Decided to change my cd player, suggestions please?

@itzhak1969

would agree totally based on an earlier pair of 803d I once owned, but different system, different room and what a difference.
There just is no substitute for actually in room demos, you can read all the reviews you want, listen to all the advice you can handle and sometimes it just means squat....lol

It's amazing how subjective things are, B&W are by far the worst speakers I ever heard too bright,analytical and polite.maybe with the correct system they can sound better.

Happy Listening!

Good to read -uberwaltz

Usher speakers are not that impressive to my ears.  Those B&W will easily sound and present better in any system.  Get the cabling "right" and you will be musically rewarded.

uberwaltz, sounds like you should next focus on room treatments.

You can make your own absorption panels for very little money.

Even hanging curtains in strategic spots (primary deflection points) or throwing down carpets can bring about immediately noticeable improvements.

thanks hifiman5 and dave-b
been non stop music today...lol

That's wonderful uberwaltz...enjoy!!

@uberwaltz    Congratualtions!  That moment of pleasantly being shocked is awesome.

Well that was certainly a BIG surprise!
Just goes to show that not all components synergize together well.
I had the chance to buy a pair of B&W 804D speakers at a very fair price so just had to do it.
I was not expecting anything majorly different and certainly not an improvement over the Ushers but wow!
With no other changes besides plugging in the 804,s it was a whole new world.
Soundstage was miles wide, best it has ever been and bass? I have no idea why the smaller drivers in these produce so much deeper and fuller bass than the Ushers but they do.
Goes to show that everybody can and will have different results with different equipment, looks like the BAT amp just did not suit the Ushers or vice versa but my combo now of B&W 804D, ARC LS2, BAT VK600SE and Esoteric SA-50 is making me very very happy indeed!

Excellent suggestion- hifiman5

Hate to read about someone giving up their CD/SACD spinner- dave_b ?

uberwaltz-

you may want to consider using all Cardas or all Straightwire cabling, for openers.

For a total of about $3700 you can purchase a Marantz SA8005.  You send it to Dan Wright at Modwright for the SIgnature Truth modifications and you will be listening to a true reference player for many thousands less than a comparable stock player.  Done deal!

I understand uberwaltz, I had a $12k spinner that I swore I would take to my grave.  My reluctant move to streaming happened by chance following a speaker audition.  I brought my favorite discs along to use for my demo when I was confronted by the total omission of a CD player at the dealer!  They used the Blue Sound Vault 2 feeding my integrated amp via a Node 2 using a $50 Toslink cable.  It sounded remarkably organic and musical, so I had them rip one of my discs on the spot for playback.  The result was stunning!  Combine that with the ability to archive my music and explore my library from an iPad sold me.

@jafant
Upgrades already performed to the arc ls2 pre which have improved matters no end.
simple and cheap job of swapping the tube for a golden lion AND then adding a herbies tube damper.
Soundstage vastly increased again and clarity of vocals is very impressive to my ears. low down and mid bass feels just as strong as ever so a win win for a grand total of $58!
Next you will have me believing power cords and fuses can make a difference...lol
all interconnects are cardas quadlink xlr, power cords are cardas quadlink too. speaker cables are straightwire octave 2

@dave_b
sorry but you can call me a dinosaur!
I have zero interest in ripped files or a music server or streaming tbh
it took long enough for me to move from vinyl to cds!
good for those into it, just not my thing, i like to fondle those shiny silver discs....lol

Good to read- uberwaltz

Rock, Hard Rock and Metal are very difficult genre(s) to get right on any high-end system.  What cables/cords are you using? Any planned upgrades in brands?

Happy Listening!

Save a ton of money and have more fun, get a Blue Sound Vault 2! Rip, store and play. Analog and digital outs. If you want to improve it slightly you can get an external DAC to run it through. Also does HiRez streaming and downloads. $1200.....buy more music!

Have now lived with my "new" system for a while and just my thoughts.
Replaced both the krell power amp and cd player with Esoteric sa-50 and BAT VK600SE.
After selling off the Krells I am probably out $4k total with some new cables as well.
Did i get $4k perceived value?
Probably not tbh, the sound is different, some improvements but some reductions.

