My CDP has a "16 bit linear" DAC- is it seriously obsolete?

[dead of night]

Hi. My 1987 Kyocera CD player has a "16 bit linear" DAC. Is it time for me to get a new CDP? I am very serious about the Arcam CD73, with a 24 bit Wolfson dual DAC. Would this sound much better?

 

[EdipisReks]

it's very obsolete, but that doesn't mean it can't sound good.

 

[Ferbose]

16 bit linear DAC does not necessarily sound bad.
Does not Zanden use such chips in thier latest DACs over $10k, and have magazine reviewers drooling all over them?
I have no idea if Kyocera was serious about audio back then.
The fact the unit is still working speaks at least for the build quality.

 

[MikeW]

16 bit is not a bad thing unto itself. All non-os dac's are 16 bit. I don't know anything about that unit though.

 

[EdipisReks]

well, it's from 1987, so it's obsolete by definition. many of the kyocera cd players apparently used unique and very good transports made with kyocera's proprietary ceramic technology, so even if you decide to upgrade it may be worthwhile just getting a new DAC instead of replacing the entire player, assuming it has digital outputs.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dead of night Hi. My 1987 Kyocera CD player has a "16 bit linear" DAC. Is it time for me to get a new CDP? I am very serious about the Arcam CD73, with a 24 bit Wolfson dual DAC. Would this sound much better?

I've never really heard a 1980s CDP that I've liked the sound of... DACs prior to 1990 or so always seem to have something wrong with the highs, although your mileage may vary. The actual type (16-bit, 24-bit, sigma-delta (1-bit)) probably matters less than the particular DAC in question and how it sounds.

 

[mrarroyo]

Funny you should ask, currently I have my stereo on (listening to The Police the singles) and I am using my 20 year old Denon DCD-1100 (16 bit). I guess if you like the sound use it till it dies. Or go and burn some money

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dead of night Hi. My 1987 Kyocera CD player has a "16 bit linear" DAC. Is it time for me to get a new CDP? I am very serious about the Arcam CD73, with a 24 bit Wolfson dual DAC. Would this sound much better?

It would also depend on the rest of your system whether or not its worth upgrading.

 

[Garbz]

No the Bang and Olufsen CDX is an obsolete DAC. 14bit

Still sounds fantastic though. I wouldn't trade it up for any old $400 consumer CD/DVD player that's for sure. Same with my CDplayer. It's got an old 16bit dac, all discrete too. I personally think it's just over par to the NAD 545i.

If it sounds good keep it. It's the same logic as you wouldn't trade a Dodge Charger for a Opel Astra simply because the Astra has power steering

 

[Rameish]

Hi a 16 Bit Chip like the TDA1541A is obsolete only in that it is no longer being made. What made the earlier CDP sound not as good as todays players are 1) op-amps used (op-amp technology has come a long way) this is an easy upgrade btw 2) the digital filter - read this http://www.net-audio.co.uk/tda1541nos.html 3) Some caps may need to be changed to better once like Cerafines, Black Gates, Muse etc 4) some of the poly caps may need to be changed as well - I prefer silver mica types

The important thing here is to make sure there are no problems with your transport and get a spare lens unit first


This is what I did to my Rotel RCD-855 CDP (circa 1989) recently:

http://www.sgheadphones.net/index.ph...=rotel+rcd-855

Old doesnt mean bad - infact the old transports and laser would run circles around current day transports (TEAC VRDS excluded of course). The reason is simply they needed to make better transports back then because error correction was in it's infancy and CDP were expensive so there was the incentive to improve things. As CDP prices fell with competition the manufacturers came out with cheaper and cheaper stuff (IMO).

The comments made above are my own and are absolutely biased. Anyone can and may choose to disagree with any or all of it.

 

[rogue]

I agree with all the other posters here. Since CD's only contain 16 bits of information anyway, this doesn't necessarily qualify your DAC as obsolete. However, I've never heard of Kyocera electronics outside of mobile phones, so I have no clue as to how good the actual CD player unit is.