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CD vs CD/SACD Player – Tube-based or Not

Some of you might have read my previous threads asking for recommendations on CD/SACD player. That was roughly 6 months ago when I first started building my hi-fi system.
Now that I’ve settled on the back end of my system, I’ll finally select my digital source. My system consists of the following:

Harbeth C7-es3 on Sound Anchor (3-posts) speaker stands

Pass Labs XA30.5 – Power amp

Ayre K-1xe - Pre-amp

CD player – a modest 15-year old Philips CD player(the weakest link which I need to upgrade)

I want to get a CD or CD/SACD player that matches my system in terms of synergies, quality and performance. While I’ve done a lot of readings/research, it’s hard to narrow down on my selections before some fundamental questions are answered.

1. CD player vs CD/SACD player: my preference for music are vocal, some pop, classical (symphony, chamber), some rock, blue. I know the selection of musice in SACD is somehow limited.

2. Tube-based vs Solid State CD player: would my system benefit from tube-based CD player since both my pre- and power-amps are solid state? What’s the advantage and disadvantage of tube-based player? What’s the difference in sound?

3. So many choice in my price range (mostly used):

Ayon CD-5, CD-2s

Ayre C-7eMP, Ayre C-5eMP

Audio Research CD-7

BAK 51

Esoteric SA-50, X-05, X 03se, K-07

Luxman D06
SONY 5400ES, Sony 5400ES modified by Modwright (with tube output),

Oppo 95/105 modified by Modwright (with tube output)

4. I want to get a player with solid transport, digital output, balanced output(preferred); dynamic/solid bass, extended treble and most importantly fuller mid-range with great, accurate, lush presentation for vocal recordings.

What’re your recommendations and why? Thanks.
r0817
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
I think the recommendation for an Oppo (I'd go 105 for the Sabre DACs) and a tube-based DAC makes the most sense. An un-modified Oppo will hold it's value *very* well. And by having a separate tube DAC you will be able to enjoy both solid state and tube-based playback with one unit.

Plus the Oppos open up the whole world of streaming playback, Bluray playback, and DVD-Audio playback for you to explore...

-RW-
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
The external DAC doesn't benefit the Oppo 105 much. BD audio is limited to 48kHz over SPDIF and SACD doesn't output over SPDIF.
batmobile
5 posts
 
> CD player vs CD/SACD player: my preference for music are vocal, some pop, classical (symphony, chamber), some rock, blue.

You would be nuts to buy a CD player when you can buy a SACD/CD player that can play hi-res content, as well as all your existing CDs. Even a mid-range SACD player will beat the pants off ANY CD player on the market, no matter how expensive the CD player, when playing a hi-res recording (i.e. the SACD player playing the hi-res layer on the SACD, and the CD player playing the CD).

> I know the selection of music in SACD is somehow limited.

Quite the oppositeL: the SACD player expands your options. You get to play ALL the hi-res content on SACD ... AND ... you get to play ALL the millions of CDs around too. That's more options .. not less.

Also, there is much more hi-rez content on SACD than in any other format, including DVD-A, Blu-ray, downloads or streaming.
batmobile
5 posts
 
> What’re your recommendations and why?

If I was in the market, I would say the most important criterioin is to make absolutely sure that the SACD player you are buying converts DSD natively to analog (not via PCM). If it was me, I'd probably go for the Luxman D06 (I took one for an audition and was quite impressed) or one of the Marantz models ... in particular, the brand new SA-11S3 or the SA-15S2 / KI Pearl etc. The SA-11S3 uses a new different D/A converter, so it would be interesting to compare. Also, the new Marantz lets you use the DAC to play your download files (if you have any), so it is not only a a standalone physical player, but also a hi-res network player.
batmobile
5 posts
 
> I want to get a CD or CD/SACD player

I'd certainly go for the CD/SACD player in preference to a CD only player. Given a modern hi-resolution recording ... even a mid-range SACD player (playing the hi-resolution SACD layer) will easily outperform any CD player playing the same information downsampled to 16bit 44.1 kHz ... no matter how expensive the CD player.

The SACD player will let you play all the millions of existing CDs, AND also the high-resolution SACDs. I think there over 8500 SACDs now, which is more hi-res content than any other hi-rez format (DVD-A, Blu-ray, downloads, streaming etc)
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