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Comparing these CD players with my gear...

Hi folks, 

I'm always messing around with CD players. A longtime audio friend of mine says I have a CD fetish... well, he's probably right. In a medium that is slowly dying, I'm still spinning discs more than ever. I stream too, but there still something awesome about taking a CD or LP and placing it in/onto a machine to play the sweet music we all love. 

Anyway, in my latest jaunt for something new, I've put together my latest list of players that have caught my eye for one reason of another. My gear consists of a Creek 4330SE integrated amp and Vandersteen 2C speakers. Cables are DH Labs Q-10's and Air Matrix interconnects. 

So what are your thoughts/impressions/comments on the synergies of the following CD players and how they would sound with my gear. I'm most curious about the Naim, Cambridge Audio and Myryad. 

Naim CD3.5
Cambridge Audio 840c
Myryad MCD600
Cal Audio Labs Icon mkII Power Boss
Marantz CD6006 (or CD6005)
Rotel RCD-1072




jsbach1685
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
If that's how you judge a CD player, and its working for you, fine. 
The OP said he's has a cd fetish, so Multibit is the way to get the best out of that fetish.   

Not just me, but many are now starting to understand that to get RedBook, PCM, CD, to sound right it has to be converted via a Multibit dac not Delta Sigma based

Even music companies are starting to understand this also.
   Quote from MoJo Music:
" When a PCM (CD) file is played on a Delta Sigma or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

That's why you are now seeing a big resurgence back to Multibit by many audiophile dac, cdp manufacturers, even if now they have to make discrete versions of ladder Multibit dac convertors, as it's the way too expensive to manufacture in chip form now, compared to very cheap manufacturing process of Delta Sigma .

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/227677-using-ad844-i-v-99.html#post4972314

Cheers George
mgreen27
147 posts
 

"Not just me, but many are now starting to understand that to get RedBook, PCM, CD, to sound right it has to be converted via a Multibit dac not Delta Sigma based

Even music companies are starting to understand this also.
  Quote from MoJo Music:
" When a PCM (CD) file is played on a Delta Sigma or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

I'm not saying your opinion isn't valid, but the reality is someone could listen to one of the players you like and hate it. That's just the way it goes, and it doesn't mean you're wrong. For example, I like time and phase correct speakers, and from a technical standpoint, they have advantages over other designs. I can't see myself changing to any other type of speaker. But no matter how much I like them, other people will prefer different designs regardless of the technical issues. Most audiophiles really like Magnepan's. To me, that big strip of aluminum they use for a tweeter sounds like a flattened out soda can. Its like icepicks in the ears. But most of the people that own them love the way they sound. Who am I to say different?  

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
I’m not saying your opinion isn’t valid, but the reality is someone could listen to one of the players you like and hate it.


I only pick the one/s out of the OP’s list/s in his first post as he said he has a CD fetish, this is not to say I would own them.
It’s just the one I would pick out of that list for doing CD/PCM/Redbook conversion bit perfect, instead of a facsimile of it with a Delta Sigma based dac/cdp.

Cheers George
mahler123
3,310 posts
 
To the OP
are you looking for other features?  Do you want to play Blu Ray, or USB drives, or perhaps DVD-A?  I know that CD is your priority, but you can can get a good transport, such as the new Sony Universal Player, discussed on other threads here for $300.00. If you like the sound of the internal DAC then you are done; if not lots of great DACs in the $500-$1000 range
jsbach1685 OP
145 posts
 
Hi mahler123 and everyone... 

No, I don't need a bunch of extra features. This is for a straight 2-channel system, so no need for blu-ray or USB. I went with the Naim, so that should give you a good idea :)

I have an old iPhone 5 & that I use exclusively for streaming Apple Music... which is connected directly into an HRT iStreamer, then into my Creek integrated via DH Labs Air Matrix RCA's. I also sometimes use my iPod Classic, which contains about 2000 songs from my CD collection... downloaded in AIFF format.

As for the DAC discussion; for me, I just go with what sounds good to my ears because ultimately that's the bottom line here. Some of my favorite CD players had DACs from Phillips (TDA1541A, TDA1305), Burr-Brown (PCM54), Wolfson (WM8740), dCS ring (Arcam Alpha 9), Cirris Logic and others. Whether they're PCM, multi-bit or 1-bit doesn't matter to me. In the end, what I'm hearing is the manufacturer's interpretation of the analog stage. 

  
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