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Better CD Sound: The Search

Went Big into Vinyl last 2 years, then re-discovered my many CD’s, mixing it up plenty now.

I continue to try and find a CD Player with better sound than my existing cheapo Sony Changer that surprisingly keeps on keeping on.

I am hoping recent upgrades to the system will more readily reveal differences:

99.9999 copper speaker wires and interconnects, locking rca connectors, mx110z tube tuner/preamp overhaul by Audio Classics; cayin a88t bias by VAS; 16 ohm L-Pads replacing 8 ohm pots; and finally a I bought a sound meter to balance/refine the speaker’s L-Pads (it ain’t easy) for the best sound ever.
.....................................

CD Quest So Far:

I want dual processors, go used to keep cost down, even consider older vintage.

1. my Onkyo Grand Integra (DX-7500 I think), fixed the damn drawer opening problem several times.

2. This cheapo Sony Changer given to me, eh, use if for parties, why not.
surprisingly sounded as good as the Onkyo to me and friends, gave the annoying Onkyo away.

3. tried used Oppo 83 Video Player for it’s audio

Laser was weak, ’no disc’, found it is a common problem with heavily used lasers. Back it went

4. lightly used Oppo 105. Everything worked, but didn’t sound better than the Sony. Oppo is big, single, expensive, not sellers fault, so I sold it myself rather than return it, lost $205. on that attempt.

5. ’new original stock’ KLH (made by?). played a few discs, then the discs started mis-tracking on discs I know are ok.

found small black bits clinging to the surface in the area of the problems (cds play from the inside out, just guess how far out). Turned out, the belt(s) were dried out, thus when put into motion after years of storage (where?), they shed bits of rubber. Back it went, full refund including return shipping. never compared it to the Sony’s sound

6. Resolved: if vintage, make sure belts are available, get a low price, open it up when it arrives, watch it move ... use, replace belts, return as last choice.

7. Just Bought Two, in transit, One Single; One 6 Disc Changer. (both with oem remotes and power cords, most for sale are missing).

a. Denon DVD-2910 Single Player (big dent on the top. $52. del’d, eBay) (crutchfield keeps old info on their site)
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-6TIPMQKBMUZ/p_033DV2910B/Denon-DVD-2910-Black.html

b. Onkyo Integra CDC-3.4 six disc changer (open box/demo) ($51. delivered) (bserplus.com)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_164CDC34/Integra-CDC-3-4.html

c. a bag of belts. because I will be keeping something, and I have other old stuff with belts
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334135204014

d. spare rare OEM remote for Integra 3.4, eBay

Keeping My Ears Crossed!

elliottbnewcombjr
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,614 posts
 
I love my streaming digital front end and have gone to great lengths and expense to have it sound as good as possible. However, I have several audio friends with ears and opinions I trust that say a great transport still sounds significantly better. So I decided to buy a used PS Audio PWT to compare for myself in my current system. It will feed a Mojo Audio Evo dac.

I will compare this to my tricked out Innuos Zenith 3 server fed by Network Acoustics ENO ethernet cables and ENO ethernet filter. I also use an English Electric Switch 8 powered by a nice LPS. My modem/router is also powered by an LPS.

If the transport sounds significantly better to my ears, then I will use it for critical listening sessions. The other 80% of the time I will continue to stream and listen to all kinds of wonderful new artists and music. If the transport sounds about the same or worse, then I will sell it. I just have to try for myself again.  Too darn curious!
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Bill (@grannyring)

"If the transport sounds significantly better to my ears, then I will use it for critical listening sessions. The other 80% of the time I will continue to stream and listen to all kinds of wonderful new artists and music. If the transport sounds about the same or worse, then I will sell it. I just have to try for myself again.  Too darn curious"

Common sense idea/plan from you (As usual).  I see absolutely no reason why the two digital approaches can't easily coexist if one desires that option.  On many audio  interest threads if inevitably seems to devolve to 'my way is better than yours'. I have zero doubt that splendid sound quality is available with either format. 

I utterly enjoy having a substantial CD collection and listening to them often and with immense pleasure. Thus the Pro-Ject RS2 Transport  holds much appeal. Yet I can thoroughly understand another listener's attraction and preference to stream their music. No need to be a "Hatfield versus McCoy" scenario . Bill glad you were able to find a used PWT.  Very fine transport in my opinion. 
Charles 
ghdprentice
7,740 posts
 
With today’s audio products one can easily find CD Players that sound better than a Streamer / DAC combination, the reverse as well. It is a question of the component(s) choice and the system you are plugging them in to. My streamer sounds as good as my CD player, often better because of the higher resolution of the files available through streaming. This can be true at different price levels.


But the important point is that CD Players do not inherently sound better (no fundamentally different principles involved)… it is essentially the same technology packaged differently. The cost of achieving this is highly varied due to the number products out there.


What you choose should be based on what you enjoy (if you like handling discs, how much music you want access to… etc), your time horizon, and how good you are at choosing system components (a CD player is one box) a Streaming solution is typically two. The future is streaming… if that is important to you, then you weigh these things and choose we’re to put your money.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,418 posts
 
Another owner of the PSA PWT here. I haven't played a CD in a while because with streaming it's so easy to find new music and also play back from the library I've created. Having said that, I still love physical media such as my 1000+ CDs. Both technologies can coexist.

The only negative I've found with streaming is with remastered versions of albums. Some have been remastered countless times and in the case of Tidal and Qobuz, you rarely have a choice between an original recording or a remaster. I can always play a CD if it's a well mastered version vs. the one offered by the streaming service. Plus, there are rarities on CD I like to collect such as Japanese pressings.

But, that's me, I like to have both options and with the high quality of Qobuz and their ever growing library, plus the recent price reduction please keep an open mind about streaming in the future.
I must add that the SQ of Redbook is extremely high when pairing a good dedicated transport with a DAC.



grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,614 posts
 
What’s important to me is really two things.

1) Sound quality is paramount. I want to have as much realism as possible in my home system.

2) Finding new artists I enjoy on an ongoing basis. 
I may need both streaming and CD spinning 😊.  We will see based on my system.  
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