Mid Range CD Player

Cornish Dave

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As many of you will know I own a Yamaha NP-S303 Streamer, AS1100 Amp and a pair of Q Acoustics Concept 20's on dedicated stands. A bit lopsided I guess some of you will say with a £1150 Amp playing into a pair of £500 (inc stands) Speakers but I am more than happy with the sound I am hearing so I am not looking to change the speakers anytime soon. I have ripped a few CDs but I have a large collection of recordings from my teenage years that I would like to play but do not want to rip them as too much hassle really! Given these will never be audiophile type recordings I am thinking of some time this year getting a CD player. I did have a base Yamaha CD300 which has stopped working after just over two years and in any event I did not rate it at all the sound seemed flat and totally lacking in sparkle when connected to my RN-602.

I was looking at the likes of Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon in the £400 range but am wondering if you guys have any thoughts on CD players in this price range? Your thoughts would be appreciated!
 
As many of you will know I own a Yamaha NP-S303 Streamer, AS1100 Amp and a pair of Q Acoustics Concept 20's on dedicated stands. A bit lopsided I guess some of you will say with a £1150 Amp playing into a pair of £500 (inc stands) Speakers but I am more than happy with the sound I am hearing so I am not looking to change the speakers anytime soon. I have ripped a few CDs but I have a large collection of recordings from my teenage years that I would like to play but do not want to rip them as too much hassle really! Given these will never be audiophile type recordings I am thinking of some time this year getting a CD player. I did have a base Yamaha CD300 which has stopped working after just over two years and in any event I did not rate it at all the sound seemed flat and totally lacking in sparkle when connected to my RN-602.

I was looking at the likes of Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon in the £400 range but am wondering if you guys have any thoughts on CD players in this price range? Your thoughts would be appreciated!
My opinion ,for what it's worth is that your view is lopsided... It would take just as long to rip the full cd as to listen to one song, or to find the change or the car keys to go into town and buy a cd player. If you don't bother to play that cd again for another decade .. so what the work was done, the quality is assured, it won't get better or worse.., if you want to play it, it is more convenient to the tnd will be played with all the quality your streamer can muster. If you have better streaming technology to hand, why would you backwards?. The cd player should neither impart a sound or remove it, particularly if used solely as a transport and the digital stream and use the DAC in the better amplifier.
 
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Do you not have a DVD player you could connect to the NP-S303?

As for the chore of ripping, when I started my collection was around 900 discs. If I'd dedicated time solely to ripping them that would indeed have been a chore. But I slowly worked through them every time I was sat at the PC, with the ripper whirring away in the background. Just a case of swapping discs each time one completed.
 
My opinion ,for what it's worth is that your view is lopsided... It would take just as long to rip the full cd as to listen to one song, or to find the change or the car keys to go into town and buy a cd player. If you don't bother to play that cd again for another decade .. so what the work was done, the quality is assured, it won't get better or worse.., if you want to play it, it is more convenient to the tnd will be played with all the quality your streamer can muster. If you have better streaming technology to hand, why would you backwards?. The cd player should neither impart a sound or remove it, particularly if used solely as a transport and the digital stream and use the DAC in the better amplifier.

While I agree with you in principal, I don't think he likes the idea of the admin overheads of it a software/nas based system as well as the need to sit down and rip CDs.

Even as a computer techy I have to admit - the thought of re-ripping Cd to get in to flac (most of mine are still mp3) is just mind numbing even though I have good software (dBPowerAmp) and a decent NAS (QNAP) and there are time when the overheads of that + other computers and device begging for attention for updates make me feel like a network administrator at home :)

OTOH - it is nice not to have shelves stuff full of CDs in the living room. Trying to get rid f the DVDs as well by slowly ripping them, but that is even more of a pain.

BTW Dave - some software will play the CD while it is ripping and can be set to auto-rip when you stuff a CD in, so if you have a CD/DVD drive equipped laptop and a DAC of some kind, then you could use that as a player while you rip to USB drive, local disc, NAS or whatever. Once ripped, then your streamer should be able to get at them.

For a HiFi player, then maybe Marantz CD6006?
 
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Second hand Marantz CD63 mk2 KI version is worth a try. If you don't get on with you can then sell it for the same amount you paid for it (or possibly more).
 
