General CD Player advice needed.

[Mixi]

So I've been listening exclusively to vinyl for a couple of years, refusing CDs completely. Now the other day I stumbled over my boxed CD collection, connected my old and crappy blue ray player to my stereo and ...... wow did it sound good 🙂

So, well you've probably guessed it .... i now need to add a nice CD option to my stereo which currently consists of an ACA Amp or Neurochrome LM3886DR AMP, P88 (Rod Elliott) Pre amp, Troels Gravesen Discovery 15 Speakers.

To be honest the crappy old Philipps blue ray player sounds fine ... the buttons are really cheap and it's slow to react to the remote but the sound is surprisingly good. I know next to nothing about digital playback, so what are my options? Budget is a bit limited for now.

- Get a new CD player like a Marantz or NAD in the near future ... say 300 - 500 $ range?
- Maybe experiment with external DACs in the future
- Tweak the existing player? What kind of tweaks can be done?
- Build a player from scratch? Are there any nice kits out there?

The current player does not have a digital out, so I guess for now I'm stuck with the built-in DAC.

Any other ideas? I'm on vacation for a week so I have some time to tinker with this thing.

What do people on here generally use for CD playback?

 

[Mooly]

Tweaking the existing player would really be a case of looking at the analogue stages, the opamps used and perhaps looking at the muting arrangements. Hard to say what you might gain (or not) from that. If it used say 4558 opamps then yes, give it a go. Otherwise...

I've a Marantz Pearl-Lite SA-CD and its been brilliant. Fantastic build quality and terrific sound. Not really sure what is available at the moment although I would like to think a new Marantz or similar would be a significant step up from a Blue Ray. NAD players crop up a lot on the forum and I get the impression they are pretty decent sounding but lack a bit of build quality.

See what others think 🙂

 

[Andersonix]

When you find a favorite player, get some more as spares!

 

[rayma]

Blu Ray players do seem to sound better than standard CD players (if they still make those),
and I have several. A little slow, though.

 

[Galu]

CD players with dedicated, audio-only disc reading mechanisms, rather than generic DVD/Blu-ray mechanisms, are available

There are also CD transports (which have digital output only) for use with high quality external DACs.

 

[ianp]

When I was in a similar situation I looked for a vintage TDA1541 based player and tweaked - caps - shottky diodes - opamp - NOS. Lots of pages out there to assist with the tweaks. In your case look for one that has a digital output as well.

It scratched the DIY itch that I (sometimes) suffer from and the sound is pretty good to boot. It may be simpler to just get a more modern player though.

 

[Mixi]

Blu Ray players do seem to sound better than standard CD players (if they still make those),
and I have several. A little slow, though.

well i do have a blue ray player and it sound surprisingly good. but indeed it is SLOW … a bit annoying really.

has anybody tried this one (SHANLING TEMPO eC1B CD Player and file reader on USB key - Audiophonics). it‘s rather cheap, looks good and seems „tweakable“ if needed 😀. Opamps can be changed, etc.

 

[Mooly]

Never let anything digital know or even suspect that you are in a hurry...

 

[waxx]

I think the cd is a bit an outdated medium. It's better to rip the cd's to HD and use them with a computer or media player with a good dac.

But if you insist on a good player, i would look second hands for a decent player. It's hard to tweak a player as it's mostly smd on board and microchips. You can find very good high end cd players for a few hundreds in perfect state...

 

[nigelwright7557]

I have moved on from vinyl to 8 track tape to CD to Mp3.
I can select which mp3 files I want to play with some software and sit back and let it play through the list. I have USB DAC connected to my pc which drives a 1980's Fane 12-50WRMS in a folded horn enclosure.

 

[Mixi]

I think the cd is a bit an outdated medium. It's better to rip the cd's to HD and use them with a computer or media player with a good dac.

But if you insist on a good player, i would look second hands for a decent player. It's hard to tweak a player as it's mostly smd on board and microchips. You can find very good high end cd players for a few hundreds in perfect state...

yeah i just want to avoid having to use a computer to play music. not having to use a computer is part of what makes listening to music so relaxing for me. a cd player would be as much digital as i can bear 😛

thanks for the advice regarding the used equipment!

 

[russc]

Vinyl has the picture sleeve, CD the booklet.
What do you look at while listening to MP3?
Sure, you can Google the lyrics & band info but it's not the same.

 

[Mixi]

they argue one could look at a tablet with roon or something on it 😛

 

[russc]

Another reminder I am a dinosaur.

 

[Mixi]

Don't know how old you are but I'm 37 and I am overwhelmed with the amount of digital playback options currently on offer.