Eastsound CD-5 Did I Make A Mistake When I Tried this Out?

[Hershon2000]

I posted last week that I tried out the Eastsound CD-5 & was very dissapointed in it. I realise now, that I perhaps made a mistake during my try out which if I did was caused by the potential seller not telling me anything about adjusting the CD players volume if there is such a control on it. Specifically, I assumed there was no volume control on it & when I played it, it didn't sound very ballsy on my system. I realise its too late now but is there a volume control on it & if so, if I didn't have it up, could that have affected the performance? If so, oh well. I was controling the volume through my receiver.

 

[Gord SW Ont]

I don't have one but I recall Philodox telling someone that the E5 did not have a volume control. Perhaps someone else could verify this.

 

[Clarity]

Hershon I own an E5 and there is no volume control so I think you're alright. Hope this helps.

 

[Hershon2000]

Thanks for the info. How is yours connected? I'm asking because this was the first time I have ever had a major disconnect to an item everyone is raving about & I'm now wondering if it is because of the upsampler which I think it has too as its obvious now it had nothing to do with volume control. It wasn't that it sounded so bad but it didn't sound like I was hoping for & it had had plenty of break in time. I had it connected directly to my Denon 3801 A/V Receiver. I also tried out & hopefully will sell soon an Ah Njoe Tjoeb Super 4000 tube CD player with upsampler. This sounded pretty good & not much different to me then the Eastsound CD-5 & as they both have upsamplers I think, maybe that's what I wasn't wild about audio wise. For my ears on my connection, neither was in the ballpark of my Pioneer Elite PD-59 on my system & I'm beginning to think that the combo of its Leggo Link and stable mechanical platter is what gives the Pioneer the sound I like.

 

[Senn20]

I believe someone brought this up in the other thread, but the discrepancy between what you're hearing and what other CD-E5 owners hear from their players is due to the fact that you're running it into a reciever with digitized analog inputs.

What this means is that your reciever takes the analog inputs, converts the analog signal to digital, processes the signal into 5.1 then converts that signal back to analog with the reciever's dac.

What you need to hear the Eastsound the way it is supposed to sound is a pure analog signal path and a 2-channel setup.

It's cool that you like the sound of your previous player better in your 5.1 setup, but all of that processing is detracting from the level of fidelity the Eastsound CD-E5 has to offer.

 

[Hershon2000]

Thanks for the info Very good explanation I don't know if this changes anything but I tried by an analog & digital connection with the Eastsound CD-5 & the Ah Njoe 4000 & they both sounded better connected by analog toi my Denon 3801 A/V receiver but the Pioneer connected digitally to this sounded better then either one connected by analog.

 

[drxpert]

I think this simply means that you prefer 5.1, which the pioneer sounds better in. A lot of people here, however(purist or not), prefer to listen to cd in its unadulterated 2.0 format, so you might not agree with their views on the E5.

 

[Hershon2000]

What I'm having trouble understanding is, if a recording sounds great in 2 channel format on a CD player like the Eastsound CD-5 is suppose to (haven't heard so I can't state this as fact), shouldn't it also sound as good if I'm playing this in all natural 5.1 as opposed to prologic- specifically the only thing reprocessed is the center speaker which combines the left & right equally & the left front & back has the same output & right front & back has the same output & the subs output is the same? Or am I missing something? For me this just gives the sound more depth.

 

[tourmaline]

No not neccessarely; it depends on how your 5.1 processor processes the incomming signal.A 2.0 signal has to be converted to 5.1 and there lies the problem. only 2 channels wich has to be mixed into 5, hence alot of compromises! a pure 5.1 signal is processed as such and doesn't need to be processed, hence much better sound. Quote:

Originally Posted by Hershon2000 What I'm having trouble understanding is, if a recording sounds great in 2 channel format on a CD player like the Eastsound CD-5 is suppose to (haven't heard so I can't state this as fact), shouldn't it also sound as good if I'm playing this in all natural 5.1 as opposed to prologic- specifically the only thing reprocessed is the center speaker which combines the left & right equally & the left front & back has the same output & right front & back has the same output & the subs output is the same? Or am I missing something? For me this just gives the sound more depth.

 

[DigiPete]

Also, some material sounds better than other material when processed into 5.1. Lots of variables here.

 

[kavu]

I bought one and it was soundly trounced by a bolder mensa di/o...I was disappointed.

Maybe it is system-dependent...or maybe it is an inferior player....that was my experience though, and it was an easy call.

 

[B-side J]

Slightly of topic, but still relivent. I was just messing about with my Zhaolu with my Sphearex 5.1 system to see how they compared (with or without the external DAC) and there are some pretty major differences here.

Keeping it relivent to this thread, I found that with the DAC hooked up to the analog input, 2.1 was the ONLY way it sounded good. It was actualy far better than using the internal DAC on any of the settings. As soon as you go from 2.1 to anything eles (PL II, 5.1 etc) the sound stage and imaging was garbage...Sure the sound was "fuller", but not in a realistic way. The only time I would put it on 5.1 is if I wasn't sitting in the sweet spot, and maybe not even then.

I'm assuming that this will be the same with the E5, but would know for sure until i get mine.

Hope this helps in some way?


JB

 

[Hershon2000]

All I can say is that with my system, 3801 Denon A/V Receiver, Orb Audio Mod 1 5.1 speakers & sub, listen to rock & blues CDs from the 60/70's in 5.1 natural sound connected by optic cable sounds totally superior to any 2 channel playback & currently my Pioneer PD-59 CD player sounds the best of any of the numerous $750 to 1500 CD players that I've tried. It's all I guess a matter of personal taste.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Hershon, if you want 5.1 with good quality, I think you should look into high resolution formats such as SA-CD and DVD-Audio. These have DD, DTS, and 5.1 mixed tracks, so you can run them over 6 channel analogue outputs.

 

[Hershon2000]

It's not that I want or insist on 5 channel sound & I'm not impressed with SACD/DVD-A players or Discs, but simply on my system hearing CDs using all 5 channel natural (as opposed to say pro logic) makes the sound more fuller & 3 dimensional rather then 2 channel direct which I can also play and am not impressed with. It might be worth a half an hour of someones time to try to connect an optic or coaxal cable if they have a 5.1 receiver & listen to some CDs on all natural 5 channel sound as opposed to prologic. If you still prefer 2 channel, fine, but for my set up 5 channel is the best.