I really enjoy listening to my CD's, it is as much the ritual of holding the CD case, popping the disc in the tray, and ensuring that I sit down and notice the artwork and inserts (if there are any) and listen to the whole album, rather than just one or two tracks. Also, my cd collection is a part of the furniture, an 'art installation' if you like!

Anyway, I have auditioned many cd players, and a fair few DAC's and my current combo is possibly as good as it gets (bold words I know) a bit over your budget, but might be worth it for the extra inputs.

Cambridge CXC CD transport @ £299

Cambridge Audio CD Transport

Musical Fidelity V90 DAC @ £199

Musical Fidelity V90 DAC Digital To Analogue Convertor with Asynchronous USB

The separate DAC means that you can use it for other devices, I have a HTPC using the USB input with Foobar for my digital music (I do have some).
 
^ While MF do have a good rep for sound, I do often wonder if their case designer had a previous job designing breeze blocks :)
 
^ While MF do have a good rep for sound, I do often wonder if their case designer had a previous job designing breeze blocks :)
I guess it's not that pretty :)

It is small though, and has lovely little switches, that feel very satisfying to switch!
 
I really like good old CDs, just a shame the majority now seem to be heavily compressed. Probably the best bang for buck is the Marantz CD6006. Build quality is excellent and has a very good DAC, couple this with a superb inbuilt dedicated headphone amp and you find it is money very well spent.
Marantz CD Player
 
Friend of mine spent a year ripping 3k CDs one at a time. Said he'd never do it again.
 
Rip a couple of CDs every weekend while you have your morning tea, and in no time you will be done.

Of course the Marantz CD6006 (£250) or the CD6006 UK Edition (£429) are good reliable players. My only hesitation with the UK Edition is that it is not clear what you are getting for the extra money, but it would still be a good player -

Marantz CD6006UKSE CD Player UK Edition - Superfi

MARANTZ CD6006 SL CD PLAYER (Opened box) - Superfi

In-Store Clearance (Leeds) - MARANTZ CD6006 BK CD PLAYER (Opened box) - Superfi

The Yamaha CD-S700 (£499) falls in your price range -

Yamaha CDS700 CD Player - Superfi

I would expect good results from the Rotel CD14 CD Player (£549) -

Rotel CD Player CD14 -Superfi

The Pioneer PD50 CD/SACD Player (£429 to £499) obviously has SACD Playback -

Pioneer PD50 CD/SACD Player with DAC - Superfi

Pioneer PD-50-S CD Player

Generally Onkyo are exceptionally clear amps, I would expect similar results from the CD Players -

Onkyo C-7070 CD Player - £389 -


Onkyo C-7070 Black CD Player w/ DIDRC and Precision Clock Technology - Onkyo - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Onkyo C-7070 Silver CD Player w/ DIDRC and Precision Clock Technology - Onkyo - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Emotiva is a new player in the UK Market, but in the USA, they are considered exceptionally high value -

Emotiva BasX CD Player - £399 -

Emotiva Black BasX CD-100 Precision CD Player/Transport - Emotiva - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Keep in mind I did not search out the best prices, I used links to the first place that I knew had the Players, so it would pay to shop around -

Marantz CD6006SE UK Edition Black CD Player - Marantz - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Marantz CD6006SE UK Edition Silver CD Player - Marantz - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Personally, though over budget, I would lean toward the ROTEL CD14 at £550, though you may find a better price. Perhaps the Emotiva would be second, and the Marantz CD6006 UK Edition is tempting but I'm still not sure what I am getting for that extra money.

Here is a link to the full specs on the Marantz CD6006 UK Editions, it seems that it is replacing the standard CD6006 as it is very hard to find actual Standard CD6006 or to find information on them -

Marantz UK | CD6006 - UK Edition

Closer to budget, I would have no hesitation getting the Emotiva BasX CD-100 Player -

Emotiva - CD-100 CD Player

Emotiva does make one better CD Player which has XLR Balanced Outputs, though the price is a bit above budget -

Emotiva ERC-3 Balanced Reference CD Player - £649 -


Emotiva Black ERC-3 Balanced CD Player/Transport - Emotiva - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Emotiva - ERC-3 Reference CD Player

Again, I did not search for best prices, just provided links for reference.

I would suggest that the safest bet is the Marantz, and though more money, I would personally favor the Rotel CD14, and I would happily have a Emotiva.

