what makes a good cd player?

[atothex]

Ok, I'm new. Seriously, what makes one cd player better than another? The DAC? What's all this talk about jitter reduction? How is that accomplished?

Side note: is it possible to turn a videogame console into a decent cd player? Maybe a Linuxed PS3 USB out into a dedicated DAC or something? I hear good things about that 1st gen PS1. Which components make it better than later iterations?

[krmathis]

Let me see..:
* Transport (including laser pickup).
* Clock.
* DAC.
* ..

[Cankin]

Analog output stage??

[StanleyB1]

Brand name and marketing. A high price also helps, especially if you have to save up or take out a loan to buy one.

[tourmaline]

Transport
dac/ clock
analogue output stage, most important. The difference in the digital section is small compared to the analogue section.
2 cdplayers with the same chipset can sound completely different.

[krmathis]

Originally Posted by StanleyB1

Brand name and marketing. A high price also helps, especially if you have to save up or take out a loan to buy one.

Yeah right!

[Lazarus Short]

The better ones TEND to be heavy and expensive, include digital outs, and [most important] tubes.

Laz

[PFKMan23]

I'd also look at the circuit implementation of the CDP. (eg: filters used, active or passive I/V, the clock, etc..)

[Asr]

Also, the power supply section. And a chassis that's designed to counter vibration.

[fjf]

In my experience, any CDP will sound good if you connect the digital out to a good DAC.