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New Midrange vs. Older High-End CD Transports

A have a Denon 2900 Univeral player that I had been using as a CD transport, but decided to purchase an older Krell MD-20 since I thought it would have better sound. I had been listening merrily along, when I came along a CD that had a lot of tracking errors on the Krell. I checked the CD on the Denon, and it played flawlessly. I then decided to do a serious listening comparison between the two (both using the same DA converter), and realized I could not hear any difference, which surprised me, given the much more expensive (even at today’s prices) Krell.

What are the opinions of older high-end CD transports vs. newer less expensive ones? I am amazed at how much better the newer Denon tracks problematic CD’s, but as mentioned was surprised at the lack of sonic difference.
smeyers
9 responses Add your response
jsala
99 posts
 
Not sure re dedicated transports, but my old Cary 303 cd player was a better transport than the newer Pioneer DV47Ai and Marantz 9500. The newer players probably have better DSP chips and in some cases memory buffers which help reduce jitter, but its up to the implementation to make effective use of these advantages.
jay_douglas_2879b79
239 posts
 
i sound like a broken record, but the cd transport/dac or player is essentially the same as its always been. the cd however has been dramatically improved through a learning curve in recording, mixing, mastering, and manufacturing for this media. lots of first generation players sound as good as current models. the differences are there in hardware, but nothing as big as the hi end community would have you believe. i've been in the music and video industry for almost as long as i've been into hi fi, and i've had to face the fact that the hi end marketplace never letd the truth get in the way of a good story.
bigkidz
3,387 posts
 
I tried six different transports a while back and found that the digital cable was the biggest improvement over the transports. What cable are you using?
hklai
14 posts
 
If Krell got a lot of tracking problems, you should probably look elsewhere.

Since Denon 2900 is a universal player, most manufacturing cost is actually spent on DAC and different decoders, rather than optic and reader. I don't think it is a good idea to use it as a pure CD transport.

I have some experienced with several good old CD players (Revox, Studer, Naim, ARC). All of them sound better than the new midrange players. I recently replaced my Marantz 8260 (stereophile class A) by a 10 years old ARC CD1. The improvement is huge and substantial. Even the CD layer sounds more smooth than the SACD layer on 8260....
gs5556
1,235 posts
 
Without knowing the equipment you're playing it through, the lack of sonic difference can be attributed to the preamp, amp and/or speakers. It's the synergy thing. From my experiences, the sonic difference of a big ticket component is not as spectacular as the price tag would suggest unless the associated equipment is of equal pedigree. If you slap a set of $2,000 Pirelli's on a Yugo, you can't appreciate what they're capable of as you would if you put them on a Ferrari - just making a point; not a jab at yours or anyone's system ;)

BTW, the Krell unit's age may be showing. The laser sounds like it's out of adjustment.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Damn you! I really like my Yugo subwoofer, heheh.
elberoth2's avatar
elberoth2
1,223 posts
 
For whatever reason, all DVD based players
track better than any CD player I have tried over the years. I have a special CD to check tracking errors, and the best CD player I have tried was able to read a data drop out up to 1,5mm. My cheap Yamaha DVD plays up to 3mm of drop out without any problem. But it sounds nowhere near as good through its digital out.
benie
147 posts
 
I use an early 90s sony CDP X55ES. The build quailty is very good it has 2 transformers a copper caseing + weights in at 33lbs but the clock + dac in it are old so I run it into a Monarehy DIP ( anti jitter box ) which reclocks it and sends it to an custom made ( TDK 1543) nonsampling Dac. It has out performed any Mid range many high range that I have tried.
dvavc
81 posts
 
I'm using Krell transport for 12yars now and never had problem with tracking, don't even know what are you talking about. While I agree that price tag for older Krell was a joke, i.e. my KPS 20t was about $7000, but at least it tracks and sounds much better then Philips 963-a, that's for sure. I agree with Gs5556, that if the rest of your system is not revealing enough, you might not hear much difference.
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