I AM IN THE PROCESS OF BUYING A CD PLAYER AND I DONT KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO.WITH SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM I WANT TO PURCHASE SOMETHING GOOD BUT I DONT WANT TO SPEND 10,000 EITHER.
Chriskeating, I auditioned a Wadia. I also read a review of the Shigaraki. The two sound like they are similar in their high frequency comb philosophy. I'll pass.
I am also looking to buy a new cd player.My budget is approx.$2500Cdn. Among the ones I'm considering are Musical Fidelity 3.2,Linn Genki,and perhaps the Naim 3.5. My system consists of the following. Linn LP 12 Anniversry Table with vallaha,Akito arm& Troika cartridge,Classe Ten amp,Classe Four pre-amp,Castle Howard speakers,biwired with Linn K400 cable,Arcam Alpha 6 cd player Nakamichi LX5 tape deck. every thing is wired with Transparent Audio Super interconnects.Most of the power cords are Wireworld Stratus. I prefer to listen to rock and roll , blues and stuff like the Flying Burrito Bros. I'd appreciate any and all opinions. Thanks
Muralman, The Wadia stuff and 47Labs gear couldn't sound more different. You should take a listen if you ever have the opportunity. I sold my Levinson 390S to buy the 47Labs stuff.
Well, it may be a bit older, but I think it sounds DAMN good for the money. Especially since it can be bought used for under $400. Pioneer Elite PD-65. Hell, many audio stores had em in their listening rooms for a reference player...I have one and I think it sounds great!
Genki or naim 3.5 I have auditioned both Cdps. Genki is sneaky good and I believe includes Linn interconnects. Great value! Naim is a very bold player. I own a genki and the Naim CDX.
Uhhh....the guy started this thread like 2 1/2 yrs ago. Ya reckon he's still shopping??? If so how bout the Sherwood Newcastle CD980? You can get it for around $150 - $200 used...dual Burr Browns, variable output......ooops! Wrong website! Sorry folks....I thought I was on cheaphometheater.com. Didn't mean to offend anybody! Great cd player though!
QUOTE: PS: and just maybe after 2 1/2 years, the original poster is ready for a new player... hey. QUOTE
Yeah...well I guess he's got plenty of suggestions to choose from by now, eh? :P
Come on Jazze22....give it up, bro! Waddja get? You don't start a thread like this and then keep everyone in suspense for 2 and a half years.....sheesh!
I considered the AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 but when I came across the Anthem CD1 on Audiogon and having read a good number of excellent reviews along with the six-disc capability plus its solid build (25 lbs), there was no doubt I would go for the CD1. At some point, I will get the outboard upscampler and swap its tube for a better one.
My personal opinion is you can't beat the Linn IKEMI for the money; this CD is ridiculously priced for the value and compares with top high-end equipment from most prestigious brands without a flinch when it comes to hearing the music, balance and livelihood. Try it with a good cable like the Cardas GC Reference and listen!!!
That Parasound CDP-2000 Ultra with its CEC transport and great DAC was the best deal "used" of course,,,for about 600 bucks...and HDCD, if you care about that.
Agreed, but a thread asking a question about "whats the best cd player" I just find kinda useless. Most of the threads are going to give very limited opinions(people are going to recommend what they have, and may do so without acutally having alot of experience with multiple components in the same class, under the same conditions with the same gear,same room condition etc etc, get the drift??).
The real question should have been "whats a good range of cd players for X amount of money, and can you honestly decribe their potential sonic characteristics"? Since there are MANY great players, all with their own positives and negatives. Ive had about 2 dozen great source units over the last few years and have found all to have benefits and downfalls to one extent or another. Ive found that some lower cost source units may not sound as good as more expenisve units out of the box, but with a few small tweaks and mods had performance that would be substantially improved where it rivals units costing more. All part of the hobby etc. But if you kind of agree with Im stating then you understand where Im coming from.
The question was, long ago, what player is best for the money, so, obviously, the original poster wanted recommendations as to the player with the best price/performance ratio. It seems that it goes without saying that all a person can get from discussions such as these is a biased, non-professional, purely subjective opinion, but wait, come to think of it that's exactly what people get from TAS et al...
Ritteri, I'm curious. What great souce components have you had in your system? What lower cost units work well w/ some tweaking and what higher cost units would you recommend?
I'm considering a CDP upgrade from an inexpensive Denon changer, and someone w/ mulitple unit experience I'd be interested in hearing some opinions from. Don't leave us hanging!
I think there are alot of great CD players, and I mean dozens and dozens of them. Adcom,Arcam,CAL,Wadia,BAT,Meridian,Lynn etc etc. I have heard multiple units from alot of the listed companies and countless more. I personally love the Adcom GCD 750 for right around $1000. There are alot of small tweaks that can be done too to greatly improve this CD player. In fact I think the Adcom GCD and GFP 750 preamp makes a great front end combo, especially using the XLR input/outputs. You get true hi-fi products for minimal money invested.