The low and mid bass is noticeably stronger and fuller, much more slam and as I listen to rock music that is a good thing for sure, not fat or bloated just more "iron fist" type of improvement, makes the Ushers work for a living now!
Vocals about the same, maybe a little more chesty but would be a tough call.
It is definitely more volume tolerant without becoming harsh as the Krells were apt to do, I can now watch the windows bow before my ears tell me it is distorting, a sure sign of the huge power reserves of the BAT.
But the soundstage has definitely suffered, a fair bit tbh. Even sitting with my eyes closed I can tell exactly which speaker each instrument or vocal is coming from with ease, a feat the Krells dismissed with ease, guitars would come in through the walls it seemed. That right there is my biggest area of disapointment.
And yes slap all this equipment in another room in another house with different music and ears and the results could well be completely different, I know that!
I suspect the BAT is the main culprit for the soundstage but after spending $4k its going to have to wait a while before I can splurge again!

Thanks for the tube tips.  I will get the Tung Sol's and Phillips.  I knew I was on to something with this player when I asked my wife if she noticed any differences.  She did describe the resolution, air and articulation of the instruments. 

Ain't it a gas, wig?

Best to you,
Dave

I've actually owned Big name and expensive Dacs, none compared to my ModWright Sony 5400ES; Not even close...

Get a decent DAC ...the discussion of a decent player will...rightfully, end there. A decent DAC can mitigate any shortcomings (real or perceived) of any semi -decent transport.

That ship sailed long long ago.

Randy,

Good to hear you're liking the SA8005; definitely roll in some Tung Sol 5687 and if you haven't already, the Philips 5R4GYS that Dave mentioned which will take your findings even further...

Wig

Good to know Randy. Please let me know which tubes give you the best results (and which did not). Have you tried the Philips 5R4GYS rectifier tube from upscale audio? I found it to be excellent in my MW 9.9 power supply.

Best to you Randy,
Dave 

so the esoteric arrived this morning, hooked it up through my ar ls2 and listened to pat benatar.
best i can describe is that higher volume levels it holds together much better, more cohesive, much more slam for want of a better word and the highs are not as harsh as the krell was by far.
at moderate levels there is probably not a lot between them although still more noticeable bass on drums etc but as volume is increased the esoteric definitely holds its composure much better.
I then tried running direct to my power amp but i ran out of gain on the internal esoteric volume way too early...lol. Yes I like my music loud or at least the option to like it loud! Now I will say that at lower levels I think I did prefer the sound direct to the poweramp, it appeared more full bodied and possibly even better sound staging so now maybe I have to look for a better preamp as well, you know how that goes......

Happy Listening!

Keep us posted- uberwaltz

well just an update, had to buy it as price was so right
Esoteric sa-50 should be here wednesday, then we will see.....
be interesting to try it through my ar ls2 pre AND running it direct into the power amp, often been said that the best preamp is NO preamp.....

BTW, it is very easy to test 2 CD players.  Make 2 copies of some test music and set one up to play a few seconds ahead of the other one.  Switch back and forth.

You can use a Tape In if your remote doesn't have dedicated buttons for all sources.

Enjoy - I think you will find that a blind test doesn't show a lot of differences.

"I will be picking up my ModWright Marantz player next week and will post my impressions."

Looking forward to that goose.

Best to you,
Dave 

I will be picking up my ModWright Marantz player next week and will post my impressions.  I have also been a fan of Dan's work and this will be my third player and I will be looking forward to some Tidal steaming via the usb input to the DAC.  

i had decided to give an ayon cd7 an inhome trial for 15 days and see how that goes, simaudio players I have looked at but the ones I have seen in my price range did NOT have balanced xlr outputs?
not sure if the 260d does or its price, will have to research that
thank you

I was in the market for a new CD Player last year after my Cambridge Audio went south. I’ve got a Bryston BDA-1 DAC and tried using my Oppo as a transport but it just didn’t sound anywhere near as good as the Cambridge Transport and Bryston DAC.
When I decided to get a new CD player I planned to just get something less expensive and use my old DAC. I tried several "Transports" including an Emotive but ended up getting a Simaudio Neo260D with the optional $1000DAC card installed. When I listened to the DAC in the 260D, it simply blew me away how much better it sounded compared to the Bryston. I sold the Bryston and bought the Simaudio with the optional DAC installed at the factory.
You can’t beat the quality, warranty and trade-up policy Simaudio offers.
Yes, an Esoteric might edge it out but without a long factory warranty it’s an expensive boat anchor IMHO if something breaks. Why do you think there are so many for sale?
Try to find a Simaudio 260D used....not likely unless the owner is trading up to a 650D or something even more exotic and costly.
I’m using a Simaudio 700i amplifier with Focal Sopra2 speakers and the sound is just magic. Very musical with tremendous air, and 3D transparency that almost sounds like analog. Almost!...
Check out the TAS review and others available online.

