toshiba's, and I would love to have one of the best valued up-converting players on the market, and HD-DVD is just icing on the cake. Mmmmmh....good cake.

 

[mtrycrafts]

And once I invited my son in law to bring his best CDs for a test to compare... he found the difference awesome.

Ah, but how was that test conducted? Bias was not an issue, right?

 

[tbewick]

The HD-XA1 has anti vibration feet. For my HD-A1 I purchased anti vibration pads from Supersoundproffing:

http://www.soundproofing.org/

Each sound channel has its own DAC. Therefore for 5.1 analogs, 6 DAC's are used. With HDMI Passthrough and a playback of 6.1 sound decoded by the player, 7 DAC's are used.

Believe me I don't need to borrow anybody's ear to find a much improved sound using the HD-A1 with the multichannel analogs. And once I invited my son in law to bring his best CDs for a test to compare... he found the difference awesome.

Thanks for the reply.

It sounds like a very good player - a very nice purchase. It's just that in my view, I don't really see how minor vibrations would noticeably affect the sound quality. I guess it's possible that there may be some variation with vibrations affecting the player's read circuitry, causing amplitude modulated noise to be added to the analogue output. The only measurements I've come across for this sort of noise were thought to be below audibility thresholds.