The best CD Player for the money

One of the better combos that has come through here has been the Muse Model 5 Transport, and Muse Model 2 plus DAC and at current used prices this could be within the budget.Plus Muse is in business so service is not an issue. In single chassis players at or near budget is Arcam 73 and 82,Rega Planet, Jupiter, Apollo,Musical Fidelity X-Ray,Creek CD 50 MKII Audio Analogue Paganini, Classe .5 and 1.0 and Theta Miles. There are others, but these I have heard and can recommend.

I'm not sure about sacd so my guess is red book. I just want quality sound to complement my equipment. I would like to keep it simple so I would prefer a player.
Thank you for the info so far...

I have to mention that the highs in my APL 3910 have no grain whatsoever. I would say that they are close to state of the art. I do want to mention here that Oritek Audio's Zhaolu mod(under $400 for the whole enchilada) is a DAC that compares favorably to analog. He also has a cheap transport that he can recommend that works very well with his Zhaolu. The Zhaolu is very popular on Headfi. So, if all you have is $500 of less, I'de recommend it. Ferrari, just because your cd player comes from the land of Ferrari, that doesn't influence your thinking, does it?(Just kidding!). I have found(It's probably common knowledge.) that the interconnect between the transport and DAC sounds the same as that interconnect sounds when used elsewhere.

The Meridian G-08, a player that can be had for about 2400 - 2500 bucks is a phenomenal player. The best? I haven't heard enough players to be able to even remotely venture that it is. But when I put this in my system (modified AVA Fet-Valve amplifer, 250 w/ch), modified Airtight ATC-3 preamp, Audio Physic Avanti/Century speakers, and LAT International cables and silver/copper speaker wire, the soundstage, air, goose bump factor were off the charts. Stunning.

Essential tweaks in my system are enacom line filters and Dakioms.

Just wondered whether anyone thought about how so many cd's actually have hdcd encoding on them even though only one company has a copyright to it. Don't ask me which one I don't know. I have too many cd's that aren't SACD that I am not about to go that route. So which tubed cd player has the capability to do the HDCD and regular cds (many of which aren't labeled as HDCD) well and doesn't cost the price of a car?

If memory serves me correct, I believe the Cary line of CD Players have tube units that also decode HDCD. Quite expensive when new, but usually can be purchased for about half on the resale market.

The best cd players IMO are hands down YBA. I own a YBA CD1 alpha blue laser and have heard some other models as well (CD3 and CD2). As a vinyl fanatic I wanted a player that would give me the emotion of the music in a way that a good analogue setup could. For me YBA was the only answer.

Kentb, did you try Emmlabs and/or Metronome?

Hello Mtkh1567! Unfortunately I haven't heard Emmlabs and/or Metronome. As you know its impossible to hear everything and there comes a time when you have to make a decision. I've heard many cd players over the years from cheap to ultra expensive and can honestly say YBA has been the one that really presents music in an emotional manner to me. Emmlabs and/or Metronome looks very interesting and I would love to hear what they can do. It would be neat to a/b the new YBA Passion 1000 Dual power supply player against Emmlabs and/or Metronome in my system! Hope to hear from you again!

Most musical for the buck goes to the EAD2000, buy it used for around $800! This player has worked well with anything I have hooked it up to...it is not my reference player, but one I would buy again without hesitation...and there is a great aftermarket service network in place to keep it working forever.

The Eastern Electric MiniMax is a lot of player for the money, especially if you have an arsonal of tubes to roll.

Looking for your opinions on my next CD Player.( and possibly last CDP)
In my price range I've narrowed my two choices down to the new Cambridge Audio 840C and the Musical Fidelity 3.5.
I don't have any opportunities to compare them side by side, so it makes the choice even more difficult.

I also plan to sell my Pioneer Elite receiver and get the matching integrated amp that goes with whatever CDP I get.

Any advice ?

Just curious, has anyone heard Alex's(APL Hi-Fi) new DAC?

The new dac is not in product yet. I was told this yesterday.

Just curious, has anyone heard Alex's(APL Hi-Fi) new DAC?

