[ray4jc]

anyone try a yamaha? i've seen some decent price lately.
ray

 

[Voyager]

my first component cd player was a Yamaha CDC-585. I bought it new for about $120, and i found it to be a pretty big improvement over my portable. (Panasonic CT470)

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by ray4jc Hey guys. Is there a such things as a decent cd-player to be used with headphones through an amp for around $100 bucks USD. I don't mean a PCDP but a standalone unit?? Anyone? thanks ray

I too need a cheap CD player. I found a Sony SCD-CE775 for $145, which seems to be a great price, but I don't listen to SACDs and never will.

Is this a good player for Redbook audio? If not, is there a better choice in the similar price range (sub $200)?

- Chris

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya I too need a cheap CD player. I found a Sony SCD-CE775 for $145, which seems to be a great price, but I don't listen to SACDs and never will. Is this a good player for Redbook audio? If not, is there a better choice in the similar price range (sub $200)? - Chris

I have the Sony SCD-CE775. About 95% of what I use it for is Redbook. I like it--it's detailed and musical, although it can be a bit bright. Great value for the money.

 

[kerelybonto]

My SCD-CE775 arrived yesterday. So far I'm pleased: it's definitely an improvement on my PCDP, if nothing else. (I can't compare it to any other players for lack of experience.) And it's a changer, so it's a lot more convenient. I plan to use it for Redbook playback primarily, but I have a few SACDs on the way and have my eye on a few more.

A warning -- I plugged my Sony MDR-V6 into the headphone jack as soon as I got it set up, turned the volume down below halfway -- and the damn thing nearly took my head off. It was like in those movies where the sonarman on a sub has his headphones on when they get torpedoed -- I ripped the damn things off and writhed around on the floor holding my head for a while. So, please, if you use the headphone jack, turn the volume knob down past quarter gain before you turn it on if you have high sensitivity 'phones. Better yet, do what you're supposed to and set the volume all the way down, turn it on, put your cans on, then adjust as necessary.

I'll post some more impressions as it burns in and I have time to do some critical listening.

kerely

 

[ray4jc]

well looks like i won a sony cd player off of ebay. the sad thing is i missed a really good price on a yamaha 5-disc oh well...thats life. i'll let you guys know how it sounds when i get it.

ray

 

[elrod-tom]

I wouldn't mourn the loss of the multi-disc player. Generally, the single disc players are a lot more reliable, and produce better sonics.

 

[TimSchirmer]

To be honest saying that a cd deck sounds better than a PCDP isin't saying much, since portables almost always suck.

I would be willing to bet money that an older high-end cd player would kill a new cheap sacd player in a double-blind test.

Of course, for 100$ you could go with a turntable (denon), and beat both of them

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by elrod-tom Generally, the single disc players are a lot more reliable, and produce better sonics.

This is one of the myths of audio. There is nothing about multi-disc players that make them any worse than single-disc players. Multi-disc players use the exact same transports as single-disc players; the only difference is how the CD gets to the transport. Once a CD is on the spindle, the "tray" has absolutely no effect on the sound quality.

It used to be the case that multi-disc players weren't taken seriously by "audiophiles" (because of these myths), so manufacturers only made multi-disc versions of their cheap players; however, that's no longer true, as a number of highly-regarded players (such as the Sony ES SACD players) only come in multi-disc versions.

In terms of reliability, it has more to do with the quality of the manufacturer, and the individual model, than whether or not the player is single- or multi-disc. Some single-disc mechanisms break after a few hundred opens/closes, some multi-disk mechanisms last for years and years and years (and vice versa).

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF This is one of the myths of audio. There is nothing about multi-disc players that make them any worse than single-disc players. Multi-disc players use the exact same transports as single-disc players; the only difference is how the CD gets to the transport. Once a CD is on the spindle, the "tray" has absolutely no effect on the sound quality. It used to be the case that multi-disc players weren't taken seriously by "audiophiles" (because of these myths), so manufacturers only made multi-disc versions of their cheap players; however, that's no longer true, as a number of highly-regarded players (such as the Sony ES SACD players) only come in multi-disc versions. In terms of reliability, it has more to do with the quality of the manufacturer, and the individual model, than whether or not the player is single- or multi-disc. Some single-disc mechanisms break after a few hundred opens/closes, some multi-disk mechanisms last for years and years and years (and vice versa).

MacDEF,

Thanks for the post. I was getting a little paranoid about owning the Sony SCD-CE775. . . .

 

[TimSchirmer]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF This is one of the myths of audio. There is nothing about multi-disc players that make them any worse than single-disc players. Multi-disc players use the exact same transports as single-disc players; the only difference is how the CD gets to the transport. Once a CD is on the spindle, the "tray" has absolutely no effect on the sound quality. It used to be the case that multi-disc players weren't taken seriously by "audiophiles" (because of these myths), so manufacturers only made multi-disc versions of their cheap players; however, that's no longer true, as a number of highly-regarded players (such as the Sony ES SACD players) only come in multi-disc versions. In terms of reliability, it has more to do with the quality of the manufacturer, and the individual model, than whether or not the player is single- or multi-disc. Some single-disc mechanisms break after a few hundred opens/closes, some multi-disk mechanisms last for years and years and years (and vice versa).

