CD23T vs. DV29 for music.

[p203557]

A couple of days ago I (along with the help of fellow forum member Shaiba) did a bit of an experiment into how good the dv29 is with cd playback. At the moment I'm using a dv29 for both dvd and cd's and I've been on the lookout for an fmj cd player (see my wanted thread is you have one!). Anyway Shaiba brough his cd23t round and we connected it using the same interconnects into my system.

I've got a c31 and two p1 monoblocks into PMC OB1 speakers. Mark Grant interconnects were used for both and I use Chord Odessey 4 speaker cable. To begin with we started off with a bit of Jack Johnson (acoustic guitar and vocals if you're not familiar) listening to about a minute on the dv29 then swop the dics and use the cd23T. Initially I couldn't really hear any difference. This really surprised me as I had heard the cd23t is one of the best and expected the difference to be night and day. Next up was some Chronicles of Eric Clapton and again the differences were not what I would call striking.

As we worked through a few cd's I found that the 'more' music there was the greater the difference I could hear. Simple acoustic guitar and vocals only gave a slight difference but a 'busier' sound such as some 'Faithless' or Stereophonics produced greater differences. I'm not much good with the right terms but there appeared to be a greater separation between the vocals and the music with the cd23 than with the dv29 where the vocals sometimes merged with the instruments a bit. I could also hear the stereo effect to a greater degree with the cd23. (Is this what people refer to as the soundstage?)

The more we listened the more I could hear differences but I found them to be subtle differences. I'm now unsure as to what to do about a dedicated cd player as there was not as big a difference as I had expected. I appreciate the cd23t is quite an old cd player now but have heard that some people regard it over and above the current cd36. I guess the next step is to demo a cd36 and see how that compares?

So to summarise the dv29 does a very very good job of playing cd's. Its the musicality of the dvd players that first attracted me to Arcam kit as before I got far too into this for my own good and the good of my bank balance I thought I'd get away with one box instead of a dedicated cd player and dvd player. The cd23T is definitely better for music than the dv29 no doubt about that at all, however I was expecting a bigger difference than what I heard and I'm now debating how much that improvement is worth to me and what I'll do about a dedicated cd player. I'm sure I will end up with one but I'll be waiting for the right deal to come along now I know just how good my dv29 is for cd's.

[Timmy C]

I don't know if you listen to music a lot as I do but it might be worth remembering a secondhand £400 CD23 will take away some of the wear and tear on your considerably more valuable DV29.

[DJBlade]

I'd also re-run the test with a decent interconnect, now i'm not saying mark grant cables are poor, indeed, they are quite good, but i switched to a chord chorus from mark grant 2 days ago, and could not belive how my system now performs......

[p203557]

Originally Posted by Timmy C

I don't know if you listen to music a lot as I do but it might be worth remembering a secondhand £400 CD23 will take away some of the wear and tear on your considerably more valuable DV29.

I hadn't really considered that, perhaps I should. My system does get very well used. Basically if I'm in the house and not asleep its probably on! What sort of wear and tear issues might there be with the dv29 (or dvd players in general)? I hope at the cost of it it should be up to a great deal of use and have never heard of people having problems due to overuse.

With regard to the interconnects its something I'll consider, I've not tried others. Mark Grant cables came recommended and are reasonably priced. I'm sure I'll find a local dealer who will lend me a demo pair of chord or similar as I'm a bit of a sceptic with regard to cables although maybe foolishly changed my speaker cable at the same time as upgrading to a c31 (from using an a32 as a pre with p1's) so can't tell how much of the improvement was down to the c31 and how much to the speaker cable. I'd hope and expect it was primarily due to the c31!

[proux]

Originally Posted by Timmy C

I don't know if you listen to music a lot as I do but it might be worth remembering a secondhand £400 CD23 will take away some of the wear and tear on your considerably more valuable DV29.

Yes, but where do I find one???

If you know tell me here, or at Wanted: Arcam CD23 (or 92) in silver

[Sothothyog]

I've had a pretty much identical experience as I have both a CD23 and a DV29. Both offer exceptional music capabilities, but I find myself using the CD23 time and time again. It's definitely worth having a specific CD player.

Mind you, I'm bi-amping two P7s on a 7.1 set-up, so surround sound and DVD-A music is insanely good on the DV29. I really like the way the CD23 can play with or without a sub, too.

If you're thinking about surround audio, I'd definitely give it a whirl!

[p203557]

I've just acquired a cd23 and so have had a better chance to do a longer comparision. I still maintain what was said above ie the dv29 is exceptional for cd playback on a dvd player, the cd23 however definitely has the edge. One area I've noticed this which I didn't before was when playing at lower volumes. The cd23 seems to maintain a lot more detail and separation at lower volume in comparision to the dv29.

To summarise if you want / only have space for one box you can do a lot worse than a dv29 as both dvd player and cd player but if you are looking for the best in cd playback a dedicated player will improve on the dv29 although I'd suggest it would need to be an FMJ or top of the range diva to hear the improvement.