Should we have more cd player reviews on audioholics -poll and discussion

[HTHOLIC]

Hey, I notice that there are many DVD player reviews on audiohlics, but not many cd player reviews.

It seems that the CD had declined in popularity, but for audiophiles the cd is here to stay atleast until multichannel audio becomes more mainstream, but even still you may have historical collections.

Denon for example still sells cd changers although you may not need their recorders as you can use a PC.

DJs for example still have the original cd recordings and even records of songs. Why by an expensive system to play compressed audio.

There is one question that I will poll, are current dvd players such as the denon dvd-3910ci and 2910ci, good enough that you don't need a cd player - although denon cd players have a cd changer which can be helpful in parties or whatever.

A discussion is warranted, a nother forum that I will develop is discussion about HDCD if it isnt discussed on detail

Of course a cd player may have many featuers such as decoding things to uncompressed audio. I don't know if cd players support many lossless codecs. Anyways its a good debate.

Maybe people could transfer their collections to dvds but the question of playback is still there.

Feel free to ask quesitions and thoughts, its a discussion forum.

Is the advantage of a cd player compared to a high end dvd player limited to cd changing capabilties.

av123, denon, and a lot of people are selling high end cd players.

 

[mike c]

you know what, I've actually never seen a blind test of CD players. maybe mtrycrafts has some links hidden somewhere.

 

[avaserfi]

you know what, I've actually never seen a blind test of CD players. maybe mtrycrafts has some links hidden somewhere.

I would be interested in hard numbers comparing universal dvd players to stand alone dvd players on quality of output since there are still people willing to shell out 1k on a Denon universal then another 800 on some CD player. Would be interesting to see what the outcome of the money spent would be.

 

[Audioholics]

If you are analogue only then I believe there are likely significant differences in CD players on a truly high-end system.

For 99% of the people using digital outputs, a DVD player is a perfect solution - as is the use of a system like a Transporter or Squeezebox with lossless-encoded audio files.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

When it comes to sound quality, a CD player is a CD player IMO. The only real differences are in areas such as build quality and convenience features.

 

[davidtwotrees]

My Denon 3910 Universal player does a great job on cds. I couldn't tell the difference between it and a Pioneer Elite stable platter player I had before.
(model number slips my memory.....PD54??) I couldn't tell the difference in playback and sold the Pioneer on ebay.

My Escient Fireball also has cd playback capabilities, but I have only used the cd drawer for its recording capabilities. I haven't really tried a shootout with the 3910 and the Fireball.............

If money was no object would I have a stand alone cd player? You betcha.

If there is one thing I have learned here it is that source is pretty low in the food chain of what makes audio good. I am doing some treatments, and am saving for the next level of speakers......until then my system is ace.

 

[Seth=L]

If you use SPDIF to connect a CD player to a receiver, having a CD player is a conveniance, not a quality upgrade. Getting a single disc player and connecting it via analogue to a pure analogue system is the only possible SQ upgrade (no digitizing of incoming signals, which many HT receivers do now).

 

[ChrisJam]

Hey, I notice that there are many DVD player reviews on audiohlics, but not many cd player reviews.

It seems that the CD had declined in popularity, but for audiophiles the cd is here to stay atleast until multichannel audio becomes more mainstream, but even still you may have historical collections.

I still see a solid place for a dedicated CD player. Sure a DVD player will play CDs. But I like having a carousel CD player when I want to load more than one CD for extended listening. My DVD player is also a carousel model, but it's interminably slow changing discs. The carousel mechanism is slow, too.

Our DVD player is a good solid model, though dated now. It only feeds a 35-inch CRT TV, so as long as it lasts, we'll keep it. If I had it to over again, though, I wouldn't have gotten a DVD carousel. I'd just get a single-disc model.

But I like the convenience of a 5-disc or 6-disc CD player, as I said. I have a 6-disc Onkyo now. It's from the late 1990s, and is starting to have intermittent playback issues. I'll probably replace it with one of these carousel CD players: Denon 390, Onkyo 390, Marantz 4001.

I'd probably never be in the market for a high-end single-disc CD player. First, I'd REALLY have to be convinced that there's a big difference in sound quality between a $200-300 CD player and an expensive one. Second, some year our DVD player will be replaced, as will our TV. At that point we'll go to a flat-panel TV and the new DVD player will be modern and better. If it produced better CD sound than my carousel CD player, I'd use it for critical CD listening, one disc at a time. I'd still use the carousel CD player for extended listening or for parties.

Chris

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

YES, I say that because I want to see a review of the Cambridge 640H, CDP with 160Gig HD for storing music in a digital format. All the fun of a computer without the need for a monitor or keyboard & mouse.

 

[HTHOLIC]

Of course, I mean when you connect it via analogue inputs, ie the cd player input

Since cd players are 2 channel they have another advantage, in that most receivers only have 1 set of analogue inputs for 7.1 channel input.

You can use any of the several RCA inputs to hook up a cd player.

I guess thats another advantage of a cd player, but is the denon high end dvd players just as good, via analogue inputs and having a superior dac.