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CD Player Advice

I am looking for advice on CD players. My current player is the Rega Planet 2000. I'm fairly new to the quality audio market, and probably don't have the right vocab, but I can say that I find the Rega a bit harsh.

Other equipment: Creek 5350, VA Bach, Wastach LC-530 speaker cables, Wasatch 104-U interconnects

My favorite music is acoustic, blues - a lot of Calpton, Garcia, Grisman.

I'm willing to spend 1-2K, used or new, solid state or tubed.

The other CD player that I have listend too on my system in the creek CD43, which I liked alot - better than the rega. IT seemed to have a softer and more realistic sound, but I'm guessing that I can even better than that.

any advice is appreciated. thank you
benmcgill
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,029 posts
 
Save yourself money,honestly I am familiar with meridian
cd player 508.24.a very good cd player.The AH and the
Jolida are both excellent and musical, but with your
preference the ah 4000 might be your ticket, Kevin is
a very helpful dealer from upscaleaudio,com. Although
for my own preference, I like the jolida.Remember we
all have different taste, the AH with the siemens 7308
tube its very smooth.IMO The best way audition them.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
There are two classes of players that are popular, those that are extremely expensive and those that roll-off the highs or at least limit the HF dynamics.

Frankly, if you want to get rid of the sibilance and harshness, you need a better DAC, which you will never get in any player except the ridiculously expensive ones (>$10K). You are better off to get your transport modified to reduce jitter and get a modified DAC, such as the Perpetual Technologies P-3A.
joeldoss
94 posts
 
Before you change your CD player, may I suggest you consider upgrading your AC supply. Perhaps a dedicated circuit with a good receptacle and decent power cord. You mentioned the Rega as being "harsh". That may not be the fault of the player.

Try a few "cheap tweaks" before you turn your back on the Rega.

Happy listening,
Joel
richfield_hunter
68 posts
 
Try the Vecteur L4 or L4.2. These units are a real sleeper. They have tons of detail and are not bright if the rest of your system is up to the task. These units will hang with anything under 4k and won't be bested by much by anything out there.
tonnesen
137 posts
 
I don't understand the benefit of the belt drive - but I also don't know how the CDP is designed...for a digital format, I would think the best solution would be to read an entire song (or the entire disc) into RAM and design the digital processing and output to be totaly separate from the input mechanism.

Or is there some reason that the input should be read and processed in real time?
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