Wanting to upgrade my CD player. Any advice?

[Wayne Elliott]

On 23/09/2020 at 6:54 PM, rockeater said:

We all have our like and dislikes as far are brands and technical aspects of gear. Mine are shaped by what I have learned by fixing them for the last few years.

Whereas Rotel is a good brand and I had RCD-991 for many years and it was full of highest quality components, it somewhat failed to deliver the excitement. Only in the week I put it up for sale I managed to get hold of the Service Manual and found that its balanced output was not truly balanced but simply a single ended one with cold leg achieved by inverting a signal with an op-amp.

A triumph of marketing over engineering.

As far as your choice of CD-14 I cannot comment, because I simply do not know what's inside for it is not featured in any of the CD player databases. It obviously is new and hasn't made to any workshop that cared to submit the results. Rotel does not say what mechanism it is using because there isn't mech there to be bragging about.

My preference is therefore for older designs, for currently there aren't any mechanisms made for CD players that are any good, and good CD player starts with good mechanism.

I looked up some Luxmans to see if they made any nice players with good mechs and they did but many moons ago and they are hard to come by.

So if you are after a brand new one, any good ones cost thousands for they have mechanism loaders made almost by hand (like Esoterics) and there isn't anything that comes to mind that is affordable and decent.

The RCD-991 is an unlistenable  P.O.S. Sounding CD Player Stock Standard. With the Burson Op-Amp & Clock upgrades, completely transforms the Player and it gets pretty close to some Very Good Players. Absolutely staggered at the improvement with the upgrades, 

 

Might be an option if he can pick-up a good nick RCD-991 at the right price and get the Burson upgrades.

[Guest deanB]

A mighty fine combo that's a bit above your budget. Won't hurt to put in an offer for the cd player only.

[DET]

On 23/09/2020 at 1:55 PM, Tao said:

Hello,

I have an old Kenwood DP-2080 CD player. It works fine but I'd like something better. I've long since been looking at players like the Rotel CD-14 as a potential replacement. I need to keep expenditure under $1,000AUD.

The rest of my setup consists of a Luxman M02 power amp and a Luxman C02 pre-amp. I have Time Window 1A speakers. The CD player is an important component of my system that I'll always use.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks!

 

 

Probably a step up from where you are,

 

[wen]

@Tao, the Musical Fidelity in the classifieds is an absolute bargain for the quality of sound and built, i say this as i have one as my main digital source, it replaced my Creek Destiny, which is now in my second system

[Amphlett]

@wen Thanks! Going to check it out now.

[Amphlett]

On 25/09/2020 at 6:53 PM, Nordust said:

Have you already bought something?

Hi @Nordust. The replies have been amazing and I'm completely torn between several options. I've made a list of all recommendations that I want to check out further. I have been leaning towards the Marantz but am also really interested in what people have said about the Denafrips Ares DAC. I'm completely new to the concept of a separate DAC. I've seen people point out the benefits of one for streaming. Does this mean for streaming audio from Spotify? Sorry if that's a silly question, lol. I would definitely like to use my system for both cds and for streaming. I have about 5,000 cds and am running out of room for more, so being able to stream at highest possible quality through my hifi system would be great.

[Amphlett]

On 25/09/2020 at 10:10 AM, deanB said:

A mighty fine combo that's a bit above your budget. Won't hurt to put in an offer for the cd player only.

Good point! Checking it out now.

[Amphlett]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I'm blown away by the responses (all of which I want to go with, haha) and am carefully considering all information and options suggested. It's helped me learn a lot more than I expected to. I've made a list of of all the units that people have recommended and am trying to make a decision.

 

I'm intrigued by the suggestion of getting a separate DAC and a cd player as a transport. I was just saying to Nordust in my last post that I have over 5,000 cds and am running out of room for them, and therefore would definitely be interested in the best way to stream Spotify through my system. Is it best to have a DAC for that? Sorry for my ignorance, having a separate DAC is news to me, but I've started reading about them.

[Amphlett]

11 minutes ago, Nordust said:

Sorry Tao I don’t stream at all so cart answer your question. What ever you go for I would suggest all in one unit.

