DVD player used as a CD player good/bad

Get a used Cal 2500 / Great picture and smooth non fatiguing sound . Excellent on both analog as well as digital coax

I had an Onkyo dvd player and up-graded to the Arcam cd72t
(cd player) It made a HUGE difference and I love this player.
I had to re-listen to all my old cd's and re-discover sounds I never
knew were there. A quality CD player will sound better than a
sub $500 univeral player IMHO.

psyopwak

I agree with Thsalmon, I also have a Denon receiver with a Toshiba DVD player but I have both the digital and the analog connections hooked up. In two cahnnel "direct" mode the analog connections sound much better. I doubt that you would hear much difference between the optical and coaxial digital connections.

I agree with the comments about using analog connections to your receiver instead of digital (and using the receiver's dacs). There is night and day difference when I connect my toshiba sd5700 thru analog to my NAD T752 receiver...simply the toshiba sounds more natural and better dynamic range.

The Toshiba DVD you are using needs to be stated. Their models differ greatly. I have a cheaper toshiba DVD and used the digital coax output to my receiver. All of my assets are wrapped up in my two channel system so one day just for kicks I decided to compare the sound of the DVD and the CD player using the same source material. I compared the sound to my more expensive CD player (Resolution Audio Opus 21). It was sad how poorly the Toshiba DVD player sounded. Much, much worse than I had anticipated. IMHO if you have a cheaper Toshiba, don't expect that cables or receivers will rescue the sound.

Just curious what Toshiba unit are you using? I have a SD6200 unit which I use for both 2 channel and HT (5.1 surround) When listening to music I switch over to the 2 channel connected to my reciever through the analog audio outs.
Good luck

I have a few suggestions......

1) Try the analog audio outs from the DVD player.

2) Like Royy suggested try the Coax instead of the optical.

However, I must inform you that there is a multitude of things that could be at work individually or simultaneously. Aside from the obvious, like speaker characteristics, room acoustics, Interconnect characteristics, Speaker placement, Speaker cable characteristics, just to name a few, could all be the culprit.

Very nice external DACs can be had, here at A'gon, for very little. I can tell you from first hand experience that an external DAC can really work magic. But you need to have a handle on your systems specific strentghs/weaknesses or that magic may slip right through your hands. i.e. A great DAC might not sound so great if you have a crappy sounding IC mucking things up.

A little tweaking and experimnenting can go a long way.

I've had both Sony 9000es and Toshiba 9200 as well as Ah Tjoeb cd player. The Toshiba is far better for me than the others on redbook CD's. Stereopile class A and I agree, great one box player. USed around $500.

All good comments above. Receiver DAC is likely, but not always, inferior to player DAC. Bottom line is that not all DVD players make good CD players, but some are excellent. If you don't need progressive scan, then the older Sony DVPS-7000 series has a very good picture and sounds real good. Can be had for about $250.00. Other good combo units include Pioneer Elite 05 or 09, Sony DVP-9000ES and the high end Toshiba S9200 I believe. I am sure there are lots of others.

one more thing that is degrading the sound is the optical connection that you are using instead of the coaxial from the DVD to the receiver. If you have coaxial digital out, use it instead of the optical.

Actually, many DVD players do a wonderful job of playing CDs. The culprit could be the optical connection or the(probably inferior) DACs in the receiver. Try hooking up the analog outputs of the DVD player to the receiver and see if the sound is more pleasing.

The internal dac is what delivers the sound you seek, (or are stuck with,) when using a single box unit. You will like some better than others. Borrow another brand, like an older Pioneer with a Burr-Brown bit based dac, from a friend and experiment. You could also experiment with an external dac.

Less expensive components, just like their expensive cousins, can become disfuntional. Yours may not be working correctly.

100 Hz suckout occurs in many rooms, as well. See the Allison effect...

Good luck,

Charlie