CDP Upgrade or not ? ??

[gethomas]

I presently have a Sony CDP-190 , witch to me sounds the same as a Sony CDP-70 that I also have.
I have read on here and other places that the Sony CDP-70 is supposed to be a good sounding deck.

BUT,due to the age of both of the Decks I am considering buying a new NAD C542.

My old Sony Decks both work fine and I am wondering if I would really hear MUCH difference with spending close to $500 for the NAD.

I am using a Headroom Airhead Amp and Sennheisier HD 595 cans.

I am looking for opinions as to if I would be able to hear MUCH difference for the $$$ for the NAD or, if their is any other upgrade that would make more difference than the CDP would make.

THANKS,
Glenn

 

[drarthurwells]

The NAD is great for its price. Others like the Onix for $300 and ad mods - do a search in this forum.

I upgraded my Nad 542 to the Eastsound E5 and it made a huge difference to me in every way. I didn't realize before this that CDs could sound so good.

 

[hciman77]

I would audition a new CD player *before* committing to empty my wallet, I have been through 8 different CD players in the last two years and my experience (imo,ymmv etc.) is that at the modest end (sub $700) there is not a whole lot to choose between them.

I have tried HDCD and Non-HDCD players, changers and single players, vintage players and new players, players from Onix, Yamaha, Rotel, Marantz and Denon. My favourite is in fact a 10 year old Rotel but my 2yr old bog-standard $200 Yamaha ( a name not much used in this place) changer is frankly almost as good. Twice now I have bought new (well respected) players and sold them as the older ones just sounded better (to me).

Plus there is no such thing as the one-off upgrade, it starts with the CD player, then it is the headphones, then the amp , then the ICs and even power supply or power cable, not to mention the magic rocks, green marker pens and pentagrams. Audio manufacturers read this forum and rub their hands in anticipatory glee.

Run away and buy lots of CDs instead.

I am not suggesting that you cant improve on your old Sony players but sometimes the massive differences that some folks proclaim do not always seem quite so massive after all, until you realise how much you have spent and then strangely the differences do seem stronger, some call this burn-in

or improving your hearing powers.

All joking aside this sickness we call a hobby can be a very expensive one and while it can be fun to experiment with new kit it is the music that counts.

[/waffle]