No problem. I think I'd prefer a single unit. Thanks again.

[Amphlett]

On 24/09/2020 at 2:14 AM, Mat-with-one-t said:

It may also help to know what sound signature you tend towards?  Personally, I prefer an “analogue” smooth sound over a detailed “digital” sound.  Some players can seems to manage both, but not often!

As a result I like the Burr-Brown pcm-1704 signature, and I love my Denon Dcd-3000 player.  They can be found used for good prices well below your budget, and have a really good headphone amp, as well as a really useful “digital in” input, so I use an old iPhone via a USB>spdif converter to the CD player and use its DAC.  Makes for a great cheap streamer!

good luck.  Mat

Hi Mat, good point regarding sound signature, I've never really thought about that. I think my preference depends on what I'm listening to, so a player that could manage both would be great. The Burr-Brown pcm-1704 comes up often. Thanks very much for your input.

[Amphlett]

On 24/09/2020 at 6:06 PM, Mutatis Mutandis said:

It might be a long shot, but if you see a Consonance Ref 2.2 CD player come up second hand, that will likely be within budget.  I lucked out with one - and very happy to recommend it.

I haven't heard of those, I'll keep an eye out, and an ear! Cheers.

[Amphlett]

On 24/09/2020 at 8:42 PM, t_mike said:

If you're willing to try something older, a Cyrus CD7 with the Qdac upgrade is a great player. It has probably the best transport Cyrus ever used, Burr Brown chipset, and has digital out if you decide to use a different DAC down the line. When the optional PSXr power supply is added, you will pay a lot more to better it, even with current model offerings. I've compared mine side by side with a Halcro SACD player, and there isn't much in it. 

Thanks for that. Definitely willing to try something older. The rest of my system was made in the 80s. 

[Searching for Magic]

Nuprime CDT-8pro

[Guest DrSK]

I'd spend under $1000 on a Klein III DAC with coax/toslink plus USB and send digital from your existing player to the DAC, assuming your CD player has coax output? 

[Amphlett]

7 hours ago, DrSK said:

I'd spend under $1000 on a Klein III DAC with coax/toslink plus USB and send digital from your existing player to the DAC, assuming your CD player has coax output? 

Hi DrSK. Unfortunately the CD player doesn't have coax output.

[DET]

@Tao

This is close to budget and offers flexibility, the basic NAD player with the Project Pre Box S2.(upgraded CD player, MQA capable DAC and great headphone amplifier - in case you need it someday)!  The PBS2 is high res DAC (decodes MQA - via USB only). I have a PBS2 which up until recently I was using for streaming via an iPad Mini, worked a treat and as good, or better, sound quality as/than the Bluesound Node (to my ears). It is also very compact. There is a link below to a review by Hans. So run the CD player to the PBS2 via coax and you will have the choice of a Wolfson 24 bit DAC in the NAD and:

• High end ESS Sabre ESS9038 dual DAC
• Organic polymer capacitors and thin film miniMELF resistors
• MQA hardware decoding
• DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 & DSD512 (DoP, DSD512 native)
• Up to 24bit/192kHz for optical & coax inputs
• 8 selectable digital filter characteristics
• Headphone output on the front (6.3mm)
• Ultra-low jitter USB input
• Gold plated four layer PCB

https://www.spacehifi.com.au/audio/cd-players/nad-c-538-cd-player?gclid=Cj0KCQjwk8b7BRCaARIsAARRTL6Xg11E4qKe4NXIv3eKx6HAyx-v-sJJdcKFzQuZDjxhJcb5igSMevsaAoMTEALw_wcB

https://www.melbournehifi.com.au/products/pro-ject-pre-box-s2-digital?variant=17790096375859¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-03-13&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk8b7BRCaARIsAARRTL6KW2t2T6wkE3BSMS5xXmcJlmxu3yDQu-OVe_7AKR7oe1mZPHm2kJgaAoAeEALw_wcB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3RUADt81x8

[DET]

Just to add to the above, if you do push the button, of course deal wth site sponsors if at all possible!