The APL forum/website is now saying (in a post from Brent that is more than a month old) that it'll be mid to late summer. Seems like it has lost some production momentum; don't know why. It's a very interesting design, at a decent audiophile price-point.
Ted

Easy. The used Toshiba SD9200 DVD/CD player --"with" admittedly 'excessive' AC conditioning and no less than an MIT Magnum AC2 power cord; until then you've never really heard it--and it can be had for under $300 used! Incredible on CD & especially HDCD. DVD-A is nearly like a record.

For me the best CD players are the Accuphase. The DP-57, the DP-67 and now the DP-500 are some of the best player in the market. They will last forever. And Accuphase has a terrific service, where you will get parts also 10 years from now. Remember, the laser pickup goes bad with use and you will have to replace it in the future. Not every manufacturer will do that, and many others which rely on third party transports will have a hard time getting replacement parts.
Many will not be in business 10 years from now.

The APl Hi Fi Dac has been pushed back from its original release date. The overwhelming demand for our NWO 2.5 and 2.5T players staggered us with an avalanche of orders and left Alex little time to begin production of the Dac. For this we apologize . We have restructured the company and have trained a new staff to help us cope with the strong demand for our products and services. Within a few months APl Hi Fi will dramaticaly increase its ability to output our product line , slash turnaround times for upgrades and repairs and produce the many new products that have been in development for years .

One of these products will very likely be a redesign of the Esoteric SA 60 . The APL Hi Fi Dac will also be making its debut in early Fall should all go as planned .

We will be announcing specifics on these and other important changes our Apl Hi Fi forum page very soon .

Brent Rainwater APL Hi Fi

Arcam fmj cd23 Best for the money I have come across. I have tried more expensive players but the FMJ 23 betters some costing much much more.

I haven't actually listened to any CDs on it, but the RAM-modded Oppo is the finest SACD I've ever heard. I admit that I've not been exposed to the ultra high-end (EMM, Esoteric, Meridian seperates), but Ihave spent time with the upper echelon Sony, Denon, Classe', etc. stuff & the Oppo pretty much destroys them as far as sound goes. Unfortunately, the ergonomics suck, though.

The Classe CDP 102 is one of the best redbook cd players for the money. The CDP 102 is very musical, almost analogue. The high are extended and not bright. The low end is well exxtened. The Classe and the Ayre 5e were the only models that made feel the extra expense was better than my old Arcam Alpha 9. I chose the CDP 102 because the Ayre was not $1500 better.

Original CD-2008 mkII. Can be found new for $550, list 900. Upgradeable through several people...Cullen Circuts and Moon-Audio are worth mentioning. For another 500-900, these are compared to 20-30,000 transport-DAC combos. If I buy any other player for awhile, it will be one of these.
Good looking unit, too.

Zackattack420, please tell us more about the differences you heard between your CD-2008 mkII and the transport-DAC combos. Plus which modifier did you use?

Gentlemen, this is my second try in getting a correction in on the MM carts to high output MC carts. The first correction didn't hit the post as of yet. So, please forgive me for having my head in the summer sand with the original post. I have great results with the Grado platinum series.

In my opinion Rega Apollo is a steal at $995. I did compare Rega to other similar CD players & more expensive ones (Creek CD50mk2, CONSONANCE- CD-120, CONSONANCE CD120 linear 16 bit 44.1kHz CD-player & more). In sub-$1000 it's going to be extremely difficult to find a better player. Unique high-tech operating system that optimises itself for each CD. These are some of the tech. specs. :

Brand new transport mechanism, with the latest signal processing techniques and servo giving the best data retrieval.
Super stable clocking ensuring minimal loss of data before the DAC.
Very latest Wolfson dual-differential DAC
Class A audio output stage.
MP3 and WMA Media capabilities.
Ultra high memory capacity meaning that error correction need not affect sound quality.

My second choice would be - The Esoteric SA-10($3500). This is the most affordable player ever offered by Esoteric ! The SA-10 uses the same VOSP Transport Mechanism as its big brothers, and is built to the same high standards as the rest of the Esoteric line. The SA-10's sound is neutral, dynamic and detailed with gobs of resolution. This player will impress any listener with its pure neutrality and excellent sound staging. I highly recommended !

