[563]

Hola all,

I'm wondering whether you all have any suggestions for a decent cdp - I really am holding my nose here, because I believe (don't throw too many stones at me!) cds are a dying medium, but I still don't want to get rid of all of my redbook cds ... yet.

In particular, since I have the Cary Xciter DAC, I'm wondering whether it is even worth buying a cdp at all at this point, or just playing the cds off my computer and running them through the DAC. My amp is the SLI-80 F1 (which I just bought down in Florida) - One option is a relatively cheap DVD 8 (now discontinued from Cary - essentially a slightly souped up Oppo HD970, from what I've read - but at a decent price, I suppose I could live with paying a couple of extra dollars just to keep the Cary synergy) which I could also use (as it's multi-formatable) for the very very rare HDCD or SACD I might find at the few remaining used record stores here in NYC or elsewhere.

But the more I think about it - I wonder whether it really makes any sense in getting a CDP at all at this point - I'm not sure my ears are good enough to pick up on jitter, etc. - so, would my DAC (any DAC for that matter) improve the sound enough (on a make-believe scale of say 1-10) to render a CDP superfluous?

Given all that, I'm not sure it's wise to shell out much money for a CDP at this point (I've seen dealer demos of the Creek Destiny, for example, for around 1600 dollars - while their built-in DAC is supposedly good/possibly better(?) than the Cary Xciter DAC, I don't think it's USB capable, so it would end up being a stand-alone rig. And that means more clutter, which, if not really necessary, I would like to avoid ...

In the end, I guess, I wonder how much I would sacrifice simply by playing my redbook CDs off of my laptop via my DAC - or is there some real value added in adding a CDP - and if so - how upscale a one - to my system. (As much as the high end Carys (303T, etc.), for example, look great, I think they're just way too expensive for my lack of expert ears).

Thanks for any suggestions/thoughts.

 

[tuoppi]

I am kind of in the same situation as you as my computer is my only source and I am thinking of getting a CD player.

Sound quality wise I don't think it's a problem. Especially when you are using an external DAC.

There are few problems I can think of though. Your computer has to be on to play CDs. Which is a bit inconvenient for two reasons. 1) the computer makes noise. 2) Playing a CD requires a bit more than inserting the disc and pressing play. The computer has to be booted up, you have to open your favorite media player, etc.
Obviously these are non-issues if they don't bother you.

As for the CD player. If you use an external DAC the player doesn't really matter, since it just reads the disc and sends the data in bits to the DAC. So a cheap player should do.

 

[563]

Thanks for that - I'm glad to hear that, since that gives me the flexibility to go much cheaper on a CDP than what I was initially thinking until I pinched myself and did a reality check. I found myself looking through all these 1000/2000 dollar plus, and even more expensive, CD players at audiogon, etc., etc., before this brilliant insight - DAC! - came to me. The dealer I purchased my Cary SLI-80 F1 (it sounds soooo good) demo'ed it with a now discontinued Cary DVD 8 player (allegedly it is pretty much the same as the also discontinued Oppo 790 HD), and I have to say, the combination sounded absolutely great to my ears. The Cary DVD 8 is a Swiss army knife, apparently, and plays SACD/DVD Audio/HDCD, etc. - though I really don't own anything but redbook CDs - but for the price (the dealer offered to throw it in for a fairly good deal, together with other stuff like a stand, some interconnects, etc.) - even if discontinued and even if it is like the Oppo - might be worth it.

At least I've actually heard it demo'ed with the SLI-80 F1 and some Danish (I forget which company - not Dali) small 8 ohm/89 dB monitors, and, again, it sounded absolutely great, and this was without a DAC... My own monitors, which I also got for a decent price elsewhere, are the Joseph Audio RM7XL; the Josephs, although a clean 8 ohms impedance throughout the entire frequency range, are either 87 or 86 ohms (fingers crossed that the SLI-80's 40/80 watts will drive them okay) - a little bit different than the 89 ohms I auditioned at the dealer's place.

Anyway, I really don't mind fiddling with selecting which computer audio media I want -the primary/one advantage, I suppose, of a CD player is that, if I use it somewhere other than at my apartment (I own my parent's old house but don't have an internet connection up there, since I don't get there too often), I'm not internet dependent ...

Hmmmmm......

 

[tosehee]

Like you said, CDP is somewhat dying media. If you really want it, I'd buy something that supports sacd to make it last little longer. In the future though (even now), computer based transport seems like a trend.

I'd avoid unless you can get a cdp for cheap..

 

[Uncle Erik]

Computer-as-source can sound really good and it is convenient.

However, I think there's some value to a CDP, even today. They are quiet and discreet, and you don't have to have a monitor on to ruin the dark when you listen. There's something to be said for that. Also, if you want to run SACD, that's the only game in town.

Don't be afraid of it being old-fashioned, either. So is a turntable and so are vacuum tubes. Just because the mainstream has passed it by doesn't mean a CDP has no value. You only listen to one disc at a time, so a CDP can take you back to the peaceful, more innocent, 1980s.

That being said, I'm hoping to finish building my DAC this summer and have been salivating at the prospect of using an iPad as a big remote control for my collection. As cool as that will be, I will still keep the SACD player and turntable around.