This thread which started 3years ago shows evolving flavour of the season changes in best bang cd playback units.Would be interesting to keep it going to see what future trends crop up.I believe one trend is SACD camp sees they must make sacd playback a standard inclusion on all players for that format to survive in hopes that eventually all owners of such units will want to give the higher rez media a spin. I imagine DVD-A will be standard as well.Much like most HT receivers have all decoding schemes on board.Makers are covering thier respective bets.
Have to agree with Ritten, my Wadia 301 is the best money I spent on hi-fi gear. Through the whole musical scale, it's superb. Have to say, but, works better with a preamp. Directly into an amp, you lose some weight in the music. Go for balanced option to hear it at its best.
Markone: If you want to see the true potential of the 301, spend an extra $1600 through GNSC. Its performance will surpass a standard Wadia 861se. They perform alot of critical damping, rip out alot of unecessary circuits which actually degrade performance and add some critical components to maximise the design which is alot better than its $3650 price tag shows.
I heard that the person jazze has changed his name and still is a member.I know he is from New York because I bought something from him a while back.Anyway I just thought that you may want to know this.
I tried to upgrade and switching CDP at the sub $2000 price range from Rega Planet, Jupiter, Alchemist, MArantz CD-12 mod, Rotel 981, Audio Analog but they all have a something good and something bad which make you feel like to upgrade when you owned them for a few months.... so I decide to move up the ladder to the $3000 or over CDP. Here I tried the Krell 300cd (the newer silver version), Wadia 301, Metronome CD-2V Signature but I settled with the NuVista. It is just so much more musical than the Wadia 301. The Wadia is my second favourite but once you have it compared side by side, all my three friends (have diff taste) agreed the NuVista should make music and better pace. Hard to tell in words, it is not faster or slower, but the pace is better and more like a Master playing live music and the Wadia is like the student playing the music...... For just about $3000 you can a used NuVista at a significant saving these days -- a MUST TRY!!! The NuVista is a very very heavy CDP and very well-built at this price.
I'm going to have to throw another curve. The best cd player FOR THE MONEY is the incredibly low priced Liteon 2001 ($153). It also happens to be the best for the money DVD, DVDA, DVDR, DVD anything, MP3, MP4 player.
Mural: Ill agree here. Ive got a computer drive that has a nice signal output, going into a great pair of headphones with a good quality headphone amp is an enjoyment to say the least.
Take any CD or DVD as transport. Add a Monarchy Audio DIP upsampler + DH Labs D-75 coaxial cables and any good external 24/96 DAC and you'll have outstanding Digital front end for few bucks.
Since mine doesn't do it, I wouldn't recommend putting money into your. You can buy a LiteOn Lvd 2002 for $120 on the web that will sound as good if not better.
A lot of good responses but you should deffinatly look at the Ah! Noje Tjoeb. look around on the internet is is about as highly acclaimed as it gets. It isa modified Marantz cdp with a tube output stage for that sweet warm tube sound. it is an amazing cdp so long as you dont mind the crap build quality of the basic marantz cdp. but come on that is like sacrificing looks for sound. it is about $700 new and about $500 used with all the mods. it is amazing
Definitely check out Decware's modified Sony DVP-685. There are no opamps or electrolytics in the signal path, no negative feedback and a class A SET tube output with it's own power supply. Price is under $700. Lots of info on the site describing mods and a couple of reviews on their forum, including mine. It's worth a look, I love mine and I don't believe there is another tubed SACD/cd/dvd/mp3 player on the market at that price.
By far the best FOR THE MONEY is the Technics DVD A10. It was a former 900-1000 dollar player and sounds incredible.I found one cheap on ebay.It is built like a tank and is very smooth and relaxed sounding. No way you can beat this player for the money. 20lbs!
Having recently picked up a used Arcam FMJ CD23T, I must say that even at its new price, it is an impressive piece of gear. On the used market, it a bargain, for sure. The mechanism is the smoothest I have seen, the chassis is very well dampended, and the sound is very detailed and musical.
I've just purchased a Mark Levinson 390S and am absolutely blown away by the change in sound from my previous cd player, the venerable Sony XA7ES. The Sony player is wonderful but the 390S makes beautiful music. I can't stop smiling putting in disc after disc.
Sony SCD-777ES. Compared to Teac DV-50 in the same system, Teac beats the Sony by a small margin. The margin is so small I don't think anyone can justify the price difference. You can upgrade the power cord and interconnect to achieve near DV-50 quality for far less money. And rumor has it modded 777ES is not that much better than stock form.
Hi, just a quick update. In May of last year I asked for opinions on what cd player to buy. I found the advice to be both valuable and entertaining. I auditioned a Linn Genki, Musical Fidelity 3.2 and the Arcam Cd 92. The Linn was the best followed by the Arcam. I was surprised by the Musical Fidelity. It sounded "soft" as though everything was in pudding compared to the other two. I wound up buying the Arcam. I got a great deal buying the stores demo player. All things being equal I would have bought the Linn but with the discount the Arcam moved to the head of the class. So far I have no complaints. Lastly my apologies for not being courteous enough to thank everyone in a timely manner. dave.
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