Harman/Kardon = ear candy

[newspaperguy]

Is it just my ears or does this manufacturer make a decent CD player? I bought this one as a "hold over" until I can afford my Krell (unlikely) or at least something better (maybe).

But I'm listening to an HDCD on my FL8370 player through Sony CD3000s, and it sounds GOOD!

This five-disc changer has a gold phone-jack input and seems to have a decent amp.

Or is it just me -- Anyone else have these kind of results with a Harman/Kardon?

 

[Audio-Me]

Don't let anyone else fool you, they make great CD players! You said so yourself that it sounds wonderful. I've owned several of them, and still have one, FL 8380. I also have other equipment made by Harman Kardon.

 

[Braver]

they really have a reputation for making fine stuff for a nice price around here. I think it's kinda weird to not see a mention of them on this board more often. got no experience with their stuff tho.

 

[cajunchrist]

There are some sick, CHEEP sales on ubid for refurbished HK...I'm sure the 8380 or 8350 is at least a match for the Denon 370...

 

[newspaperguy]

Quote:

Originally posted by cajunchrist There are some sick, CHEEP sales on ubid for refurbished HK...I'm sure the 8380 or 8350 is at least a match for the Denon 370...

Yeah, I got this one a few months ago at a Fry's for 50% off. Just couldn't pass it up.

That must mean that HK's stuff -- like most others -- has some major mark-ups.

 

[gaineso]

I've got an FL8300 hooked up to an H-K AVR300 receiver. JBL L5 speakers == fantastic sound for the money, IMHO.

FL8300 line out to TA to HD600's == headphone bliss.

FL8300 HP out jack doesn't have a volume control, and it's up there at 90db+, so I don't use it. The HP jack on the AVR300 doesn't really sound quite as good as the line out to TA to 600s. Not bad, just not.......

Anyway, I for one am very happy with my H-K products, although I have read some negative comments on this forum about H-K. Maybe jealously.

I still think that they're better than Sony's, at least in my experience. My H-Ks still work well and correctly, and it's been a long time since I found a Sony product that would do that for any length of time.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by gaineso Anyway, I for one am very happy with my H-K products, although I have read some negative comments on this forum about H-K. Maybe jealously.

Not to spoil the HK love party

but I'm not a big fan of HK equipment. I prefer Denon and even Yamaha CD players to HK for the same price, plus you can get CDPs from companies like Cambridge, NAD, etc. that are a cut above for around the same price.

 

[Audio-Me]

Hey man, it's all good. =) HK, Denon, Yamaha, what ever, they all make good products (I own both HK and Denon CDPs, and have owned Yamaha players as well). Matter of hussiness.

 

[Zanth]

While people are commenting...I was looking at getting an HK DVD50 but read some not so grand reviews about the mp3 playback...so I was looking into the Onkyo DVS555. Anyone have any experience with this product or anything by Onkyo? I am fairly new to higher grade cd players.

 

[Audio-Me]

Is mp3 playback important to you? If not, definately recommend the DVD 50, I've got one of those.

I'm not fond of Onkyo equipment, they sound too much like Sony stuff (analytical, dry, sometimes bright).

 

[Zanth]

mp3 playback is fairly important, this player will be in my office and I don't want to cart my cds back and forth so I made a bunch of mp3 discs to make it easier.

 

[Audio-Me]

I haven't even tried mp3 playback feature on mine so I can't comment on it.

Why not make copies of your CDs and put them in a CD wallet(sleeves inside soft or hard case)? That's what I do for portable use. Buying CD-Rs in bulk is great. =) I plan on getting a 100 pack of Americal's TruSilver CD-Rs. They supposedly look exactly like the factory produced retail CDs.

 

[Zanth]

Audio&Me: I have quite a few cds (over 1200 at the moment) so ideally for me, encoding them at 192 bitrates and popping them on 100 cdrs is better money spent for me than going through 1200 cds... I would rather spend my money on new cds and just keep making mp3s for the office. When I make associate professor maybe then when I can afford it, I will make the duplicate copies of the cda files, until then though...I am still living the life of a semi-poor student

 

[Audio-Me]

Wholey crap. I have maybe 120 CDs, lol. You actually listen through all that on mp3?

 

[Zanth]

Well I backed them all up at 192 and I have them in one case logic case...so they are easy to store at the office and transport back and forth. Because it is at the university, I can't disturb other professors so the volume is low (or I listen through headphones which is most often the case). I hear the decrease in quality but at the low volumes it does not disturb me that much. I have the cdrs in music genres so I can just pop one in and say listen to classical for the day etc...