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Sell quality turntable to buy top CD player?

NOTE: A THREAD LIKE THIS CAN OFTEN TURN SOME MEMBERS'S RESPONSES Nasty.... HERE IS THE ISSUE:

I HAVE APPROX 55 LP'S. ON AVERAGE THEY ARE IN FAIR TO GOOD CONDITION. I HAVE ALREADY REPLACED A FEW WITH REMASTERED CD'S There are several LP's that date from 1974-85.Some are getting to be noisy with loud pops. In addition I probably only play 20 of my favorites of the 55LP's

My CD collection is nearly three times the size of the LP's. Therefore, I want to make a major CD player upgrade. I am looking at used CD players and have considered, Ayon,( Saturn "R", Esoteric, Naim, Ayre, Krell

I calculate I can sell my TT and cartridge and upgraded power supply for $1100. I would also sell my Rega Apollo for $450-$500. So my slush fund would be $1600.00 and I would kick in another $1000-1100 to buy a used player for approx. $2700 that retailed new for $4500-$5000.

Previously, I have considered the Cambridge Audio 840C and the 851C, and the Sony XA5400ES. Some members have said, these player, may only provide small improvements in the sound quality of standard "redbook" CD's

My integrated amp does have a very good phono stage should I decide to keep 15 of favorite LP's and buy a Project Debut Carbon T/T with cart much later.

"Useful" advice and comments welcome!!!
sunnyjim

Showing 4 responses by lewm

lewm
13,490 posts
 
The limitation of outboard stand alone DACs to decode SACD is based only on the fact that Sony refused to license products that output DSD from the transport. I think that in recent months or years, there is a crack in that restriction so that now some transports can output DSD or DSD converted to another decoding stream (PWM?), so that some DACs can now handle SACD.

Anyway, the hi-rez audio available via download and then fed to a DAC with hi-rez capability will challenge the fidelity of SACD, somewhat diluting Sony's attempt at monopoly. I think Sony's reluctance to encourage the spread of SACD technology to other companies was a marketing disaster for them and backfired, like Betamax, another superior technology that died because Sony was greedy.
lewm
13,490 posts
 
For goodness sakes, buy more LPs!
Oppo BDP105 or Sony XA5400ES would give a lot of bang for the buck for well less than $2700 (in fact, much less than half that amount) and allow for phono and more LPs. Neither of those players "needs" any modification to make you happy.
lewm
13,490 posts
 
Sunnyjim, If you never intend to buy another LP, then scrap your vinyl set-up or keep a minimal one for playing your small collection. If you ever leave Hawaii for a vacation on the West Coast, you ought to be able to haul back a few LPs from a high quality re-saler in SF or LA. Just a thought.

You mentioned the Ayre cdp. I own a C5XeMP. All Ayre gear that I know of is said to sound best via balanced inputs and outputs, not via "unbalanced". Perhaps that was a typo, as I don't believe your Rogue gear offers balanced inputs in any case. But that issue is no reason to avoid Ayre products. They're excellent, but so are the Sony XA5400ES and the Oppo BDP105 (or the even cheaper BDP83 SE, on the used market), for less money.
lewm
13,490 posts
 
Dear Brownsfan,
I beg to differ with you, strongly. Back in 1983, all digital sucked. If you know my posts at all, you know I do not usually express my opinions so strongly, but on this subject, I feel confident. I remember being at a party at the home of my closest audiophile friend. He had taken the plunge on the then latest and greatest Meridian cd player. It sounded sooo bad, so unlike real music, that I begged him to play vinyl. (He owned 6000 LPs, so why not?) I myself did not buy any cd player until the late 90s, and I still use digital for background music mostly, although the quality is immensely better now than at any time in the past. Back in 1983, you could have had a great vinyl system (phono stage, turntable, tonearm, cartridge) for under $1500, and by now you would have had an extensive LP collection. IMO, you missed the boat. I do agree that at this point in time, if one has no vinyl collection, what to do is a toss-up.

Can't wait to see what Johnny Manzell does in the NFL.
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