considering all of the responses and all of the suggestions, it seems the question posed has no definitive answer.
why not set a price limit and just listen ? make sure you have some criterion as to the sound you seek. |
No question in my mind. After much research and home trials the new Cambridge Audio 851C is truely amazing. It out performed CD players at more than twice it's cost, and quite handedly I might add. Unbelievable value for the money. |
I would vote for the Ayon cd2s as best player for the money,at the price point the 2s is at,there are very few that betters the sound of this player,if you cannot get one new,get one used,built very well!,you can throw this player and it will not fall to pieces,it has many perks that you find in more exspensive players!,Happy listening! |
Onkyo DX-7555. No longer in production, but if you can find one, grab it. |
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Jazz left the building over a decade ago. |
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Hi jazz22..!..go for the AYON cd5...!!!! |
Oppo 105, will take a lot to beat this. Can use as a DAC with asynchronous usb connection, connects effortlessly with NAS storage via network, or hard drive directly connected, plays most formats DVD-a, SACD, blue ray. Have just received mine, and it is sonically the same as the 95. Best bang for buck would be a second hand 95, just lacks some of the connectivity options. No fan on the 105, but can't say I ever heard the fan on my 95 from the listening position, Had to put my ear right up to the unit to hear the fan. I think this is a no brainer!! but then that's just MHO. |
Anyone hears of an ADS CD3, I have one . It was built in the 70's . It was built like a tank weighs, about 30 pounds . I have no Idea how it measures up in todays world. |
Anyone hears of an ADS CD3, I have one . It was built in the 70's . It was built like a tank weighs, about 30 pounds . I have no Idea how it measures up in todays world. |
ADS CD3:
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-12-13/features/8502260849_1_deluxe-players-error-correction-digital-systems |
Anyone heard of an ADS CD3. Its heavy and built like a tank |
Hello,
If you would ask me, I would tell you that I had a Wadia 861b CD player. This is a well known and respected player.
After I ripped some CD's to my laptop and connected that to a nice DAC and connected that to my set.. I never even compared or listened to my Wadia anymore. I sold is 2 weeks, for not too much money.
Now I made an open source cics Memory Player, rip my CD's with EAC,and play them with Cplay or Foobar.
The result is so much more details I never heard (and I have a more than decent set up), and so much more music, that I would not advise on any CD player (though I must admit that I did not hear many), but go PC.
Cheaper and probably much better.
And on top of this great sound, there are plenty improvement possible, with help of their enormous forum.
They got best audiophile equipment of the year 2008, by enjoy the music.com. No idea of that is of any value, but still.. |
Concur. It is tough to beat out those Arcam FMJ cd players. |
Best single box CD player for the money that I've auditioned is an Arcam CD23 FMJ. It uses the dCS ring dac and sounds spectacular.
Only reason I sold mine, was I bought an external dac, so no need for a fancy CD player, just needed a basic transport with SPDIF output. |
I have been building High Fidelity systems for 35 years. I searched diligently for primarily a transport but found a very cost effective CD player. I use an outboard DAC / Jitterbug combo. I have to say however, the built DAC using the Advanced Analog Devices AD1955 DACs with 384X oversampling filter. Is an interesting change from my piggybacked(80bit) (4) stacked 2x2 PCM63P-K 20bit Burr-brown ladder DAC chips.
The CD I speak of is the Emotiva ERC-2 listing @ 449.00 includes a five year warranty.
I cannot fault this unit as either a Fine (although slot load) transport or a full CD player. They offer a 30 trial and truly no hassle return policy. Have one sent, I don't think you will send it back. I did not.
Steve |
The Oppo 103 comes out pretty soon, I suspect a modded 103 will be the cat's meow. In fact that's the plan. |
Metralla, the Oppo BDP-105 may be the ticket. I suspect it will look and sound a lot like the 95, but it can also be used as a stand-alone DAC and has a lot better input connectivity options. (I never could figure out how to use the eSATA input in the 95).