Wow MacDef, this is the first time i've ever strongly disagreed with you. Most of these players seem to be designed for convience and "ease-of use" and the transports and dacs used arent taken too seriously.

Just by design, the electronics seem to all revolve around the carousel. I'm sure all of this squeezing boards and resistors into tight spaces must comprimise at least some of the sound quality. Just doing in-store comparisons, I've found most of single-disc stuff to sound much better than the multi-disc offerings of similar price. Sony's top-of-the-line model, the SCD-1, is a Single-disc unit.

I have another bone to pick with sony...

I've never considered sony to be an audiophile company, Think about it, most of their audiophile stuff was made for one readon; To promote their crappier stuff. Want examples? Let's see... the R10 was created to sell CD-3000's (one could say the same about the orpheus though), The 777ES was made to promote the lower-end SACD units, and the format itself, and their whole spirit line back in the 80's was made to boost the company's image, because people were starting to see them for what they were. Larger companies like sony care much more about making money than making quality stuff. Every audio company cares about making money, but how much they care about making money vs. making quality stuff is a ratio. It seems as though, the more a company is concerned with their profits, the less attention they pay to quality. Look at bose, all marketing, no quality. So how did sony get such a great reputation? Look at who their competition was at the time ... The infamous mass-produced crappy japanese stuff of the 1970's.

Then take look at the grado family. I doubt they make millions from selling their headphones and cartridges, but they take great pride in what they do. I have a great deal of respect in companies that take pride in what they do. This is why i tend to buy my gear from the smaller companies.

To be honest, it is still possible to do both. Look at rotel, nad, and parasound, music hall, and quad. They make awesome stuff, which is affordable as well, and they still make the profit which they need to survive.

 

[kerelybonto]

The DAC and transport in the SCD-CE775 is the same as in the 222ES (or maybe the 555ES or 777Es, I don't remember). It's just ignorant to say that changers shouldn't be "taken too seriously."

Obviously all cheap components aren't the ****. That's why they're cheap. But if you do your research and find one that uses 95% of the same parts and sounds nearly identical to a player costing two to three times as much, well, I'll take it. The CE775 is almost the exact same player as its big-brother ES model -- only differences are in power supply, faceplate, and the plating on the RCA jacks. If that difference is worth a few hundred dollars to you, well, then okay. I'm glad you're around to keep these guys in business.

And Sony's not an audiophile company. They're a consumer electronics manufacturer. Doesn't take a live one to figure that out. But that also doesn't mean they don't put out some good stuff every now and then.

By the way, I've had the CE775 burning in for the last three days and it's sounding pretty damn good now. I'll see if I can dig something up to compare it to and write a review after I put some SACDs through it. ...

kerely

 

[FCJ]

Quote:

Larger companies like sony care much more about making money than making quality stuff. Every audio company cares about making money, but how much they care about making money vs. making quality stuff is a ratio. It seems as though, the more a company is concerned with their profits, the less attention they pay to quality. Look at bose, all marketing, no quality. So how did sony get such a great reputation? Look at who their competition was at the time ... The infamous mass-produced crappy japanese stuff of the 1970's.

Like every other audio company out there, audiophile vs non-audiophile, Sony caters to their audience. And who is that? For the most part it's the mass market. Only a very, very small percentage of it is the audiophile community. Given the mass market's concern with style/features over sound quality, they play to their audience quite well.

I agree that Grado is a great company. However, they're small ( I would guess that annual revenue is $1-2 million, but they're a private company so it's anyone's guess) because the audience they cater to is small. Everyone here is part of that audience (whether you buy Grado or not), but overall that number is small. Would Grado like it to be larger? Sure they would. I bet they wish that all 106 or so million US households out there contained at least one audiophile in them. If they were larger, would that fact compromise their build and audio quality? I don't know the answer to that, but I bet Grado operates on the principal that build/sound quallity is important to their audience, and they base their business model on that fact.

Sony, on the other hand, wants to sell as much stuff to as many people as it can, and it knows that sound quality is not the number one priority to most of that audience. Is that right? Is that fair? I don't know, but as consumers we have a choice to buy from those manufacturers who's priorities equal ours.

 

[Magic77]

To me, it looks like the electronics industry is moving towards Universal Players that will play all the different formats.

Marantz just came out with a universal player that plays SACD,DVD-Audio, CD's, DVD-Video etc..... Pioneer also has one as well.

I also heard that other companies will be doing this, like Yamaha,Toshiba, Philips and some others very soon.

You really don't see many stand alone CD players anymore in the mass-market. There are still many stand alone CD players in the audiophile market, but the combo players are making there way into that market as well.

 

[TimSchirmer]

True...

Makes me glad i use vinyl