Again, it pays to shop around -

Richer Sounds - Yamaha CDS700 - £399 -

Yamaha CD-S700 Player

Steve/bluewizard
 
I guess it's not that pretty :)

It is small though, and has lovely little switches, that feel very satisfying to switch!
What's special about that DAC? .. it's price is very attractive.. For my sin's i use a usb DACADC at half that price made for Maplin, and others and it does have a 24 192k performance and headphone amp., So my question rwarea is what would I likely to gain.. do you know for instance the type of chip?

Ok i have looked up on line and i can see why there would be a difference and an improvement..
 
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What's special about that DAC? .. it's price is very attractive.. For my sin's i use a usb DACADC at half that price made for Maplin, and others and it does have a 24 192k performance and headphone amp., So my question rwarea is what would I likely to gain.. do you know for instance the type of chip?
Hi, it has a Texas Instruments PCM1795 chip inside it.

I really like the way it sounds. I have had a number of different cd players / DAC's at home, some at the same time, and I consistently picked this one out as sounding the nicest when we arranged a little blind test.

The other devices that I have auditioned, and can remember, are the Cambridge Audio Azur 651C, an old Denon DCD655, Audiolab 8300CD, Project Box FL DAC, Marantz CD5005, a Behringer DAC, and some other USB Dac's for my PC.

There's one here at the same price, with a 30 day return option, if you do want to give it a go. I'd be interested to know what you think of it:

Musical Fidelity V90 DAC - 24 bit/192 kHz Asynchronous DAC | eBay
 
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Thanks for all the comments never heard of Emotiva before and had not seen the Rotel. Now two of you have suggested I connect a DVD player to the NP-S303, is this using it as a transport and using the DAC in the streamer? How would I connect it? I do have an old Panasonic DVD player lying about in a cupboard somewhere was replaced by a blu ray player. Or do you mean connect it to the AS1100 amp? As for a CD player the CDS700 is an obvious choice as it will match the rest of my kit, bit concerned however that I had the next one down the CDS300 and thought it was poor. I like the sound I now have with the Yamaha Streamer and Amp not sure what it was that caused the CD to sound so poor.

Yes I hate mucking about with computer software I come from the generations before what to do with it all became easier, and I am not very patient! I do understand what some of you are saying though why spend several hundred on a CD player, I guess Nat would answer that question. I find part of the enjoyment is thinking through what course of action to take and I know I can always rely on you guys to give advice even if sometimes you disagree with one another! It is all opinions at the end of the day I guess!
 
Now two of you have suggested I connect a DVD player to the NP-S303, is this using it as a transport and using the DAC in the streamer? How would I connect it?
Optical or coax depending on what it has & what's free on the NP..

I do have an old Panasonic DVD player lying about in a cupboard somewhere was replaced by a blu ray player.
You could also use the BD player if it's close enough.
 
The NP S-303, doesn't seem to have any inputs apart from USB. So connecting a disc player as a transport isn't an option. Or, have google images let me down?
 
The NP S-303, doesn't seem to have any inputs apart from USB. So connecting a disc player as a transport isn't an option. Or, have google images let me down?
Oops!
I just looked at specs & saw coax/optical. Didn't register it was out... :facepalm:
 
The NP S-303, doesn't seem to have any inputs apart from USB. So connecting a disc player as a transport isn't an option. Or, have google images let me down?

Agree, And the usb is probably only for playing files and not for hooking up a pc.
 
Although if the DVD player has analogue out no harm trying it on the amp.
 
Check out this Lampizator web page: Philips_tda1549

A couple of years ago I bought a Marantz CD48 for £20. I slightly prefer it to my Denon C630 CD player.
There's a chap on the What Hi-fi forum who bought a Marantz CD-48 for £40. He strongly prefers it to his £2000 Roksan CD player.

I've just bought a Philips CD753 for £36, to use in my TV system, as my blu ray player doesn't sound very good with CD's.

Seems daft to spend £400 on a CD player when £20 to £40 is enough to get you one with the TDA1549 DAC chip.
 
Ha! Ha! Just worked out how to copy my music from the PC - My Music area into the Power 17 Player, it is now working as expected got Diana Krall's California Dreaming playing sounds superb! Still hate computers though!
 
Anyway, I have auditioned many cd players, and a fair few DAC's and my current combo is possibly as good as it gets (bold words I know) a bit over your budget, but might be worth it for the extra inputs.

Whoa!

There’s bold, and then there’s mad!

As good as it gets within a £500 budget when new or truely as good as it gets?
 

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