CD Options?

[renfrey]

Hi,

I have been planning to try out a diy cd kit with something like the CD-Pro II for a while now to go with my zen triode, and I had an idea that I thought I'd pass by everyone to see what you think.

I have an older Sony CDX-C90 car head unit, which is a very high-end car audio cd head-unit (supposed to be anyway). The unit has no amp, just a radio and CD. I was going to sell this, but then I got thinking.....if the transport is high enough quality, maybe I could mod this unit for home use with my zen amp? (utilize the guts inside of a nice cabinet)

The specs I can find on the unit are (from Sony):

CD S/N ratio 109 dB
FR 5-20K +/- 1dB
wow & Flutter - Below measurable
Dual Burr Brown 20 Bit DAC's

I have the service manual (with the schematics) as well, which would make this easier too.

So basically since I would take a loss with selling this anyway, I am wondering if this would potentially provide me with a quality CD unit for home?

If there is any other part's or components which I should look at on this unit, just let me know and I will check it out.

Opinions?

Thanks!

jp.

[FastEddy]

In My Opinion: start out with a player mechanism that can actually do more than just CDs. I supposed the Sony mech. ( CDX-C90 ) can do SACDs, but what about DVD-A discs and the all rest ??

( Look for these logos: http://oppodigital.com/images/logo_dvdav_sm.gif and http://oppodigital.com/images/logo_sacd_sm.gif and http://oppodigital.com/images/logo_hdcd_sm.gif )

In My Opinion: Then get a DAC chip that will handle the 24 bit data as well as the 20 bit & 16 bit from "legacy" CDs ... Burr Brown is good, pick a different part number that the 20 bit unit.

In My Opinion, I wouldn't waste my time on a strictly CD transport mechanism as the best optical music reproduction is on DVD-A = 24 bit / 96K minimum and some as broadband as 24 bit / 384K.

( " wow & Flutter - Below measurable " may sound impressing until you realize that all optical disc transports have the same spec. )

( " CD S/N ratio 109 dB " may be about as good as CDs get, but for DVD-A this is SOP and usually the S/N is above 120 db ... its all in the number of bits )