Replacement CD on a tight budget?

Pgawan2b,

Funny you think the 980 is better than the 970. When both were both available from Oppo, before the 970 was discontinued, "The Absolute Sound" has said the 970 sounded better than the 980, but the 980 had better picture. The 980 was harsh in their listening session and felt the 970 was a killer player for a budget music system they put together.

While it was nice for the money I felt it had a flat sound stage and lacked involvement that adding the Benchmark DAC1 alleviated, but we are talking about a DAC that cost over 3x the Oppo.

When I bought the Denon 1930 for $45 used, which Hi-Fi Choice raved about, it blew away the Oppo, and now the Oppo is long gone. Funny thing is that the Denon was available at the same time but America was enamored w/ the Oppo units. Europe on the other hand loves the cheap Denons.

The Denon 2930 is better but the 1930 is awesome and built better than the Oppo too.

Do you want CD or DVD/CD player?

For CD only - look at used NAD, Rotel, Cambridge or Sony ES players as suggested above. ebay is going to be another potential source for this type of purchase if selection limited on Agon.

For DVD - suggestions above are great. My guess is that used market for Denon 29X0 just tanked if you can buy a new 2930 for $200!!! Look for one of that series used and pound them on the price - very good overall player, although older versions wont upscale video if that is important to you. Maybe not quite as good on CD sound as dedicated CD players from the above manufacturers, but truly outstanding video for the $$$.

As suggested above, a used Oppo 970 will sound pretty good and will play movies too.

I have a little Toshiba DVD player in one of my systems my wife found at the Good Will for $25 bucks and the sound on CDs and DVDs is adequate while the component video output is great. I would not recommend this for your main CD player, but could provide video at a very reasonable price, leaving most of your dosh for a good used CDP.

Hey, folks,

Thanks for the continuing stream of thoughts re: this modest-priced replacement.

I actually don't mind losing video capabilities at all, as we were planning to hook up this kit as audio only.

I'll continue to look into available Cambridge, Rotel, NAD, and S. ES options ... Maybe something nice will come of this.

Best,
Geoff

Another option is a vintage CD Player like the Magnavox CDB-492. What makes this 1989 CD player so special? How about being made by Philips utilizing the TDA1543 dual 16 bit DAC and Philips CDM4/19 swing are transport w/ glass lens.

The 1543 DAC has been rediscovered and is used in many high-end players of today like 47 Lab and Opera Audio. Acclaimed for its analogue ease of presentation w/ outstanding detail and bass.

The transport is the same one used by many high-end players of its day like Meridian.

Before this the vintage players used a 14-bit Dac or the earlier 1541 dac. Both exhibited a softer and less detailed sound. After this every thing went to the lesser 1 bit and 18 bit dacs.

This Magnavox and the equivalent Philips model are the crème le crème of vintage players.

Like what Crugby said ...PS1 ...first model will do good.Actually Ps Audio power punch c7 cord is on sale for $29.99 plus shipping is about $42.00...You will be amaze and it is really sounding good and lot's of fun to listen with.