The best CD Player for the money

Hello all, I have for side by side comparison the following players:

Integra Research RDV-1
YBA CD-2
Cambridge 851c
Marantz's First CD player the CD-1
Denon 3930Ci

These players were compared using the same power amp and interconnect cables, and no tone controls. (the Krell doesn't have them)

Krell KAV-400xi
Magneplannar 3.5r
Audio Quest xlr's and Audio Quest Sidewinder RCA
PS Audio speaker cables

Hands down, the Integra Research sounds the best, the 851c second, and the YBA a very close third. Mind you this is in my system. A Very minimalistic set up- which is what I prefer.

The Denon and Marantz, not even in the same league. All be it the old Marantz (it's nearly 30 years old- and still works perfect), was still pretty darn good, the Denon is just dry- way to analytical for my taste- it's simply a movie machine.

Oddly, there are so many claims to fame for the Cambridge player I just had to have one, thinking that It would out perform My Integra player, nope, the Integra is really that good. As the Integra was 4500.00 new and the Cambridge was 1900.00 new, well just goes to prove new is not necessarily better.

On the up side, the Cambridge closely matches my Krell in color and lay out, and has every digital input/output there is that any user could want. It is close to the Integra in sound quality, but is it better- I don't think so.

As for the YBA, they were very, very close. Depending upon your preference the YBA was warmer, a tad less analytical then the Cambridge. However, that being said, the Cambridge had a more realistic sound, but sometimes a tad harsh in the upper end. But the YBA is very limited to just CD play back, the Cambridge is not.

The Integra remains my reference player, and the Cambridge is now my DAC/Digital side kick. I have sold the YBA, and the Denon. I will never sell the Marantz- It was my first cd player.

For me, newer bit rates and fancy processing doesn't equate to better sound quality- after all the DAC's in the Integra were the best of the best in their time- perhaps they still are.

Ironically after a brutal divorce I am left with the cd player I wrote about 10 years ago, the Music Hall MMF25 1st edition. I hold out some hope that my ex who never uses my old gear (except a secondary one rarely). For now I have some very good headphones my custom HP amp and the MMF 25.

Mechans,
I have seen this before on the forums, and I don't understand why the ex-wife would end up with the equipment if she has no interest in it and doesn't use it

Foxy, you obviously are one of the lucky one's who hasn't gone through a bad divorce.

That's true Baranyi, I haven't, and that's why I'm asking. I understand that there is a division of property, but again, why would she want his system if she doesn't want to use it?

Sheer meanness !
Other than the death of a child, there is not much worse than a divorce "good" or bad.

What do you folks think of the TEAC reference series, say the PD-H01 which can be had for about $340 new with shipping from Japan?

@Soundbit, For small change, I would look around for a 2nd hand JVC XL-Z1050. That has a nice transport & K2 processing. A really nice spinner for the money.

I have a Creek Evolution 50 CD player and it is smooth, images well and does everything well. I had a $4500 AVM CD player and the Creek at $1600 is better... much better. The AVM was ruthlessly revealing and made many CD's (of great music) un-listenable --- and on the Creek those same CD's sound good. The Creek pleasantly rounds off and takes the edginess and digititus off most redbook cd's and leaves a warm engaging sound to enjoy. Is it colored? Yes. That is a good thing when older redbook CD's are your staple. Many of the best reviewed CD players and DACs are too revealing, too anayltical and when you listen to redbook cd's often sound harsh. Such players --- uncolored as they are -- sound great with audiophile disks but put on a 60's RVG Jazz CD and your ears will bleed. So a warm, lush, and yes colored CD player is nice. At its price point, the Creek is rather amazing.

Good to to see the Vincent CD-S7Dac mentioned. It is an outstanding player for the money. However, for not much more the Vincent CD-S8 is a significant step up. It comes very close to my Unison Research Unico CDE with optional Dac which reproduces the soul and emotion of music better than any CD player I've heard.

I will explain - They leave you but have the kids who need a home. They get the house then make sure you can never get back in by taking out BS restraining orde because they feel threatened. Then they become the arbiter of what actually gets given back to you. She was told the audio is his. She never gave back any of the good gear. I told my lawyer and she (the lawyer) says you have to sue her to get it and even if it's valuable the cost of the suit will exceed the value of the gear.
I often think I should write to the judge and have him order her to do it. That seems my only hope. I still owe my lawyer 10s of thousands and they are finished with the case as they se it.
For now I feel like I am the one who really got hurt. Where is my protection?

Hi initforthemusic, I put a $5,000,00 Taralabs Cobalt on the Vincent cds7 player with the furutech Rhodium outlet on the wall, talking about completely changing the sound of the player to sounding many times the cost, huge performance increase, I was stunned!, incredible.

Hi Audiolabyrinth,

Wow! $5,000 for interconnects, I couldn't fathom spending that on interconnects. I'm using using balanced cables now and noticing a big improvement. Using Furutech Power Cables, they are the best affordable cables I've used.

If you can pick up a CD-S8, at a good price, as I did, you will be even more stunned.

If one can afford to put $5K interconnects, power cords, etc...on a device that is worth half that amount (BTW I love the Vincent CD-s7; it's one hell of a piece), it may be time to consider the value of the player that is being connected. Personally I've seen big advances to just such things but you hit a point of diminishing returns where spending 1/2 on the cables and more on the component itself will yield more dividends...

The TARA Cobalt is a power cord, the Interconnects are Tara zero gold running directly to a highly modified krell 700cx amplifier, speaker cable's are Taralabs omega gold, jumper cable's for Bi-Wireing Tara special order omega 10", which is on a modified pair of jbl L7 speaker's that do 30htz to 27khz.

Sounds like one hell of a setup....a friend of mine has modified JBLs with his ribbon and interconnect technology inserted in place of the OEM innards and the results are amazing!