BTW, in my installation, the fan has never come on.....fan noise has not been an issue for me. On the other hand, my DaySequerra MultiMerge 1 fan runs all the time and it's one of those hyperactive 1" diameter jobs. I am going to run a felt lined drain hose to the back of the little pecker, and out the rear of the equipment cabinet into another room. |
Marantz SA8004. $999 list, available bundled with matching integrated amp PM8004 at a discount (and that amp is another giant killer). SA8004 does CD and SACD. It also has Toslink, co-ax, and USB inputs to make use of its excellent upconverting DAC. The noise floor on this unit is subterranean and the sound that comes out is very resolving, smooth, dynamic, and musically involving. And I say this as a vinyl junkie.
An Absolute Sound Jan 2012 digital product of the year, and rightly so. |
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in spite of all of the posts regarding the best cd for the money, the question has no definitive answer, because the criterion set for evaluating sound varies among listeners.
there are many posts like this, with different components as subjects.
instead of eliciting a response to a question like this, listen and do research for yourself.
if i may make an analogy , asking for the best component for the money is like asking for the best wife, subject to some personal consideration. |
Mt apologies to Audiogon28221 for making a statement without adding to the discussion as to why.
Though digital playback is not perfect, I feel there are many manufacturers that put great effort in making CDP's that are very good in reproducing music.
There are many aftermarket modders that take CDP's to an even closer reproduction.
Synergy with the rest of the system is a very important ingredient.
Not all CDP's are created equal, but I have heard some that are very accurate and also sound very good. |
Very nice - and it will sound better over time. Significantly so, in my experience.
Regards, |
I must confess... as little as I care to invest in the "perfect sound forever" I now own, and yes, enjoy the Sony SCD-XA5400ES | ES Series SACD Player. Nice job Sony.
Happy Listener! |
If one is thinking about buying the oppo 95 new, one should consider waiting for the new 105. They have revised the architecture and have gotten rid of the fan - the fan was a problem for some listeners.
Regards, |
Oppo BDP-95. Outstanding performance for less than $ 1000.00 |
Kiwi,
A friend of mine has the excellent sounding Modwright OPPO-95 CD/SACD player.His system is VAC preamp,Phi 300,1 monos and Siltech cables. Lately we`ve been compararing a number of same recordings(jazz) in Cd vs SACD format.Many of the AAD or ADD redbook do sound better in the sense of more natural and realistic.A few SACDs were better but most just seem more 'hifi' in presentation.I agree with your impressions.
Regards, |
I'm with Milpai, that was an interesting first post from Audiogon28221 and I find myself in agreement with some points. It is possible to get great sound from a $150 CD player, assuming of course the rest of the system is in order and there are some simply awesome 90's AAD recordings out there. Yes, they may not be as quiet as DDD recordings, nor have quite the same dynamic range as an SACD - but they seem to make up for it in body, life and vitality. |
Looks like we have a new courtyard jester. Welcome! |
Zman? So what is your take on digiitized music? And do you go for what "sounds good" or accuracy to the producers output? NAIM has to be thei most in inaccurate system adopted by some high end enthusiasts. Look at the specs. There is no way a NAIM product will send the producers cut ho your ears .....NEXT! |
Come on Zman...it is his first post/reply. People do want attention...don't they? |
Audiogon28221.... I disagree with almost everything you've said so far. |
