I agree with @ghdprentice , my decent CD player (Sony 5400ES) doesn’t compare with streaming Quboz from my Aurender N200 and Schiit Yggdrasil. I never play CD’s anymore. The sound quality is better than from my turntable as well. Here’s another old guy that enjoys streaming immensely!
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Gotta have a streamer in your stable. I do like having a cd player. Number one reason is you can fire it up within seconds and be listening to a cd you already have in there and get on to whatever you were doing. SACD the better but you do not have to be listening to the best sound possible at all times. Music is enjoyable in any format. Two, it’s physical and the art work can be pleasing to the eyes which even holds more true with vinyl. I’m 90% streaming |
I bought my Crown International in 1980. I used it for 45 years. The model was Pl-1 power amp, and SL-1 preamp. I was impressed the pre-amp had a separate gain adjustable phono amp. I retired it 4 years ago. I now stream and burn cds on an Innuos Mini Mk III. At that time I was looking for a replacement for the Crown equipment. I compared side by side with a new Shiit Vidar power amp and Freya preamp. They sounded great, However, the 50WPC Crown ran all over Vidar for power. The Vidar was rated at 100wpc. I laughed in amazement because that was not supposed to happen. Phasing was checked. I have 8ohm tower speakers, 89spl, not load heavy. The PL1, SL1 matched pair out performed gear I did not think it would be in the same league with. The Crown was fast, silent, detailed. It slammed harder on low drums, kicks bass and much better control over the sound. It just sounded more real, better. If the Crown gear was new, I think it would have really outpaced the Shiit gear. I also compared it to the all in one blue sound gear. The crown slaughtered it , no contest. The switches were worn out on the preamp causing noise. I figured I got more than my moneys worth out of it. I ended up with a Primaluna, which out paced the Crown by quite a margin in all areas at 1/3 the power. My opinion is there is much old equipment from Crown, Mac, phase linear, Carver, Sansui, and high end that will still impress. They will not sound as good as they were new, due to capacitor drift, component wear, but might still be great. The biggest concern is always power supply, driver, PA sections of the power amp that handles more power. Electrolytic capacitors can change value over time, leak, get noisy under load. Best to have them checked. |
if you can’t listen to this.....without wanting to turn if up..... "I’ve got the Key...." ;) Finally Friday, although not the Beginning it once was....;) Too physically old for the meat I move about in.....had enough ennui for another lifetime to be an annoyance in.....*L*
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@pcrhkr , I'd considered that Crown pair a bit too long ago vs. the Kenwood 07 bits I went with.... |
A couple of thoughts from someone who is still involved in servicing vintage audio gear: We’ve only experienced 2 instances where items have, literally, burst into flames on the test bench. This seemed to align with the 50-year mark on electronics. I recall the moment after hitting the "send" button on my computer to let a customer know his Vietnam-era reel-to-reel was ready for pickup, and was then "distracted" by flames (and smoke) coming from the transformer. This was after MANY hours of diagnostics, parts replacement(s), testing -- and listening. The term "burn in" took on additional meaning that day. As for aging CD players, I have formed a little analogy. It’s a "perfect storm" of read errors when the laser weakens and "slop" develops in the mechanism. Imagine an old guy trying to hit that little bullseye in a urinal with weakened stream that he can’t hold as steady as he used to. That’s the case of old CD player laser pickups. On the other hand, we’ve had 60+ year old speakers in the shop that were still fairly competent electro-mechanical acoustic transducers. Then there’s the issue(s) of out of warranty service support. It’s not uncommon to see items costing several thousands dollars "orphaned" by the manufacture with no service strategy in place whatsoever to take care of them if/when they break. At a tender 10-year mark they are directed to the recycle center -- or become what we refer to as a "science project" where the hours invested to get them up an running does not align with a fiscally-responsible plan of action. All that being said, we are still stunned at times at just how much music can come out of those old boxes when "newer thinking" is applied and/or parts are upgraded (or bypassed altogether) that make them sound worse. And ... there is something quite therapeutic about handing (and releasing) physical media. |
I don't often post but as a repair guy who tries to work on many things I own, I have noticed a few trends. CD/Optical drives in general probably have aged the least well. The laser diodes get weak and out of spec it seems. I also have a lot of tape decks that also need maintenance but many of those parts can still be sourced. I probably have at least 30 different CD/DVD/SACD players. Usually the lasers wear out and are difficult to find. You used to be able to buy them until all the stock dried up. For example, of the many I have, one is a Denon DCD-3560. It has a new laser in it. I also bought a spare 3560 NOS laser for a lot of money to have on hand just in case. I also have the very first CD player, a pair Sony CDP-101 players still working after 40 years. My Pioneer Elite players are still working as well. I went ahead and bought an Oppo BDP-105D too. I have so many optical players, I will likely never be without one. I listen to several analog and digital formats. I feel I am covered having so many players, a DAC+my own file server content and-or streamers.
I would say if anyone plans on buying an old used CD/SACD/DVD player, see if laser heads are still available and buy 1 or 2 spares with your choice player. |
I had a Marantz SA7 S1 SACD/CD player that was excellent... until the mechanical drive quit. Nobody wanted to fix it... not sure any parts were available. The new version of the Marantz SA10 series was about $14K as I recall. Just too expensive as I stream Qobuz and Tidal with Roon using a dCS Bartok. But, how to play my SACD collection? I decided on a new Marantz 30N. It will play my CDs as a turntable outputting to the Bartok by 75 Ohm cable. With the Bartok as a DAC I have excellent sound. But of course, no SACD output. But SACD digital conversion is much easier and less complicated process than PCM. And the Japanese folks put good SACD DACs in their stuff so I just let the Marantz do the work for those disks with excellent sounding results into my analog preamp. A reasonable compromise to money and sound but not much of one, if any, to sound quality. |