[woodytone]

I want to get a good cd source, but i cant decide which one to get there are too many to choose from. i want something that sounds really awsome for the money. What makes a one cd source cost $300 and another $3000? is the sound quality that much diffrent? whats the deal?

 

[hempcamp]

Markets determine prices, not quality. Don't be decieved into thinking a $3000 CD player will perform better than one costing $1000 (or $300 for that matter).

A good CD player in the $300 range will bring you *very* close to the best. After that, incremental differences in sound quality will be less noticeable depending on the rest of your system.

--Chris

 

[Xeno7651]

I agree with what hemcamp said. A good $300-500 cd player will give you outstanding cd playback. Some will play mutiple formats like the Philips 963SA. Other cd players worth looking into are the NAD c541i, Music Hall CD25, or the more expensive Rega Planet 2000.

 

[chadbang]

A really cheap CD player that I'm very happy with is the Marantz 6000 OSE. You can probably pick one up used for $100-150 and it's built great and sounds terrific. CD-R playback can be touchy, though. Sometimes it doesn't like to skip ahead to individual tracks on a CD-R, but most play fine.

 

[pbirkett]

I recently heard a Densen Beat XS 400 CD player (approx $4,000) and we compared it with a Pioneer Stable platter transport thingie with a TAG Maclaren DAC20 (probably about $1,000 - $1,500 worth). The XS 400 was better, but the difference was not that enormous. Actually I did prefer the XS by a long way, but I feel that had nothing to do with the price, but more how it was actually voiced. The XS was simply a more exciting player. And I see no reason why exciting players are not available for a budget.

 

[markl]

Quote:

A good CD player in the $300 range will bring you *very* close to the best. After that, incremental differences in sound quality will be less noticeable depending on the rest of your system.

I really disagree with this. There are people out there (flat-earthers) who still cling to the belief that "bits is bits" and that there literally is no difference between CDPs whatsoever. They are completely wrong (I'm not saying you are one of them, but $300 level CDPs don't get you anywhere near the limits of what a good CDP can do, IMO FWIW). I'd be surprised if people who make this claim have ever heard a really great CDP in a system that will let you hear it at its full potential. Maybe you have heard plenty of $3K sources and for you, the difference is not worth it. But there is a market for $3K plus players so others have judged differently. The point is, it's a personal not absolute thing, IMO.

Obviously, deciding how much to spend on a CDP depends on the quality level of the rest of the equipment you are hooking it up to. It makes no sense to plug a $3K CDP into a Total Airhead to listen with your KSC-35s. The abilities of your expensive new CD player will be lost on the inferior equipment downstream. Likewise, it makes little sense to plug a $300 CDP into a system with Levinson amps and B&W 801s, all you will hear is the limitations of the CD player. You need to achieve a better balance that makes sense given your system.

Quote:

What makes a one cd source cost $300 and another $3000? is the sound quality that much diffrent? whats the deal?

Better parts, better design, better build quality. There is a point of diminishing returns in all things audio, including CDPs, but that point will differ from person to person and system to system. For some people, the difference between a "typical" $300 player and a "typical" $3K player will be a no-brainer and clearly worth it. For others, no matter how well the $3000 player performs it could never justify its price.

There are roughly 4 basic parts to a CD player that help determine sound quality:

1. Transport-- how well does it read the data? How stable is the mechanism, how much jitter is generated, yada yada.

2. DAC set/digital board including clock etc. There are few manufacturs of DACs, all CD makers draw from this small lot of producers, so differences in good-quality digital sections get smaller and smaller all the time (although you certainly do get more and better by paying more). Many computer sound cards will have impressive specs on paper because they use the same parts, or parts with similar capabilities as stand-alone CDP. However, spending more will definitely still get you a better digital section.

3. Analog output section. You may have a state of the art 24/192 DAC set but if hands that off to a noisy, feeble analog section, what's the point? Do not undersestimate this!

4. Power supply. Good, stable, robust clean power is crucial to good audio performance. Most cheap CDPs have relatively poor power supplies.

Typically, as you climb the audiophile ladder, each of these sections will be built to higher and higher standards with better component parts. Also, the individual sections will be separated on different boards and will likely have independent power supplies for each section to reduce distortion. Whether these gains are audible to you depends on the system your CDP is plugged into.