It depends on the media. The old CD's play best on old technology...and the high end expensive players are not discernible...or not accurate!! You can put a Magnavox in a Krell system and get outstanding CD playback. As to media...I am not enthused with SACD. My best CD's are AAD...90's. I know the SACD is frequently AAD but so far I have not gotten a good one. ..at least as it comes through my Sony SCD-C2000ES. I do not trust the high end pseudo engineers to give us a good CD player. I am going to try a Marantz CD-5004 or a Toshiba something. NAIM and Van Alstine and Cary do not appeal to me. My best sound is now coming from off the air tapes I recorded in Bloomington, MN ..pulling KSJN, KTCZ and a classical Northfield station ... late at night. Every time I fire up my Toshiba DX-900 vcr tapes..PCM or Hi-Fi mode...my guest(s) comment "WOW! That is some CD!" (When I sold my Magnepan's the buyer demanded I "..get that awesome demo cd out of there... anything would sound great with that in there.. and put something normal on.." so I bent over completely and punched in the VCR.... then he wanted to buy my tuner!. He called me for three months wanting me to help him select his FM tuner!) Anyway .. of course it was the tape of great music from the radio station's cd player... FM translated by my renowned and obscure tuners from Luxman, Denon, Yamaha, Technics and Pioneer (Magnum-Dynalab and McIntosh never cut it for me. The peak of FM tuners was Japan 1987-88. Look at the specs... THEN listen). I had a cheap Radio Shack antenna in the attic. But then I did live on the highest hill in Hennepin County. What I am saying is...in the days of analog masters and FM station operators with skill and integrity and apparently great pro cd players, and conscientous engineers.. we got GREAT sound. I suspect those days are over...in the face of today's national leadership meltdowns ..... incompetent leaders in business and institutions everywhere. ps Deutsch Grammophone did some great CD's. And whether it is Mozart, Chopin, Ahmad Jamal, David Lanz, Jeff Beck, Los Lobos, Sarah Brightman, Bonnie Rait, Johnny Cash, Ac-DC, David Garrett, EmmyLou Harris, Doc Severinsen, BigHead Todd, Peter Gabriel, Roseanne Cash, Yanni or Enya..to mention a few... the music is where it is at and there is multiple lifetimes of it out there.... Oh man, a KSJN 90's tape is spewing some great classical as I write this.. I am almost tearing up again. It is the music foremost. What is giving me the sound? Since I no longer have the space for my two Magnepan 3.6R.NO SUBWOOFER!!...I am listening to..are you sitting down?..Pinnacle PN5+ with a carefully leveled and slopped ..forgot the name...self powered 15" sub-woofer that rarely is audible. The room is quiet and average size and those Pinnacles are ....incredible...with a little help from my Luxman amp maybe... What does your NPR station use to play music CD's? Maybe you should get one of those.... |
The original post prompting all these replies is nearly 12 years old... Still the question--"What's the best CD player for the money" would appear to be a popular topic for discussion, judging from the answers Audiogoners continue to post more than a decade on. So here's my contribution (having recently replaced my aging digital separates with a new single-box player):
First, a caveat: I have no idea what the "best" player is in the entry-level high-end category (which, for argument's sake let's say is in the $500-$1,200 range.) Nor do I have a better idea of what most much more expensive (say $5,000 and way north of that) players sound like outside of audio showrooms, where they tend to be plugged into six-figure systems.
But for my money (which was under $3,000) the best player I found was the tube-based Prima Luna Classic. It retails for $3k, but their US distributor (Upscale Audio)has some open-box models for $500 less (or did, last time I checked.) I got one of those, along with a set up upgraded NOS tubes (Phillips/Mullard (real ones) and Telefunkens) for just under $3k including shipping, and the sound is heavenly... Deep, tight, bass (awesome, really), beautiful,delicate highs, and a very smooth and detailed mid-range. And the soundstage... Oh, the soundstage! Really good, from top to bottom, for its price. Are there better players? I'm sure there are... but I haven't yet heard one in this price range that beats it. Build quality (at least from what I can tell from the outside) and finsh are also top-notch. Warning: It sounds pretty thin and anemic straight out of the box and needs about 120 hours of on-time to really break in.
As to aesthetics, the look is decidely retro... (think of a piece of lab equipment in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein). Some people love it; others hate it. Loving the look of glowing, glassey tubes, I'm in the former camp, but tastes do vary... Looks aside, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new player in this price category. It's the first player I've had in my system that sounds every bit as good (and in some ways even better) than my twice-as-expensive analogue end.
