If I rate my analog sound a 9, I would rate my digital CD a 7. My question is, would I benefit from a better CD player, even so CD6005 is no slouch, or am I gonna end up in a goose chase?
I’d rate your CD sound a generous 4 by today’s standards. My back-of-the-envelope calculations say you’ve got upwards of $10k invested in your vinyl front end versus $500 on a CD player. I mean, I understand when you say your digital knowledge is limited, but you’ve spent 20x more on your vinyl rig yet ask if trying to upgrade your $500 CD player is “futile?” Just how bad do you think digital sound is??? What the hell do you expect from a total investment of 500 bucks? How would a $500 vinyl rig including cartridge and phono pre compare to your current setup? Where does simple common sense kick in here man? C’mon.
Your CD player sucks. I’ve heard it, and it sounds exactly as you describe it. The good news is that at this low level even a relatively meager investment in a DAC will produce very meaningful improvements. Since you’re obviously a fan of vinyl I’d recommend an R2R DAC as they tend to have a more fluid sound that can appeal to (or at least not repel/offend) analog lovers. I’d recommend a Musician Pegasus over the Ares that you can get here for $1099...
https://aoshida-audio.com/products/musician-pegasus or at least step up to a Denafrips Pontus ll that’ll also be a significant upgrade over the Ares. And PLEASE don’t use an optical connection. Here’s a very reasonable but still very good-sounding SPDIF cable you can use until you feel like an upgrade would be worthy...
https://smile.amazon.com/Geistnotes-Apogee-Wyde-Cable-WE-RR/dp/B01N5VXVA1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MMDOS2Y43QM3&dchild=1&keywords=apogee+wyde+eye&qid=1631741543&sr=8-1 You’ve got a nice system, so spending a few extra bucks on your digital setup will pay great dividends. Best of luck.
