I have just recently acquired a Cambridge Azur 851C and am extremely happy with overall performance. Its brought new life to my CD collection and being as advertised a digital preamp, offers great flexibilty for adding digital sources such as BT (audioengine via toslink), IPOD via digital dock, ++. Cambridge Audio appear quite specialised with DAC technology considering the number of DACs offered in their range, plus the upsampling
24bit/384kHz technology. No direct comparisons, but it works for me . fed into a tube amp.
Considering getting a CD player (again). Used? New? Criteria?
After years without one, I'm considering getting a CD player. I'm not against streaming, but I have many CD's and would like the simplicity of just playing them from time to time. I probably want to cap my expenditure at $700, or so, because this won't be the only way I play music.
A few questions:
If you've purchased a new CD player, what did you buy? Why?
If you've purchased a used player, how old is too old? What factors helped you choose?
My concern with used is that the transport mechanism of older players will be getting tired, and this won't be knowable just because a unit "checks out" with the site (or individual) testifying to the player's working condition. There's got to be an average point for many machines to give up the ghost, mechanically (varying from machine to machine, of course).
A few questions:
If you've purchased a new CD player, what did you buy? Why?
If you've purchased a used player, how old is too old? What factors helped you choose?
My concern with used is that the transport mechanism of older players will be getting tired, and this won't be knowable just because a unit "checks out" with the site (or individual) testifying to the player's working condition. There's got to be an average point for many machines to give up the ghost, mechanically (varying from machine to machine, of course).