what's the meaning of "CHEAP CD PLAYER" ???
Oct 18, 2002 at 5:03 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 18

4ever_HD-600

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less than $100 usd.. ? or $200 / $300 .. ??

question: marantz 6000ose or other player at the same price/quality == cheap cd player / or not?

i'm quite confused 'bout it...
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 5:50 AM Post #2 of 18
I think a better phrase would be value per dollar. Every now, and then there are CD players that come along that really shine at their prospective price points. It's pretty much common knowledge that $2000.00 CD players don't sound 10 times as good as $200.00 ones. But, this certainly doesn't mean a good source is not recommended.
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 6:25 AM Post #3 of 18
Quote:

Originally posted by CRESCENDOPOWER
I think a better phrase would be value per dollar. Every now, and then there are CD players that come along that really shine at their prospective price points. It's pretty much common knowledge that $2000.00 CD players don't sound 10 times as good as $200.00 ones. But, this certainly doesn't mean a good source is not recommended.


yepppp... quality is of vital importance, but my question is "is there any price standards for measuring the expensive/cheap equipments" ?
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 6:54 AM Post #4 of 18
How someone would categorize CD players by price would depend upon what that person is used to listening too. I'm sure that many reviewers from Stereophile would categorize CD players in the $150 to $500 price range as pretty much junk. Their definition of quality is probably much higher, perhaps $1200 to $1500 for acceptance into introductory high-end digital sources. I don’t believe there is a set price that decides what is cheap verses what is expensive. I’m sure the person’s wallet will let them know. I think good budget CD players start around $200 on up.
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 6:54 PM Post #5 of 18
Until I got to hear higher-end CD players (and especially before I bought my Meridian) I thought the Marantz CD6000OSE (my old CDP) was a fine CD player, although I realized it could be better. It sounded clearer and more neutral than my soundcard which itself is no slouch -- the Guillemot Hercules Game Theater XP. In fact, I prefer the GTXP to the Denon DCM-370 for CDs. Make sure to have the plug-in for winamp that allows for your soundcard's DAC to do the digital conversion, not the DAC in your CD-ROM drive, which is default.

Anyway, I bought my Marantz for $400 new a year and a half ago. About a month ago, I bought my Meridian for about twice that much. Would I say the Meridian is twice as good? Yes, I would -- otherwise I wouldn't have spent twice as much for it than I would for another Marantz (mine is broken).

What would I consider a cheap CD player? Among those recommended here, I would say the Sony NSxxxV, the Denon DCM-370, the lower-end DVD players from Pioneer, the Marantz, etc. They're cheap CD players to me because I am willing to pay more for a real improvement. If you've just paid for a new Sony NS-500V to upgrade from a portable CDP or a Sony jukebox changer, the jukebox or PCDP is the cheapie and the NS-500V is the expensive CD player.

It's all relative. Read the words "Cheap CD player" in their context and you'll probably understand what it means.
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 7:41 PM Post #6 of 18
4ever_HD-600,

What does it matter what other people consider to be cheap or expensive? It really doesnt. Buy whatever sounds good to you and is within your price range. Whats cheap to you is whats under the max amount of money you want to spend and offeres a suprisingly good sound for that money. For some people that could be a $160 dcm260, for some people that could be a $1000 a3cd, for some people that could be a $4000 #39 and for some people that could even be a $20000 cd12. I think your looking at the labeling of "cheap" as a bad thing as in low quality and inexpensive. No one here is looking for low quality components
wink.gif
. Therefor cheap would be high quality and inexpensive.
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 10:42 PM Post #7 of 18
Quote:

Originally posted by freethetree
4ever_HD-600,

What does it matter what other people consider to be cheap or expensive? It really doesnt. Buy whatever sounds good to you and is within your price range....


i've already had my cd player, marantz cd-19a.

i am not asking this question for any particular purpose..

just get some ideas for the price...

but thx all the same...
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 9:09 PM Post #8 of 18
I don't think price is a good way to judge. I bought my CD player, the Meridian 508.20, for a price far lower than I would have expected to pay for it. Plus, it was (and still is) in absolutely perfect condition without a single scratch. It's much easier establish "price points" for new equipment because the prices don't vary as much, and neither does the risk involved in purchasing. I'd say, though, at around $600-700 you can start getting used CD players that are really leaving the "cheap" category.

Keep in mind, also, how fast digital technology and product offerings change. When I bought my Marantz CD6000OSE, the Sony NS500V was not available, and neither was the NAD C-541i. If I had been more knowledgeable, I could have bought the Sony SCD-333ES new at about the same price ($400) from Oade Brothers -- new. It's like with a lot of products where you think that it should be easy to determine quality by price. Well, you just can't. If you separate by $1000 or even $500, sure, most of the time you'll be getting something better if you choose the more-expensive player. I prefer my Meridian 508.20 to the Cary CD-308 which costs a few hundred more than I paid for my player -- but again, I bought mine used. In a few months the prices will all change, the products available will change, and each prospective buyer will likely have to discard a lot of the information provided by reviewers this fall.

