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CD sound quality

I have Wharfedale Evolution 30 speakers powered by NAD 730BEE amp. CD player is my philips DVD. Some CD's sound almost like the music is muted! or, it sounds like something is in front of the speakers blocking the sound, like a blanket or a large piece of furniture. Imaging actually seems pretty good.

could a low-end philips DVD player + basic cables be the cause of this?

Thanks for your advice
landoa

Showing 3 responses by rrcpa

rrcpa
37 posts
 
Welcome to the "perfect sound" world of CD my friend. The veil has just been lifted from your ears and you will never fall for marketing hype again!
But to answer your question, modern mass market CDs are poor quality junk for the most part. The problem is that even the guys that try to do it right are limited by the inherent nature of the technology. Digital samples the music. Therefore, by definition, sometimes it is not swampling and there is no way to replace this missing information (regardless of "upsampling" baloney)
Fortunately there is a cure. Its called a record and they are making better ones today than they ever have before.
CDs are for the car.
rrcpa
37 posts
 
Bonvoyage,

I don't think this is a cable issue. What you are decribing sounds like a defective circuit somewhere. Since the tuner sounds normal, I'd look first at the CD. Does your Receiver have another jack you can run the CD through? AUX 1 or 2 maybe? Do you have another CD player at your disposal; a buddies maybe that you could try.
Don't think that just because it makes sound it can't be defective. I listened to a Bryston Amp for several years before I convinced myself something just wasn't right. I sent it back to Bryston and they said one of the output transistors was shorted internally!!! It was an amazing difference when I got it back and naturally I felt like a tin eared idiot - And I've been listening to audio for 25 yrs.
This doesn't sound like a compatability or cable issue to me.

Ross
rrcpa
37 posts
 
Rich,

If you are looking to get back into vinyl on a budget I would look for a used "Logic" table. One helluva lot of table for the money. They are quite a bit better sonically that the VPIs and way better than the Regas and they cost $200 when you can find one. Most people that bought them keep them.
Also, there are guys that add a suspension to the old AR turntable and it becomes essentially a Sondek. Throw the AR arm away and put a used Grace 707 on it and a Koetsu Rosewood and you will have a no joke audiophile rig that will run with the best of them for about a grand (and $800
of that is cartridge) The old Supex 900 is the forerunner of the koetsu and is even cheaper and sounds great.
I have info I can send on the AR and Logic turntables if you want.
Hope this helps.

Ross
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