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Logically, this makes complete sense. However, I have spent *hours and days* comparing the sound of the DAC's in a 1990 Yamaha CX-1000 preamp to the CD sound of a new (highly touted) toshiba 3960 dvd player through my CD3000's. I've listened very carefully for details, tonality, bass, etc, and after all that time, the only difference I can discern is that the CX-1000 has a slightly larger soundstage, perhaps due to it's tighter integration of the DAC with super-high quality analog circuitry. They both sound very good. The toshiba has a modern 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC, while the CD-1000 has twin 18-bit DAC's with 8x oversampling and other optimizations. Go figure...

Duncan and saint.panda
changing the uotput opamps makes a big inprovement
even more
remove the output kill transistors
reclock major
search diyaudio for saa7310 or cdm4 or cd850 or even the marantz versions

allan

couple of weeks ago i've heard the lhh 2000. yes, the lhh 2000..

i've listened this cdp with my baby O setup. not ideal, because the lhh has XLR. so we used XLR- RCA cables.

the lhh is very very very detailled, better than my studer. alas i don't use the XLR of the studer which it's renowned for. but unfortunate the lhh has a lot of treble in it. after 10 minutes it hurts my ears.. (

perhaps it's because of the cables used or the lhh is more a speaker cdp..??

but i have the feeling, the lhh 2000 is capable of more with the right setup.
if not, it's has some historical value. it would be my favourite philips, this ugly monster. )

1911 has a Pioneer PDR-04 with the famed Stable Platter transport mechanism. Nice - and he was going to give it to me, but instead shipped me a hotplate that had "stable platter" scrawled on it with a marker. Bah, and I traded him a Denon receiver for that "stable platter" too, what a horrible trade!

It's cool that this thread was revived. I recently almost won an eBay auction for a Rotel RCD-955AX and am disappointed that I didn't win it. Sometime soon I'm gonna bid on another "classic" or near-classic older CDP (maybe Denon DCD-15xx) and compare it to the stock Toshiba SD-3980 DVD player I recently picked up.

I'm sure none of these players are putting out really high end sound, but do feel that older CDPs can sound good if they have the right combo of high quality transport, analog electronics and a good sounding DAC. The ones with stable transports and good power supplies would definitely make good transports for an external DAC, I don't think anybody would debate that one.

I've been running a Meridian 200/203 2-box setup since ~1992 (I can't quite remember exact date) and I'm still mighty pleased with it. Not failed me once (played pretty much every day except when I'm on holiday) and still looks gorgeous.

I've heard some newer kit, including newer Meridians, but not been tempted yet.

(My first player was a Marantz CD50SE) - not bad for it's day, especially when I hooked it up to the Meridian 203 DAC.

A long time ago, in a land very far away, my wife actually bought me a new Sony CDP-102. I am talking 1984 or 1985. Back then, there were not too many CDs to be had. I was starting my internship, we had 2 jobs, no kids... Our old record collection had been lost in a Hurricane Alicia in Galveston. After we moved to Houston from my training, we set up a condo, where we lived for 5 years. With only a radio, in functioning receiver, (my DIY speakers still) she went out an bought the CD player. That really floored me.

Anyway, a few kids, 15 years of practice, and a ressurgence in audio interest, has me doing audiophile listening/learning here at HeadFi. I have 2 home theatre systems in the house now. Guess what is still going great guns with a receiver in a cabinet in my bathroom? The same 20 year old CD player!

It only died once. I did some quick surgery and found that it had ejected a couple CDs up into the machine itself. Once those were removed it worked perfectly again. Now it has a faint clicking, and I am sure needs a severe dust cleaning on the inside.

Alas there is not digital out of this machine, or I would have it as my source at the office with the Lavry.

i have a CD850 from new paired with a musical fidelity B1 amp,and Rogers LS4 speakers.I still think the sound is amazing and would never part with them. bought them all on the same day in the early 1990s.
 
amazingly i have only got my first pair of decent headphones, HD650s. does anyone know if i should bother with a headphone amp or just shove them straight into the headphone socket of the 850? guess its a longshot for feedback on this!

I had an early Sony CDP-103. When I replaced it, it was a giant upgrade. CDs from that era aren't that great either. I suspect that at the time the advantages of dithering weren't understood, and analog mastering wasn't up to the demands of CDs. I cannot imagine how bad the CDP-103 would sound next to good current gear.
 
I wouldn't buy anything earlier than 1995.

ehlarson said:

I had an early Sony CDP-103. When I replaced it, it was a giant upgrade. CDs from that era aren't that great either. I suspect that at the time the advantages of dithering weren't understood, and analog mastering wasn't up to the demands of CDs. I cannot imagine how bad the CDP-103 would sound next to good current gear.

I wouldn't buy anything earlier than 1995.

Click to expand...

I'm about to find out-just won an eBay auction for one... Will see how it fares to my Bryston BCD-1...

So, won it. Using chord signature RCA to Bryston electronics and PMC MB2se's. It sounds fine. Better than fine actually. It's a slightly muddied and undynamic sound compared to say, my Bryston bcd-1, but holds its own against a McIntosh MCD550, I kid you not. I was amazed at how good it is for such a player, barking back to the awful 80's digital sharpness but I'm not hearing that at all. Amazing.