The third choice is :The EMM Labs CDSA-SE ($9995) is the newest single-box, dual-format player from the minds of Ed Meitner and his team of engineers. This player up-samples source material to twice the DSD sample-rate. That’s 5.6448Mhz! This is one of the most significant advances in CD playback; standard CD sources will now have the resolution and refinement of SACD! When playing back an SACD, the EMM Labs deck is nothing short of miraculous. This is made possible by their unique Meitner Digital Audio Translator (MDAT) signal processing.

The most significant feature of the CDSA-SE is their discrete dual-differential DAC circuit. Not satisfied with any of the off-the-shelf chip sets from Burr-Brown or Crystal Semiconductor, Mr. Meitner and co. created their own proprietary DAC, which is free from the nonlinearities present in every other DAC chip set. This in itself is a monumental technical achievement! Even the circuit boards are of exceptional quality. They are made from an aerospace-grade composite material formed in a naturally damped, sandwich construction which insures resistance to vibration and incredible strength, all exclusive to this player.

Nothing is left to chance in the CDSA-SE. Even the chassis is made from solid aluminum and is extensively treated with a special highly-damped polymer composite. All of these things make this player one of the most innovative and sophisticated ever created!

These are my three choices in three different price categories. Happy listening !

Mrjstark, I agree with your 3rd choice, any experience how that compares to the DCS Scarlatti stack?

Mtkhl567. - AS much as I would like to answer this question , I can't because of a very limited experience with DCS Scarlatti (only what i did hear, read ).
.
For one it a it a brand new product. Two - not a lot of dealers got it yet. Tree it cost $32,999. I did hear other products from DCS witch were amazing. Scarlatti supposed to be a new benchmark in performance of a CD reproduction. With time will see. My guess is that we will not see a lot of these in fellow audiogoners listening rooms.

IMO, the best players for the money are not stock players as the one upgraded/modified player I have pretty much embarrassed the one box wonder and another heavy weight that retails for 14k. Not bad for spending $3500.

This tweak will add a tad of zest to the search for the "Best CD Player for Mo' Money" . What ever CD player you decide upon mate it with the discontinued and for now widely available GE composite video cable. You can find the interconnect @ Big Lots , Ollies , Goodwill and other discount houses. Use the cable for the coax output as a transport or the players outs to the pre-amp. The RCA interconnect creates real magic with everything I have mated it with. The interconnect was distributed by Thompson, Inc under the GE nameplate , made & manufactured by Jasco in China. Deeply discounted @ $1 or 4 bucks per 6' run -- 2 runs for a pair . Takes any player up a notch or more. Oppo's sound more musical , the tones just right. What have you got to loose ?

In my part of the country , the GE cables have been sold-out by the discounters for now.

There is many literature about CD players, but I trully believe that diferences between Cd players are that small that is not worthy at all to spent above some amount of money. The differences are on the ears of the owner. I have experienced a funny story that completelly demonstrate my theory. Recently my unvle showed me his system, something that is not from this planet. First of all, he did it by himself. everything except the CD player.

Speakers. Made with Scan-Speak drivers top line, Revelator. In the market you have to spent over $8000 and still you could be far away.

Amplifier. A jewel tube gear made using the finest tubes (16 in total) on a solid alumimun chasis and two generous power supplies. 50 Watts per channel. In the market you have to go over $10000.

CD player. Sony ES series from 1995. Something good in its time but now very obsolete. Actually was used as transporter with a custom made DAC. One Wolfson WM8740 DAC (top line) per channel single boxed and powered. There is no a CD player in the market with such a DAC system.

My uncle misconnected the DAC system and we were listening to the Sony DAC 12 years old technology thinking that was the external DAC system, what a voice, what a resolution!!! We said. When we realized we connected the DAC system and the difference was ZERO. My uncle said: what a waste of money!!! The best source possible and the differnece is nothing.

You would think after 7 years, that the original poster bought a new CD player already... LOL

The Raysonic CDP 128. For the money, I don't care what anyone says, it's a steal in every way. As always there are many other factors to consider but, I am telling you for $1500 you will thank me for saving you a crap load instead of getting something more expensive and prob. not as good.

