cd player recommendation

10-26-13: Rockyboy

"Willland - ooops!"
"Was wondering if I could stream from the PC directly to either model Cambridge, thereby negating the need for the Airport Express."

You could also pick up one of these, thus negating the need for the Airport Express.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/bt100-wireless-audio-receiver

Bill

Willland - ooops! Wife was rushing me and my brain was not properly engaged.
I stream from my upstairs PC wirelessly to a downstairs Airport Express that's connected to my pre via RCAs. Was wondering if I could stream from the PC directly to either model Cambridge, thereby negating the need for the Airport Express. I'm not as well versed in computer audio as I'd like; hope my question makes sense.

0-26-13: Rockyboy
"Willland - so just asking you to confirm...the Cambridge 840c or Cambridge 851c will allow me to stream music from my upstairs Airport Express to my downstairs stereo system?"

I know the 840C itself does not have wireless capabilities(if that is what you are asking) but not sure about the 851C. I stream Pandora from my Samsung SMART plasma TV via optical to the 840C DAC and on to my NAD T175HD pre/pro. I stream music files from my PC or SMART phone wirelessly to the TV to the 840C DAC to the NAD pre/pro. The NAD's onboard DAC's are good but I think the 840C betters them by a small margin and I like the upsampling capabilities of the 840C.

Bill

If you have never heard a Modwright either Sony 9000, 9100, 5400, or the Oppo 83, 95, or 105 modded by Modwright, the sound is outrageously good in all respects. It will disarm your ears at the amount of improvement you hear. I've had both the 9000 and the 9100 by Modwright. Inbetween I tried the VSE level 6 9000 and it sounded positively thin, sterile, but with great definition, however. I tried the VSE to see what all the fuss was. To me, there should have been some fuss because although the price of the mods is similar, there is NO comparison between the sounds--Dan at Modwright is pretty darn good. We're talking beauty, dynamics and transparency to rival the finest analog setup on many cds--not all, of course. Every cd sounds better than with other lesser players, however. Finding one on the used market is a super deal. The Oppo versions might have the edge in bass, the Sony versions in transparency and a little on detail. This is on the Modwright players. I don't know how the stock players sound and probably won't bother learning. There isn't much point in comparing them as Dan's versions are way ahead of the stock ones.

Willland - so just asking you to confirm...the Cambridge 840c or Cambridge 851c will allow me to stream music from my upstairs Airport Express to my downstairs stereo system?

Wow - 10 years on a CD player is something. I know that player had a following, so if you really like it, it may be worth sending it to Chris in Canada. That aside, there is so much written on the various CD players that I really don't have much that hasn't been said many times. My personal preferences are the Doge6, about $2K from Pacific Valve, and the EAR Acute, about 6K. The older models sell for good prices on A'gon if you can find them. Both players are highly resolving, but not harsh. Enjoy.

Juszat-- There is a 24 bit BAT VKD 5SE with superpak listed for $2,065. The superpak isn't mentioned in the description but if you look at the photos you can see those big silver cans thru the cover. I contacted the seller and requested the serial number. The machine was built in 2000 and the superpak upgrade was in 06. That machine uses 4-24 bit burr brown dac chips and with updates is selling for about half of the used price. It retailed for $8500.00. Balanced Audio does not manufacture CD player anymore but will continue to service the player. I have 3 turntables, 2 cd players, a computer based dac driven media center and just way to much equipment for my wife to approve. The chassis has a few scratches but the machine itself will compete with the best. I have no affiliation with the seller just a strong temptation to pick it up.

I suggest you audition several players in your price range.

there are dealers who will sell you a player and give you 30 days to listen to it and allow you to return it if you are not satisfied.

audio advisors, music direct and possibly the cable co. are three examples. I suspect there may be some other dealer, hopefully local which have such a program.

the problem with opinions, is that there are many of them and audiophiles often have their favorites. your preference may differ.

Juszat - what's your budget? Brands that were on my short list were Marantz,
TEAC & Ayre (the latter used!). A few outfits will do 30 day money back.
Stephen Monte at Quest for Sound worked out a home audition on a TEAC for
me.

Juszat,

Don't know what your budget is and if you are willing to buy used, but I have been very pleased with my Cambridge Audio 840C CD player/DAC. I bought one a few months ago but found myself having to liquidate soon after because of a sudden financial issue. The sell of the 840C did take care of that problem but left me with another problem, no CD player/DAC. I then began a quest to find another 840C and now am enjoying wonderful CD playback and also using the DAC when streaming music files and Pandora from my SMART TV.

If used gear is not your thing, my understanding is that the new CA 851C player/DAC is even better than the 840C but unfortunately does also cost more.

Bill

kinematic mechanizms need to be cleaned and so is the CD door that probably doesn't reach the electrode whent it closes or electrode needs to be cleaned off corrosion as well.
i've realized that there not too many techies left alive in this country that actually can do this type of work and there are also no schools or colleges for that either, but watching and foraging for some youtube videos may give you an idea what needs to be done before you start trashing your player that is still probably a good performer. after all what'ya going to loose?
there are also choices to send it over to canada to partsconnexion where chris(former sf boss) will service it and possibly offer you some upgrade options to earn extra cash, but this will cost you round trip shipping + labor + parts with all due respect to him. he may also be very helpful guiding you to the safe dissassembly of the mechanizm to perform this operation as well because he still never minds to support his former product.
selling your unit with "no cd" or cd door issues will bring up lots of lowballs and may be frustrations, but don't be because purchasing malfunctioning cd-player to earn money after servicing and fixing is the worst risk due to the fragil kinematics of the tray and transport mechanizm.

as to cd-player recommendation, i've sold mine and replaced it with hdd-ssd based music server where ssd is primary media and hdd is archive media working under the same processor. most of the music is ripped and played from the ssd that would hardly develop any wear. my music server is connected to mytek 192 dac-preamp.