Best CD Player for Under $1000 - Page 5

Meridian what? 588? G08?

Where and how do I order an Eastsound CD E5 for use in the U.S. - for $710 total?

Used QUAD 99 CD-P. And I just happen to have one coming up for sale...

Contact Snowy Law info@cattylink.com for info or just send $710 via paypal to orders@cattylink.com

They do a 5 day burn-in and testing to be sure there are no defects then ship air express - took two days from China to Florida for me.

They ship about 30 a month to USA and Canada. You save because there is no distributor sucking up profit.

They have been free of problems. Quality parts are used.

Most CD player problems are transport problems. I have had mine out, removed the laser assembly, etc., and re-instaled out of curiousity. It was easy - just one or trick - unlocking the tray to get the laser unit out took time to find the latch release. Anyone ever having transport or laser problems can get my assistance in replacing, and the parts are cheap - transport is $22 or so. Should last 5 years or more though.

I can't begin to tell you how much my sound improved over theNAD 542, which I bought to later get a highend player after I saw how SACD developed (it didn't).

Thanks for the quick response. I will continue to save some money for this purchase.

Out of curiosity, what other CDP's have you listened to? I can't find any of your equipment you are using these with in your profile.

I've had about 8 CDPs over the last 25 years. Since SACD was discussed, and later introduced, I decided to hold off spending big on CDP until SACD prices came down. Meanwhile I used mostly NADs, upgrading as they introduced new models. I have listened to a friend's expensive Classe' CDP and was very impressed, but did not want to spend that much money.

SACD seemed to never take off, and I didn't enjoy digital sound that much anyway. I have a Northern Tube Appeals preamp, Classe' amp, Audio Concepts Sapphire monitors modified with Scan Speak Revelator tweeters (used in the $12,000 Revel monitors), powered sub, and mainly was using this system for digital video.

The NAD 542 was an improvement over past players, but CDs just didn't ever sound that great so i rarely use dthe NAD.

Then I bought a Lehmann headphone amp to replace my Headroom Cosmic, used with Etymotic 4S and my iRiver IMP400 PCDP in my car, and got interested in this site. I noticed the Eastsound forum and bought one.

The difference between the E5 and the NAD 542 was no where near slight - it was like night and day. Keep in mind the rest of my components were first rate, but were being choked to death by the NAD 542. In a lesser system the difference between the E5 and NAd would not have been so dramatic

My whole CD collection took on new life and digital suddenly had a glorious sound. Add the Sennheiser HD650 and later the Sony SA5000 into the mix and things just got better. Sold the Lehmann and am using a Chinese tube headphone amp, and am waiting on the new Bada Ph 12 headphone amp.

The E5 player, Sony SA5000, and a good Class A amp with no opamps in amplification and no negative feedback (tube with the SA5000 is perhaps best) will give you high end sound at avery reasonable cost. I listen to this even more than to my home system.

Now I really regret not getting a high end CD player years ago, even though I saved money by waiting.

On second thought, don't buy an Eastsound E5. It will spur your interest in music so much that you will go into deep debt buying new equipment to go with it. I'm already thinking of what I need to buy after I use the new Bada for a few weeks! Anyone want to buy my Bada in a few weeks? The Ming Da is going up for sale as soon as the new Bada comes in.

My main 3 cdps all bump up against the top end of your budget:
I liked my 1st Meridian 508.20 so much I bought another for my 2nd system.
I also like my SACDMods 963sa if you need video/SACD too but I like the Meridians better for Redbook. You might even find a 508.24 at about $1000.
Good luck.
CPW

Not entirely true and it would be remarkable anyway if a product line was entirely problem free regardless of cost or overall quality

Originally Posted by drarthurwells
They have been free of problems.


Originally Posted by awhyu:
Hello,
Just to keep the forums informed, I might be the first person to have
reliability/manufacturing problems with the eastsound.

In my previous posts I mentioned about strange problems reading discs which
are over 74 minutes long or have more than 16 tracks or so.

Well my eastsound cd5-e finally gave up last night, it refused to read all my cds telling "no disc" on the screen. But on the rare occassion it just might start to read a disc again, but this is quite random.

This is a bit of a letdown as the sound it produces is really enjoyable and musical, and the actual build quality of the unit is great but I dont know why the player has failed over a 2.5 month period to track cds.

- Andrew

Art: Yes, and I understand from cattylink that they shipped Andrew a new unit for free (no transportation costs). I also understand tha they sell about one unit every day in export sells. Over 99% have been trouble free.

Before buying any CDP find out what DAC converter it feature, its clocking/jitter control, whether it has Class A output with no opamps in the output, what transport it uses, etc. Then see if these components are shared with high end players at $2,000 and above. I would avoid the Burr Brown DACs (used in the NAD) myself, for instance. If this info is not readily shown in any site, beware.

I do not see any CDP for under $2000 that equals the Eastsound E5 in terms of what is inside it - not to mention its massive solid block aluminum chassis that controls resonances and electrophonics (that impair sound quality). If anyone finds one, please let me know.

That is pretty impressive especially given the shipping costs from China.

Art: Yes, and I understand from cattylink that they shipped Andrew a new unit for free (no transportation costs)



Correction:

Sorry, I got it wrong. Been over a month since I asked Cattylink what happened when I first read Andrew's post, and my initial memory was faulty. They sent Andrew a new transport/laser unit and paid for the replacement by his repair facility choice. It cost him nothing.

Can someone post dimensions of this unit in inches......

Also does remote have "repeat" and "program" functions?

I have three CDP/DAC set-ups now but perhaps this could replace one in the collection

The Eastsound E5 is 17"w x 5.5"h x 14"d

It has repeat and program functions via the remote.

It easily replaced my Scott Nixon TubeDAC (with Amperex 7308 tube). Detail and soundstage is better by a far margin on the E5 with very neutral overall sound.

Is there a reset proceedure or a bios upgrade?