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First CD player help!

Hi everyone,

I am going to the darkside....

But only in my bedroom :) 

I am a turntable enthusiast. It's been my only source for many years but I recently setup a turntable in my bedroom system and honestly do not enjoy having to get out of bed to flip the record and because I'm not actively listening I feel I'm not getting everything from the listening experience I would in front of my main. 

I know all about streaming and love it but only for when I'm on the subway, my car, running around etc. When given all of the world's music my ADD head wants to move onto the next artist, album or song, before whats playing even finishes.  I miss selecting a piece of physical media, putting it on and letting it play. 

So that got me thinking about CDs. 

I'm a young(ish) guy, 30 and got into music around the same time the first MP3 players hit the market so never really got into CDs. I recently purchased a guy's entire CD collection (400plus) and am now trying to figure out a decent CD player to add to my bedroom system and possibly down the road another for my main rig. 

My bedroom setup is tube based. Rogue RP1 pre, Rogue ST-80 amp, Vandersteen 3Asig speakers. And one of those cheap Schiit Dacs.

I think I'd rather go CD player vs transport at this time. And would like to spend around $500 (either new or used works for me).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cheers,

Sammy

 

 

sammyshaps

Showing 4 responses by noske

noske
783 posts
 

Whatever you get (I recommend new coz of the mechanical nature of aspects of CD players) just be sure it has digital out should you wish to experiment plugging into your DAC.

Be careful dismissing your Schiit DAC as "cheap".  Both the Modi and Modius do the job they were designed to do very well.

noske
783 posts
 

@moonwatcher I’m happy to get the Denon and be done with it, hopefully for the rest of my life.

Something else in this context - any issue with CD players is likely to be mechanical rather than electrical.  So, wise up on exactly what your laser transport is and buy a replacement or two now and stick them in a drawer somewhere for that day.   I did for my 15 year old CDP,  Horrified me that they cost about $10 each!! - the whole mechanism, which can be easily replaced by an honest techie, not just the laser bit.

noske
783 posts
 

@moonwatcher Note that it does play CDs gaplessly. Unfortunately, many late model CD players don’t,

That’s interesting. What are some examples of the many late model CD players which don’t have gapless playback? I’ve ever only experienced CD players with (normal) precise gapless playback.

edit I see an earlier comment where the Emotiva player is non gapless.  So, that's one.  This is all news to me.

noske
783 posts
 

Thanks @moonwatcher . Geez, I didn’t realise even one little bit that could be the situation. I wonder if many people get caught out? And not just esoteric - you mention Yamaha!.

DACs are perhaps off topic, but I understand that as far as R2R DACs go, the Ares is very good; you need to spend substantially more to get anything even slightly "better" (I don’t like that word in the context of DACs) in the R2R family.

Its probably quite wise to pass on a dedicated transport should the Denon prove to be a robust spinner. I’d need to do a properly conducted blind test and be satisfied beyond any doubt about any claimed subjective superlatives before I chuck out my CD player which I use as a transport.

Good thoughts about what lies ahead regarding CD spinner technology.  Weren't CDs meant to be a dead form of media years ago?  My small prediction - there will always be a demand for CD spinners, whatever they may be called.  I reserve my right to update this prediction every decade.

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