How about the Lector 6 or 7

Can I recommend a decade old favorite of mine?

Sony CDP-X5000

This player looks good, analog sounds good, and digital out (especially AES/EBU out) sounds very good.

This is one very well designed player, upon taking it apart, I feel that this player seems to be designed as something that the designer would WANT to have himself. Damn, that's exactly what I want too. :D

A used Sony Playstation 1. $40 on Ebay. Try it and find out. Incredible sonic detail. Be prepared to be blown away. PS: recently covered on 6moons after having been underground.

Music Hall CD 25.2 is unbeatable for $599. I've got one, up on spikes, with an aftermarket power cord and it sounds fantastic.

The Marantz SA-7S1 , which I own , is a superb player . The 11S2 is very close for much less $ . Combination of types 1+2 plus lots of impact . SACD too .

Anyone heard the Lector 7t

$50 DVD player + $1k Benchmark DAC1. Plays CD (also MP3), DVD, and HDTV.

Either a EAR Acute or a Modwright I have heard them beat MANY 10K units.

Stongly agree with the poster above on the two Marantz units. I have heard both and now own the 11s2 and they both compete with units at twice their price point!

Definetely hard to beat modified or upgraded units for the money. I have not heard too many stock players but I have heard players ranging from 5 to over 10k in my system and they don't compete with a real good upgraded player.

OPPO universal cd player. cd, sacd, dvd-audio,hdcd. Really sounds good especially the sacd, dvd-audio. Under $200 for the player. No it isn't built like a battleship, but for those who are on a budget this is a great sounding cd player, period. read reviews in absolute sound mag.

The Oppo is a great player for a low budget system, once you've heard a real high-end system Oppo's, modified or not, are not an option, period.

Threaders: Oppo has been selected by TAS as the budget digital component of the year again --That's 2 years running.

In order to enjoy the superb digital, the unit must be calibrated to your musical taste using a PC, LapTop , keyboard and monitor. Don't do that and no matter what the unit offers you will never hear it.

I suggest that's the musical key the reviewers fall in love with...

Coming up on the 7th anniversary of this thread, we are all curious what you actually got in the end...

Jazze22, what do you say?

Best for the money? I guess it depends on how much money.

But for my money, it's $169 for the Oppo DV-980H. I just took delivery on one last Thursday. For the last 10 months I've listened to LPs exclusively because I could no longer stand to listen to CDs or even SACDs.

Granted, I didn't have a really expensive player, but I had two that were considered over-achievers--the Philips SA-963 and the Sony SC-2000ES, both in the $500-600 range. I have also listened in extensive audions to $3000-5000 Linn and Musical Fidelity players at stores.

Since I got this Oppo, although I'm still spinning and enjoying LPs, I'm also really enjoying CDs...I'd say, "enjoying CDs again," but I never enjoyed them like I am enjoying them on the Oppo now. It also acquits itself really well on DVD-As and SACDs. I like its rendition of SACDs better than my Sony or Philips, and I was *really* surprised at how much I like what it does with DVD-A. My wife and I were blown away by the Beatles/Cirque de Soleil surround DVD-A "Love" remix. My wife (a huge Beatles fan) decidedly did NOT like this disk when I played it on the Philips. She loved it on the Oppo. It's THAT much different.

I also had fun listening to HDCD-encoded CDs for the very first time, and they were also wonderful.

The Oppo DV-980H sounds SO good on CDs, HDCD-encoded CDs, DVD-As, and SACDs, that at $169 I'd consider it a gift. And you can't get a much better price/performance ratio than that.

OK... I accept that the OPPO probably has pretty darn good DAC. They're known for that. But, not meaning to quibble: does this unit permit you to control the volume directly via the remote? Most universal players don't.

12-29-07: Johnlewisgrant
OK... I accept that the OPPO probably has pretty darn good DAC. They're known for that. But, not meaning to quibble: does this unit permit you to control the volume directly via the remote? Most universal players don't.

My Oppo DV-980H's remote has volume + and - buttons on it but I haven't put it through the paces yet. Not sure if it works on both its analog and digital outputs, but I'll get back to you on that.

I *have* read posts of users hooking the 980 up directly to power amps successfully.