[sacd lover]

I have a sony scd555es sacd player that I use in my main (speaker system) that I am very pleased with. I have two ce-775 sacd players I use with headphones. The ce-775s are excellent with sacd and good to very good with cd through headphones. However, I want an excellent cd recommendtion that can play hdcd discs. I am looking at the nad541i, music hall cd-25, and cambridge d500se, but I have been unable to audition any. Does anyone here have experience with these. I have been waiting on judes final review of the 541i and cd-25 but he clearly is to busy to finish them right now. I would value your opinions. The philips 963sa is a consideration but it upsamples redbook vs playing hdcd discs.

 

[bundee1]

I have owned my music hall mmf cd25 since june '02 and am very pleased with it. It give a very wide detailed, soundstage. It is solidly built and has coax and toslink outs if you want to use it as a transport. The best word to describe it is smooth. Its smooth but you dont lose the pace or detail. My one complaint is that in my system and my room, vocals sometimes sound thin. In my opinion it is neutral, not warm or bright. For me its like goldilocks porridge, just right

 

[sacd lover]

bundee1, Have you used the cd-25 straight into your head amp?Rooms can do all kinds of distortions that can make vocals sound thin. I like my sound to be on the slightly (very slightly) warm side of neutral. I will be using this source into a gilmore amp, then on to grado headphones.

 

[radrd]

I'll toss in a recommendation for the Music Hall as well. Haven't noticed any thinness in the vocals. Other than the Music Hall, I've only heard the Arcam CD72T, and (from my memory of the Arcam) I prefer the Music Hall because it is smoother and more musical.

I've only used it with headphones from my META42.

 

[sacd lover]

The music hall has all the features I want but I have a question. Does the cd-25 track cd-rs without problems? The cd-25 uses a philips transport and the philips transports supposedly dont track as well as the sonys. Whats your experiences with regular cds or damaged discs?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

As a former owner of one, please eliminate the CA 500SE from your list. It's really not that good of a CDP, and can be easily bested for its price point.

If you're open to used players, look at something by Arcam, like the 72 or 72T on Audiogon. Just browse thru their stuff and you should be able to find a jewel for a really good price. My Arcam was almost half price when I bought it from a guy there.

happy hunting!

 

[radrd]

I don't have a burner, so I don't know how the Music Hall works with CDRs. Also, my disks are in great shape, so I couldn't tell you how the transport works with scratched stuff.

 

[akar]

Quote:

Originally posted by sacd lover The music hall has all the features I want but I have a question. Does the cd-25 track cd-rs without problems? The cd-25 uses a philips transport and the philips transports supposedly dont track as well as the sonys. Whats your experiences with regular cds or damaged discs?

My Norah Jones CD is scratched and when I play it on the different portable CD players I have, the damage is evident on 3 different tracks (the end of one track, the entire next track and the beginning of the following track).
When I play it on the Shanling CD-S100 (Music Hall CD-25), the damage is only evident on that middle track, and that track is more "playable" than on the portables.

It has handled all of my CD-Rs without a hitch.

I picked up my CD player from Natural Frequency Audio for $450 brand new, shipped to my door in Alaska. If you live in the continental U.S. it should be cheaper for you.

 

[bundee1]

My problem with the vocals is probably due to my room. I dont have a headphone amp. Yes it plays cd-rs fine. Look around, their are plenty of used cd-25's on Audiogon or you can get one new from HCMaudio.com with free shipping Audioquest Diamondback IC's, 3 AQ sorbogel feet and a cd demagnetizing disc for $549. I dont work for them just thought it was a good deal.

 

[Mr.PD]

What about the lower end Arcam's? Like the 72.
I could swing a player in the $600 range. So far it looks like the Music Hall is the most well liked in this range.

Also, would it be worth the wait to save up enough for the Arcam CD23t? It could take me a year or so to afford that palyer.

 

[sacd lover]

The music hall does seem to be preferred by many; has anyone compared it directly to the nad 541i?

 

[Nefarion]

I havent heard the Music Hall.. But I own the NAD and looooove it. I really have no high end reference point to back up my love for it but never-the-less... It blows me away. I defenitly like having the HDCD option as well.

Check out this thread: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=22167

 

[RickG]

Just curious, sacd lover, but just how many HDCDs do you own? In the price niche your talking about, the 963 does redbook CD better then my Rega Planet 2000 and Sony SCD-C555-ES... without question...SACD as well (and I don't mean by a small measure).

 

[sacd lover]

RickG, actually I have several and a couple of my favorites are hdcd. I also have a modded 555es and two ce-775s so my sacd needs are met. I am intrigued by the 963sa for redbook but I already have a perpetual tech combo for upsampled cd. Maybe the philips cd is better than the hdcd of the cd-25 or nad 541i; I am trying to guess. Right now I am deciding between the cd-25 and the nad 541i because of the hdcd feature. I also dont like what I have read about setup using a tv with the philips.

 

[radrd]

I've never heard a modded 555ES, but I seriously doubt that a sub $600 CD player will beat it at red book (I assume these are the Mathew Ankar mods?). The Philips might, but I would still put my money on the modded 555ES.

As far as HDCD goes, I find that well recorded regular CDs can sound just as good if not better than HDCDs with my Music Hall. Maybe I just don't listen critically enough, but HDCD isn't really that great. I have Reference Recording HDCD classical CDs, which aren't much (if at all) ahead of several of my other regular classical disks. I also have a couple rock HDCDs, Live: Secret Samadhi and Dire Straits greatest, which are definitely not much better sounding than some of my other rock CDs like Nirvana's greatest hits, Stones hybrid, and several others.

I'd say stick with the 555ES and save up for an Arcam CD92T or more likely a CD23T, which will both do HDCD and probably be a significant improvment over your 555ES from what I have read.