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Meridian 508.24...after all those years..still the best to my years.. |
jeez, this thread has been here for years...the original guy has probably gone through 2 or 3 players by now. In this day in age, the OPPO 95 represents the strongest bang for the buck. You would have to spend thousands to improve...the law of diminishing returns really kicks with this one! |
Dawgzdad:
I have enjoyed my Saturn for 5 years without any failures. In the early days, listener reports stated that better sonics could be obtained by turning off the display. So, I turned the display off and found myself sometimes jumping the gun on the initialization process, hitting 'play' before the initialization had finished, without knowing it. That caused the program to reset, which seemed like a malfunction. Since I figured out my operator error about 4 years ago, I have had only a handful of startup glitches, most of which were resolved by opening/closing the lid. I do think that one time in these past few years I did need to turn off the unit and then immediately back on to reset the machine. I have experienced no other issues. |
ESOTERIC - period no brainer |
some one talk to me about the high failure rate of these rega saturn and apollos i was about to pull the trigger on a one year old apollo now should i be concerned? |
None.
Try a LINN Akurate DS w/ 24/96 or 24/192 WAV and FLAC - there is not a CD player made on this earth that will compete with it under $15,000. |
I had the Cambridge Audio D500SE for several years. I had to return it for warranty service once, then after the warranty was up it died again.
I then bought a Rotel RCD-1072. |
Hi All,
the brand new "Densen B-475 Superleggera" or the brand new "Metronome Technologie CD8 Tube"; they are both amazing!
Best regards, |
Larry, Marantz made some terrific players back in the 90's, but have very recently started to get back to thier roots & build some serious players again. But Marantz have always represented good value. Cambridge makes me shudder! |
I think it would be hard to practically tell the difference between a server source versus a recent even decent quality CD player through the same DAC in most cases (its hard for me in my rig), but technically the server technology no doubt has the advantage in general over optical read source devices alone. I think you raised an observant point. Servers and the quality/consistency of digital music are still maturing, whilst cd players and cd media are highly evolved (eg: xrcd24,dxd,sacd). So whilst technically high rez downloads & rips have the advantage of buffering music to eliminate read errors, high end cdp's can play a range of audiophile cd's through what are typically better dac sections & connections (eg: neutrix xlr). But there are also a few cdp's which buffer cd's like the Boulder 1021 ;) |
"however the very best server-based systems I have heard coincidentally were connected to some of the best dac's i've heard"
That was probably not a coincidence and a direct result of the DAC.
"What annoys me is audiophiles who claim high rez music and rips which, ok can sound great, anhililate cd's played on high end cdp's with exceptional dacs. That doesn't add up.
"
I think it would be hard to practically tell the difference between a server source versus a recent even decent quality CD player through the same DAC in most cases (its hard for me in my rig), but technically the server technology no doubt has the advantage in general over optical read source devices alone. |
The Marantz cd6004 or Teac PD-H600 for 500 to 700 bucks these are really good cd players. Read reviews on them. Have used a cambridge 740c cd player,nice and all but was a little to much on the foward sounding player after a few hours of listening. |
Overall, I think drive-based storage is still maturing, and yes some high rez downloads can sound excellent (as can ripped music), however the very best server-based systems I have heard coincidentally were connected to some of the best dac's i've heard. What annoys me is audiophiles who claim high rez music and rips which, ok can sound great, anhililate cd's played on high end cdp's with exceptional dacs. That doesn't add up. |
Hi Melbguyl,
I don´t need. I know what I'm talking about.
And with the DC/DC Power supply that I've built...
My god. Pure (Digital) Analogic Music.
I'll tell you the something. Listen to my solution before you say something. And if you want I will send to you the circuit for the Power Supply (batteries, you know?!)
Regards |
Fmnp, I suggest you listen to a Vitus SCD-010, Esoteric K-01 or Boulder 1021 before claiming Flash player music is the new phenomenon! |
