[harkari]

So I'm browsing in a thriftshop and come across a pile of PCDPs. I already have an old Car Discman that once in a rare while I haul out and listen to, just to make sure it still sounds worse than my modern DAPs. It always does. So I really wasn't looking for another PCDP. I haven't even bought more than a handful of CDs in the last few years, and they just get ripped and tossed in a box. But I notice a couple of Discmen in the pile and grab one, thinking I might strip it just for kicks. It's a D-191, year of make unknown (late '90s, I'd guess). It was $3.
 
I get home and pop a disc in it (Sting), just for fun, and plug in a pair of KSC75s. Nice, I think. Wait a minute. Wow, more than nice. I dig out my old Car Discman. This D-191 sound dramatically better. I dig out more CDs and spend the rest of the night loving it.
 
Fast forward a couple days. I went back and bought two more semi-vintage PCDPs, a Sony D-141 and a Panasonic SL-S140. Neither sounds nearly as good as the D-191. I've AB'd it, CD vs. lossless, with my current favorite DAPs (Clip+, iPod touch 3G, Sony NWZ-S736) and my desktop rig (Hot Audio DAC Destroyer + Bravo v2 mini tube amp or a cmoyBB v2.02). The DAC Destroyer + cmoy comes closest, a little more aggressive and forward.
 
But the D-191 just sounds better. Instrument placement in the mix of a song is more 3D, the rendering of transients more lifelike, and its bass is gorgeous. It has some small audible defects, but everything is just more involving. I wouldn't say it's a world of difference from my DAPs, but they are all sonically just slightly different flavors of the same thing. This $3 Discman has a mystical extra bit of quality that manages somehow to take my listening experience to a new level. It's the dimensionality that really gets me. Everything else now sounds a bit flat in comparison.
 
I can already see this $3 Discman is going to cost me dear. I feel a CD revival coming on, and I'm already on a hunt for new desktop gear that comfortably equals or surpasses it. I'm also digging into old threads on PCDPs and trying to source even better Discmen. Worst of all, I'm terrified of dropping the damn thing. It's a little magic box. I obviously don't have gear that is audiophile. But really, honestly, how can this old piece of worthless kit sound better than so much modern gear? I can see why PCDP enthusiasts from just six or seven years were very slow to surrender to DAPs.

 

[estreeter]

There are still a few Discman holdouts here and you will find plenty more online. I seem to recall that the Holy Grail was actually an old Phillips portable CD player rather than any of the Sony spinners.  There is no way that I will ever go back to juggling CDs or having a cupboard overflowing with vinyl - horses for courses. 

 

[3602]

Go older. I have a D-32, 10th Anniversary SP-Crown version.
Oh, and welcome to vintage PCDP's. Enjoy your stay.

 

[proedros]

i have 2 sony pcdp d-ne319
 
i decided , to go dap and bought myself a clip+ and a J3
 
impressions to follow soon.
 

 

[Deep Funk]

Connect the PCDP to a good integrated, be it an amplifier or a receiver and your set up could be done. 

 

[harkari]

This has prompted to pull out everything I have (old, new, cheap, expensive, free, whatever) and listen to it all. I've tended to spend my gear money on DAPs and headphones, and occasionally a modest amp, 'cause they're sexy and seem to hold the most promise for changing/improving my sound. But when less than $10 in gear ($3 PCDP, $5 KSC75s on Shack closeout) produces such compelling audio, I start wondering if buying the right gear is at the end of the day mostly luck or if I'm missing something really fundamental.
 
So I listened to everything I have, old gear in storage, combos I've never thought to try, etc. Turns out that the absolute best sound quality I get is from an old Denon DCM-340 5-disc carousel > cmoyBB. The Denon is a leftover from my first full stereo system, bought with Pell grants almost 20 years ago. The hp out from it is terrible, but I'd never tried the RCAs out into a separate hp amp. Makes a whole world of difference. It images about as well as the D-191, but is more transparent and a little punchier. It easily beats all my DAPs and desktop rigs.
 
I use the same cmoy with my PC + USB DAC Destroyer, but paired with the Denon, the sound gets magical. So it's not the amp. Part of the fault with my desktop rig may be foobar + WinXP + DS (can't get any kernel-level sound driver to work), but probably I need a better DAC. DACs aren't sexy, but I'm suspecting they may be much more important than I thought. The 20-bit Burr-Browns in the Denon are old but good, and the whole unit is highly engineered and purpose-built. It should probably be no surprise that little mass-market DAPs can't compete, or a modest desktop system. It's still impressive that a little Discman can approach the full-size Denon.
 
I'm still puzzling over the cost/performance ratio here. You can buy a used full-size CDP like my Denon any day of the week for $30 or less. Equivalent quality desktop DACs seem to start several times that. But that meditation probably takes me to another forum.

 

[Deep Funk]

DIY is the next step... New stuff gets overrated easily.