CD Transport / Player Thread

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by MoatsArt, Oct 18, 2016.

  1. Sonorus

    Sonorus Facebook Friend

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    I have been listening exclusively to CD's for let's say 20 year's now.
    I have tried various cd players and cd transport / DAC combos.
    For pure cd listening I always prefer a dedicated cd player.
    I don't know if it is placebo but I find them superior sounding.
    For example I have listened to my current cd player azur 851c vs the cxc cd transport (which is the same as the transport of 851c) with the 851D dac (which is the same DAC section as the one found inside 851c) and I find it marginally better!
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2019
  2. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Yeah, but Cambridge :p
     
  3. Sonorus

    Sonorus Facebook Friend

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    You will be surprised!:cool:

    Anyway that was one example , quite rare because the cxc + 851D is like you have split the
    851C into two separate machines.
     
  4. Collusion

    Collusion Friend

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    Just out of curiosity, which Oppos are you talking about? A have Oppo's DV-983H DVD player and I find it marginally better with toslink connection than USB from desktop computer. Dac in question is DM Convert-2. Comparison is based on same CD's, which are also ripped to computer and played via Foobar.

    Edit: I am hearing a tad more cohesive sound, with slightly better rhytm.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2019
  5. Sonorus

    Sonorus Facebook Friend

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    @Scott Kramer

    Excuse me but my point is not cd player vs other transports or cd vs flac etc.
    I am saying very clearly that I prefer a dedicated cd player vs a cd transport + dac for cd playing and I am not implying something scientific as I understand that it can even be placebo.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Oppo BDP-103. It's extremely possible that the older ancient DVD-P is a better CD transport. My Marantz was a POS until I pulled stuff that wasn't needed, got bigger transformer, rubber to mount it on the chassis, dynamatted most of the chassis, and glued metal pieces around the disc mechanism (mass loading and damping).
     
  7. Scott Kramer

    Scott Kramer Friend

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    Cool, temp deleted the post so I can present it better, was editing on the fly.
     
  8. Sonorus

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  9. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Time to bump this up. I sold my HD-CD1 Marantz, looking at picking up a basic Yamaha CD-S300 just to spin some CDs here and there. Most of my listening is digital, but sometimes I wanna spin yo.

    Local online deals sucks in FL, this is due to the old farts selling their overprice stuff everywhere.

    Didn't like the Okyno. Any recommendations of a basic CD Player/Transport that doesn't sound too much like crap for $300-$500 nowadays? It's a long shot, but I love to piss off my GF when she sees my old rap CDs.
     
  10. Mystic

    Mystic Mystique's Spiritual Advisor

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    Used Arcams like the CD72 and 73 can be found in the $2-300 range usually. The spdif output measures well too. Been using one I bought from another member here for a couple years and sounds great. Won't be replacing it until Schiit releases their transport.
     
  11. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    Modeling clay is good for damping, too. This Harman Kardon HD7625 sounded great once enough clay was added to the mechanism and elsewhere, beercan-sized capacitors were added to the power supply, feet and internal mounts were replaced, and some output-stage components were bypassed.

    [​IMG]
     
  12. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Keep forgetting about the Arcam. I might do that, prices are silly atm for them.
     
  13. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649583828-arcam-fmj-37-cdsacd-player/

    Some others that have robust transport mechanisms: Pioneer Elite PD and DV series and some older Sony ES players. I'd also keep an eye out for older Teac and Esoteric VRDS-based players. Every once in a while they'll go for sub-$1k, stretching budget yes, but some of these were $3k+ retail transports and are absolute units.
     
  14. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Thanks man, I'll have to pass on that one. I just lost my right side of my wireless IEM. Time to get another and learn my lesson.
     
  15. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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  16. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    That one looks a little beat, but for that cheap (or haggle for cheaper) it might be worth a shot. The more desirable Pioneers use an upside down platter, where you put the disc in label facing down.
     
  17. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Good to know. I'll see if I can get him down a bit. Guy said it looks better in person so we will see. Honestly, it is used lol.
     
  18. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    And f**k this seller. He just message me saying "Sorry I just sold this on eBay." Geez, would be nice to know the heads up that it was on eBay and could be sold at any time. I was middle of making plans to see him on Saturday since he stated he was returning from vaca. Thanks old fart who told me he prefers the Esoteric transport that he owns since he was ok with the high price of it.

    "Orders HD6xx since I'm overdue"
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2020
  19. StefanAC

    StefanAC Acquaintance

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    @YMO

    If you can DIY a bit and don't mind that everything reacts slower than with modern CDPs - get a Philips CD-304 MKII. The S/PDIF out is great after a simple bypass and the analog stage is easy to mod. I have years of experience with those Philips CD-x04 and they are simply indestructible while sounding more like music than most newer CDP.
     
  20. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Thanks for the tip, normally I'm not really into modding and stuff. Keep in mind that my main source is just digital with CDP being second.

    And speaking of that, I want to reference this post:

    So the seller contacted me back to apologize and stated that the buyer didn't get back to him from ebay. So he contacted me to see if I wanted to pick up the Pioneer DV-79AVi from him, I said sure. Turns out he is friends with some of the other audiophiles where I am located. I was pissed at first but all was cool in the end.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    So this thing is on the heavy side. I think this thing weighs like 25 LBs. I guess if you want to make it sound further just remove the Video part of the board and add some weight. Quite frankly this thing is heavy enough for my needs as something to use on the side, not as my main format.

    So downside of the unit, if you have Hybrid SACDs then it will have a problem reading the SACD layer of those discs. If just regular SACD or regular CD it will work like butter. That's fine with me, I just want to use it as a basic CD transport with Toslink out to the Bifrost 2 and call it a day. This does a good job with not in good condition CDs. Really can't complain. The CD Tray has this Dark Matter mod, which honestly I don't care about it enough to remove it. The CD Tray when ejecting from the player isn't 100% smooth, but it works and that's what I care about.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2020

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