Dedicated CD player or multi-plr for 90 music ?

I see no reason why a well built multi-function device cannot read digital data off a spinning disk, feed this into a buffer, and accurately clock and convert multiple digital formats into multiple analog formats...

"Dedicated" has an aura of quality and purpose about it, however, in this application I think it is becoming over rated.

Tubes are a different thing altogether... a matter of taste...they are less accurate then SS circuits and add harmonics to the sound, clip more easily, and drift in response over time, which all sounds worse than SS electronics. However, if you ignore the technical perspectives and just rely on what your ears tell you then, like others, you may find tubes sound sweet.

Mainlymusicman,

Agreed. A CD player is very important...without it you would not have sound....but it stops there...the beauty of digital and SS circuits is that it is the great equalizer...you should not have to spend a fortune to have a good CD player.

I completely agree with you. I would not spend $5K on a CD player. Sure there will be some improvements versus a $500 player....but will they be audible?

Your NAD may already be good enough...perhaps you could do some listening tests before you buy....bring your player to a store and compare to a higher end one.

I have a devil of difficulty to hear any differences at all between different CD players...

Mainlymusicman,

If they have something markedly better then surely they should not mind comparing.

....just watch out for the volume level trick...louder almost always sounds more impressive (except at extremely high levels when it causes intermodulation distortion in the inner ear)