I would buy a nice dac and keep your CD player as the transport.   This will give you the upgrade in sound quality you want since you have just replaced the audio processor in the cd player with something presumably newer and better.  And you will be able to use the dac with other devices like phones, tablets, computers, etc. for streaming or Hi-Rez music files.  I use an external DAC to decode a coax feed from an Oppo Blu-ray player, and my dac has an additional optical input and a USB input for switching between other connected devices. When im not using the Oppo, I can plug my phone into the USB input and stream hi res Internet radio stations. Love the flexibility. 

I just went through this process of replacing a CD player.  I listened to the following:

Yamaha CD-S2100
Marantz SA8005
Marantz CD 6006
Atoll CD 200SE
Simaudio Neo 260D

I could have lived with any of the above but in the end it was a run off between the Atoll and the Simaudio.  I was able to A/B them on my system which was a bit of a pain as they have slightly different live level output levels which required adjusting volume for fairness.

In the end the Simaudio won out.  I liked the horn sound better and the bass was a little tauter (although I felt the Atoll went deeper).  The build was better for the Simaudio in particular the CD tray was far more robust. The clinchers were the 10 year warranty for the Simaudio (2 years on the tray) along with their trade up program (up to 100% in the first year).

i am really in the market just to replace the cd player, at this time i do not have the inclination or intention to go fully digital with usb or wave file players, way too many cds going back years and years to be bothered to "rip" them to a music server or computer or similar.
Pretty old fashioned and cd digital tech is about as far as this old fart is moving tbh.

Do you have a lot of discs other than red book CD? PS Audio just came out with their DirectStream Memory Player to replace their Perfect Wave Transport.  If you have all red book then the PWT is now $2k on their web site and you may find it even cheaper on the web.

I am over the top happy with my Oppo 103D... it rendered my DAC ineffective. Better yet would be the Oppo 105D with a $400 upgrade from Stereo Dave's Audio Alternative to signficantly improve the sound staging and inner detail.  Oppo is in my mind the best performance vs. cost component on the market.  

Skip the CD player and go straight to a hi-rez music server and service if you don't want to rip your collection of CDs. You will never look back. 

I tried Oppo 105D, Sony MW5400, esoteric, wadia, etc etc. Gamut CD3 best spinner ever. Gamut rooms always crowded and always best of the show and this CDP it is always used. Organic you can taste the instruments.
Good luck 

Buy an Oppo 105 and use the dedicated Sabre DACs for critical stereo or multi-channel listening direct from disc.  For more casual listening, rip all your CDs to FLAC (lossless format) and move them to an external hard drive.  Plug that into your Oppo for convenient, beautiful listening (as I am doing now).

Thanks Joe, my readings had sort of confirmed the ux series was not quite up to par compared to some other Esoteric offerings even though there is a ux being offered fairly local to me.
Not sure as I overly concerned on going the total digital route with usb et al. Huge collection of cd,s and no inclination to rip them to any music serve in the near future...

I second the Esoteric choice, HOWEVER, they do not last a lifetime. I bought one recently. UX3se. It wouldn't read some discs. The repair center said that ALL UX units needed to go back to Japan for calibration. ($2000.00 for that alone). I returned the unit. I bought another Esoteric. Before the seller shipped it he informed me that the transport made a little noise when spinning. The factory said he may need bearings soon. Both of the players are in the 10 year old range. I was most impressed with the sound. If you like rock, the Esoteric sound is for you. Do not buy a UX machine though. Joe

Hi goose,

You may want to contact Agoner "wig" re: the MW Marantz. He bought one and sold me his MW5400ES so he could give you his impressions of the sonic differences in the two. Great guy.

Best to you goose,
Dave

I'm kind of in the same boat.  I haven't decided my ultimate route.  I'm not really interested in the computer/server solution but want to go down the Tidal streaming route.  I have a Modwright Sony 5400 which I really like but I am tempted by the new Marantz Modwright player which has a usb input for a streamer.  I have heard good things about this particular mod.

You need music streaming and USB DAC capability. Oppo 105 (D) or coming 205 would be good choice. I rarely use CD and DVD players now and only use Netflix or Tidal service for video and audio purpose.