[boxings1st]

Most people would say that the HD 650, Dt-880, and VK-701 are the best headphones, so is there such thing as best cd players?

Anyone know the best cd players in the market today?

 

[Asr]

The HD650, K701, and DT880 are merely the best open headphones up to $600. There are plenty of better headphones, especially in the electrostatic category, but those three are by no means the "best headphones" available.

Since you're posting this in the Portable Audio forum, I assume you're talking about portable CD players. None are nowhere near good enough to feed to one of those three headphones, way too underpowered, way too underspec, way too cheaply built. You need a stationary CD player for use with those headphones, definitely one at miniumum $200, along with an external amp.

Stationary CD players can get extremely expensive (costing thousands), but there are plenty to be found under $1000. Good brands to look into include NAD, Marantz, Arcam, Rotel, Cambridge Audio, and Music Hall, just for starters.

 

[astranovus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxings1st Most people would say that the HD 650, Dt-880, and VK-701 are the best headphones, so is there such thing as best cd players? Anyone know the best cd players in the market today?

the D-NE920 is a pretty good sony player with a digital amp

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProdu...PAW+CD+Walkman

don't be intimidated by the second poster.

just get a decent pcdp and you'll be fine, even with higher spec headphones, just make sure you get an amp for high impedence headphones.

i've got a sony nw-a3000 hdd-dap and drive my dt770's with a pa2v2, the sound is very clear and i wouldn't really know how to improve the sound without investing silly money.

 

[Ko Nectic Jazz]

Sorry but I second Asr.

I have best results with my stationary cd player than with my pCDP.
Even with an cheap Marantz player, you'll have better results, amped or not.
With a stationary cdplayer, you'll have more power by default. Beyer's and AKG's phones need high voltage.

 

[boodi]

you might want to check for some "imod" threads and impressions..

 

[boxings1st]

Thank you for your help. I just bought the HD650s and I'm trying to find a good cd player that will deliver, but it looks like there isn't a good enough cd player to be used with these headphones?

Looks like two little batteries won't power the HD650s.

 

[fewtch]

You can drive higher end headphones with portable devices, but I'd recommend at minimum amping them with a decent external amp -- built-in jacks on portables won't do the trick very well. Better yet, get one with optical out and use an external DAC. You definitely don't "need" a standalone CDP with higher end cans, this is completely untrue. However, it may be more desirable than using a portable device.

 

[DevilDog]

My Sony D-NE300 drives them okay. It's not great, and it's not quite as good as with a dedicated amp, but it's okay.
The HD-650s need an amp to sound their best, but they sound okay out of many portable devices.

 

[lumanogin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevilDog My Sony D-NE300 drives them okay. It's not great, and it's not quite as good as with a dedicated amp, but it's okay. The HD-650s need an amp to sound their best, but they sound okay out of many portable devices.

I found it was pretty hard for any portable to drive my HD-650. At least out of the head outs. They needed more power to get to a listenable volume without distortion.

 

[DevilDog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumanogin I found it was pretty hard for any portable to drive my HD-650. At least out of the head outs. They needed more power to get to a listenable volume without distortion.

I must listen to mine at softer levels. But when I crank up that D-NE300 it goes plenty loud, louder than I would ever want to listen, without distorting.
You guys must listen at some fairly loud levels. If the headphone is good, you shouldn't need to crank it up to enjoy the music.

 

[Audiofiler]

Well yes all music will be better out of a home stand alone player VS a PCDP, but it is always simple, Monday morning QB'g the guy into buying another $1000 worth of gear as the easy suggestion.. lets try and work this guy a solution based on his thread and qualitative feedback,

I used to own the 650, and found it power hungry but quite happy with the synergy that my D-25 produced out the strong Headphone Output..

There was a D-25 for sale in the forum just the other day, I would check this out as a sub $150 transport, as this is not a truly portable unit, its sonics are some of the best of the vintage Sonys, and the headphone output is strong enough to push any Senns you can throw at it, I have tried the K 701's and they sound pretty good too on the unit, but have not A/B'd the Beyers with the D-25...

Easily drives Senns and is every bit as good as a player up to around $250. The Discman route to a transportable source will not leave you broke like a Nad, Rotel, Meridian, Cambridge, Marantz/Denon, or Arcam, and may give you useful insight about your preferences in timbre, soundstage, and imaging, that will behoove you in the future, in the event of an upgrade, or eventual swapping out of gear..

Getting into a <$1000 player if you are not rolling in cashola is a so-so idea, IMO...as from personal experience, the REALLY $$$ ones fail as easily/often as the Vintage portables..except you cry and swear longer when the big ones conk on you

I find great use with my Vintage units and bust out the BM1 DAC if I need some extra smoothness..but personally, a standalone transport will destroy any portable in terms of depth of sound, sonics, total range in dynamics, porper current/IMP, and of course overall transparency/musicality.

The D-25 is a handy transport, just recently sold my spare unit (and the Senns that I used with it, along the amp) but those all can be found..

ironically the RA-1 amp that does not mate with much besides Grado, matches the 580/600/650 rather well, and not just the HG model, fyi

If going the Stand Alone route , try audiogon or FS forum maybe eBay..
(try and find an old D500se from Cambridge down the road if possible, not a bad player if you uprade the OEM power supply)
Hope this helps,

 

[D555]

Reasonably recent, reasonably priced PCDP may be:
Sony:
D-EJ2000 (redbook CD only) (mod the output caps -- not easy)
D-NE10 (CD, ATRAC, MP3)

I lean towards the D-NE10

Paul

 

[Asr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch You can drive higher end headphones with portable devices, but I'd recommend at minimum amping them with a decent external amp -- built-in jacks on portables won't do the trick very well. Better yet, get one with optical out and use an external DAC. You definitely don't "need" a standalone CDP with higher end cans, this is completely untrue. However, it may be more desirable than using a portable device.

I only bolded the "need" because I assumed he wants the best sound possible from the likes of the HD650/K701/DT880.

Of course an externally-amped PCDP can work but we know it's far from ideal.

 

[Yi Dill]

Is there any significant diffreence between the Sony NE-10 [mentioned above] & Sony NE-329 or Sony NE-330?

 

[Yi Dill]

Is there any significant diffreence between the Sony NE-10 [mentioned above] & Sony NE-329 or Sony NE-330?