 

[hempcamp]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl (I'm not saying you are one of them, but $300 level CDPs don't get you anywhere near the limits of what a good CDP can do, IMO FWIW). I'd be surprised if people who make this claim have ever heard a really great CDP in a system that will let you hear it at its full potential.

I somewhat agree. That's why I qualified my statement with "depending on the rest of your system."

Nevertheless, a $3k CDP will never be a no-brainer (or no-earer) for me. Regular Redbook playback on the $800 Marantz SA-8260 (my next big purchase) is hands down better to my ears than any $3k Redbook-only player I have ever heard heard.

Point being "bits is bits" but DACs ain't DACs. Neither is opamps opamps, caps caps, etc. But some companies have figured out how to give you the best of the above in packages well below $3000.

--Chris

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by hempcamp Markets determine prices, not quality. Don't be decieved into thinking a $3000 CD player will perform better than one costing $1000 (or $300 for that matter).

have you heard any cd players in the prices ranges you have suggested, other than the $300 range?

i fully disagree with this statement. my cd player sounds vastly different (read: better) from all the others i've heard that are priced considerably lower.

 

[dsavitsk]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch have you heard any cd players in the prices ranges you have suggested, other than the $300 range? i fully disagree with this statement. my cd player sounds vastly different (read: better) from all the others i've heard that are priced considerably lower.

Yes. Markets are a function of quality. As quality becomes better, options become scarce, and prices rise. For anyone who has been in business for a while, the market should set their price about right. Clearly, you could come to market with a CDP which should sell for $300 priced at $3000, but you will go out of business soon.

So, the fact that your Cary has been at a stable price and sells well implies that it is priced correctly.

-d

 

[hempcamp]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch have you heard any cd players in the prices ranges you have suggested, other than the $300 range?

I have indeed. Been auditioning lots of players recently: Linn, MF, Naim, Marantz to name a few.

You are all reading into what I said *way* too much. The point is, you can't trust price tags, only your ears.

$3k doesn't *automatically* mean better. There are plenty of sub-$3k (and sub-$1k) players that come awfully darn close to perfect, depending on the rest of your rig.

Stop being such defensive snobs, for christsake.

--Chris

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by hempcamp $3k doesn't *automatically* mean better. There are plenty of sub-$3k (and sub-$1k) players that come awfully darn close to perfect, depending on the rest of your rig.

I was in agreement with you right up to that point. There are some sub-$1K players that are awful good. But perfect? I haven't heard one yet. At any price point.

I do think that the inexpensive players have done a good job of closing the gap. The sub $1K player today may not outperform today's $5K players...but there are a lot of inexpensive players that will outperform many of the the $5K and even $10K players of a few years ago.

I've got to admit that the Nomad Zen makes a crappy source for the SRM-007t, though (yes, I've tried this

) OTOH, it's not bad at all with Earmax Pro/RS-1.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

woodytone,

A $3K player CAN sound tremendously better than a $300 player. The potential is definitely there, but whether or not that difference is actually realized is another point all together. There are some fabulous players around these days that perform well above what their price tag would indicate. There are also some very expensive players that don't perform up to what their price tag indicates. It is hit or miss, and as hempcamp pointed out, trust your ears and not the price tag.

 

[Tom M]

Quote:

Originally posted by hempcamp Markets determine prices, not quality. Don't be decieved into thinking a $3000 CD player will perform better than one costing $1000 (or $300 for that matter). A good CD player in the $300 range will bring you *very* close to the best. After that, incremental differences in sound quality will be less noticeable depending on the rest of your system. --Chris

I agree. My 400 dollar marantz cd player sounds great. It's their cc65, which it no longer made It was a special edition model. Actually it' a five disk carousel cd changer.

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally posted by pbirkett And I see no reason why exciting players are not available for a budget.

Alas, most entry level players I have heard have no balls.

i think the trend is nice and smooth to counter a digital glare but took the soul out of em it seems.

 

[Kieran Comito]

While auditioning for speakers over the last 6 months, I got to hear a few cd players. Most of them in the 1000.00 price range or more, some less. From my experience, its not how good a player is, its how much the listener likes the players signature sound. You can have a 4000.00 player, but the listener may not like its signature sound, he/she might like the sound of the 1000.00 player better.