That's why the word "cheap" means so little. If you want to find a group of people happy to give you pseudo-objective definitions of the terms "cheap," "best," "worst," and "supreme," go visit the Audio Asylum's Digital Drive forum.
 
Oct 21, 2002 at 12:13 AM Post #9 of 18
Entry level audiophile players are under $2000

Audiophile players are from $2000 to under $10,000

Reference level audiophile players are over $10,000


This is all for the most part, some entry level players are over $2,000 and some reference level players are under $10,000

A "Cheap" player is anything that you can afford without hurting your budget, for some people that might be the $20,000 Linn Player and for others it might be a Coby portable
wink.gif
 
Oct 21, 2002 at 4:24 AM Post #10 of 18
Quote:

Originally posted by DanG
If you want to find a group of people happy to give you pseudo-objective definitions of the terms "cheap," "best," "worst," and "supreme," go visit the Audio Asylum's Digital Drive forum.


Quote:

Originally posted by KR
Entry level audiophile players are under $2000

Audiophile players are from $2000 to under $10,000

Reference level audiophile players are over $10,000


Then again, you could just refresh the page and find those people here too.
wink.gif
 
Oct 21, 2002 at 3:56 PM Post #12 of 18
I could have done that, but then I'd have lost the effect!
smily_headphones1.gif
Still, I think it makes very little sense to impose the sorts of boundaries you did. What the hell does "audiophile CD player" mean? It's about as useful as saying "Pretty good CD players are under $2000, good CD players are over $2000, really great CD players are over $10000. Of course, there are a few good CD players under $2000 and some CD players that cost over $10000 aren't really great but are sorta kind of very really good." Entry-level audiophile, audiophile, and reference mean absolutely nothing -- that's my point! It's the same thing as saying cheap. What is a reference? It's just a foil for your own comparisons or for comparisons made for the benefit of others. For example, the HD600 and Etymotic ER-4S are reference headphones here because they're accepted as good headphones that are more widespread among the Head-Fi membership than other headphones.

Are the Grado SR-60 audiophile headphones? Clearly you care about sound if you get something that costs so much when you can use the stock headphones that come with your portable CD player. So you'll say they're "entry-level" audiophile headphones. At what point have you passed the initiation guerriere? With the Senn HD580? With the Grado SR125? SR325? RS2? With the Etymotic ER-6, or ER-4?

I hope you understand my point a little better now.
 
Oct 21, 2002 at 6:35 PM Post #13 of 18
Quote:

Originally posted by DanG
I could have done that, but then I'd have lost the effect!
smily_headphones1.gif
Still, I think it makes very little sense to impose the sorts of boundaries you did. What the hell does "audiophile CD player" mean? It's about as useful as saying "Pretty good CD players are under $2000, good CD players are over $2000, really great CD players are over $10000. Of course, there are a few good CD players under $2000 and some CD players that cost over $10000 aren't really great but are sorta kind of very really good." Entry-level audiophile, audiophile, and reference mean absolutely nothing -- that's my point! It's the same thing as saying cheap. What is a reference? It's just a foil for your own comparisons or for comparisons made for the benefit of others. For example, the HD600 and Etymotic ER-4S are reference headphones here because they're accepted as good headphones that are more widespread among the Head-Fi membership than other headphones.

Are the Grado SR-60 audiophile headphones? Clearly you care about sound if you get something that costs so much when you can use the stock headphones that come with your portable CD player. So you'll say they're "entry-level" audiophile headphones. At what point have you passed the initiation guerriere? With the Senn HD580? With the Grado SR125? SR325? RS2? With the Etymotic ER-6, or ER-4?

I hope you understand my point a little better now.


Dan,

I agree with what you are saying. It's difficult to place different components regardless of price into so called "Categories". I think a lot of these categories like "Audiophile Quality" or "Budget Quality" are created for marketing purposes or by the manufacturers, magazines, internet reviews etc......
 
Oct 22, 2002 at 2:16 AM Post #15 of 18
KR, you get into difficulty with that definition because of the mass-market companies that make high-end CD players, and the smaller audio-only manufacturers known for very expensive equipment that also make lower-end equipment. Is the Sony SCD-1 an audiophile CD player? Or how about the Cambridge Audio D300SE?

The problem in my specific case is that the way I see it, the Marantz CD6000OSE that I used to have was my entry into the audiophile world, and a first step for many people. I would call that an "entry-level audiophile player" because most people won't spend $400 on a single-disc CDP. That sets this player apart as an audiophile player already.

The Meridian I got is on a much higher level. I would consider that already a "knee-deep audiophile" CD player, as it's a great player in its own right and not just "for the money."

So, if you're going to make a large category called "audiophile CD players" which is everything that is not targeted at the mass market, fine. I just have a problem with your clear-cut delineations of "entry-level audiophile," "audiophile," and "reference" CD players, since those terms mean nothing in their own right. As general vague terms, maybe, but certainly nothing with even fuzzy price borders.
 

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