@mesch Thanks. I ordered the Cambridge and will try it out. Got it for $399, new. The Audiolab has good reviews but is, as you say, twice the price. For some, the stakes here are higher than they are for me; I simply won't be able to determine how good a choice this was until I have settled on a DAC, a new preamp/amp, and speakers. With all those choices yet to come, more analysis of this choice seems imprudent!
Considering getting a CD player (again). Used? New? Criteria?
After years without one, I'm considering getting a CD player. I'm not against streaming, but I have many CD's and would like the simplicity of just playing them from time to time. I probably want to cap my expenditure at $700, or so, because this won't be the only way I play music.
A few questions:
If you've purchased a new CD player, what did you buy? Why?
If you've purchased a used player, how old is too old? What factors helped you choose?
My concern with used is that the transport mechanism of older players will be getting tired, and this won't be knowable just because a unit "checks out" with the site (or individual) testifying to the player's working condition. There's got to be an average point for many machines to give up the ghost, mechanically (varying from machine to machine, of course).
A few questions:
If you've purchased a new CD player, what did you buy? Why?
If you've purchased a used player, how old is too old? What factors helped you choose?
My concern with used is that the transport mechanism of older players will be getting tired, and this won't be knowable just because a unit "checks out" with the site (or individual) testifying to the player's working condition. There's got to be an average point for many machines to give up the ghost, mechanically (varying from machine to machine, of course).
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- 128 posts total
I have just recently acquired a Cambridge Azur 851C and am extremely happy with overall performance. Its brought new life to my CD collection and being as advertised a digital preamp, offers great flexibilty for adding digital sources such as BT (audioengine via toslink), IPOD via digital dock, ++. Cambridge Audio appear quite specialised with DAC technology considering the number of DACs offered in their range, plus the upsampling
24bit/384kHz technology. No direct comparisons, but it works for me . fed into a tube amp. |
There is a dearth of players available at the ~ $700 price point really. I would go new the get the latest and great available. In the past I have had both onkyo and Nad at that price point and both were exception at sound retro, However the Nad had a series of quality issues that I finally gave up on, the onkyo just died of old age. I recently purchased a a Denon 800NE and have been happy thus far. I still believe there is some burn in improvement on the horizon. Please use decent interconnects as they do matter. https://usa.denon.com/us/product/hifi/cdplayers/dcd800ne |
- 128 posts total