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Advice needed re: new CD player purchase

Hello everyone. New member but long-time lurker here. My system: Bryston 4B-ST amp, Bryston BP25 preamp, and Meridian 508.24 CD player (all purchased in 1998 and all performing flawlessly), Kimber KCAG balanced interconnects, Audioquest speaker cable, and Esoteric power cords. I have Thiel CS2.4 loudspeakers.

I have about 4500 CDs (about 3% of which are hybrid SACDs). I love my system, but I want a new CD player. Am I right to think that advances in audio technology over the last 24 years have left my Meridian in the dust, sonically speaking? So I have been looking at various players. A few parameters: I will only buy new; I want XLR outputs; and I’d prefer to not spend over 5k.

I’m looking hard at the Bryston BCD-3, and the Technics SL-G700. Having owned Bryston products now for almost 24 years, I’m extremely impressed by their build quality and performance. However, the BCD-3 is not an SACD player. I’ve read a few solid reviews of the Technics, but I’m suspicious of their long-term reliability. There are no dealers where I live or within 200 miles. I looked at the Marantz line, and their only player with balanced outputs is the SA-10, which I’ve heard is awesome but I’m unwilling, at this point, to pay $7500 (although my mind is not closed on the matter).

Anyone here have either the Bryston or the Technics player? Will I notice a marked improvement with a new player (as compared to my 508.24)? Like most of you, this is my life. After work, I listen 2-3 hours per day, sometimes more on weekends. Thanks in advance for your advices.
jeroboam
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,734 posts
 
vassilis_t
You are my kind of Audiophile- testing 10 spinners over 18 months!Incredible!
Happy Listening!
lucky_doggg7
120 posts
 
A good Red book CD spinner, I was in this buying conundrum a while ago; I thought about a Krell Cipher, of which there is one for sale at US Audio Mart, but decided against it because it uses a proprietary CAST cable to perform best.  Next, Esoteric’s spinner in the K-05Xs that upsamples to 34 bits - I thought, terrific, until I saw the eye-watering price.  I considered the new Levinson red book spinner but when I read that it’s transport was lifted out of car audio division, ehhhh - nope.  I then listened to an Audio Research CD8 then the current CD9; yup, that’s pretty good stuff; a used CD8 was reachable, but the Killer CD9 was not unless I was to undergo a top ramen diet for the next year…. I then ran across the newish Luxman D-03X spinner with MQA capability, but not SACD.  Ooh-la-la!  After a brief listen of Hotel California from the Eagles live album, yup - I found my player.  It’ll stream TIDAL as a DAC, and there is a certain musicality about it that makes it jump so to speak, or in audiophile speak, its transient response is sharp, and the background is fairly black.  What’s nice is that there is a faint touch of midrange bloom that helps with that lit from within sound that really captures my attention.  This will have to do until I win the Lottery, then I’ll go buy a complete Esoteric Grandioso rig, but until then, I don’t feel I’m missing out on too terribly much.  
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
Why not buy the Naim cd5si? It’s It’s very musical player with a unique way of loading a cd....its gotten great reviews everywhere and is only $1695. It is red book only.
fred60
133 posts
 
Do what I'm going to do.  Buy the Esoteric K-05XD or the K-07XD when they come out in the next month or two.  Look at the reviews of the K-03XD (retails for $15K, way above my budget) which came out over a year ago.  Going to audition the 05 and the 07, the 07 could be in the $6-7K range, not sure yet.

I have been debating getting the PS Audio Perfectwave SACD transport-- which can now be had for $4K-- and then buying a DAC, but decided to go with the 2-in-1 Esoteric, the Esoteric obviously has a DAC and it is outstanding.  The CD mechanism in the Esoteric is arguably one of the best in the world.  And the XD is apparently a big step up from the previous XS editions.  Their new "Master Discrete" DAC.  The PS Audio uses a mechanism from D&M (Denon & Marantz), so pretty standard.  They didn't want a repeat of their previous player-- they sourced the mechanism from Oppo, and Oppo stopped making them.

I don't have a separate DAC, and have been looking to upgrade my CD spinner (Oppo 105D) and also want the ability to play SACD's.

Go to Music Direct and look at the review of the K-03XD from a customer.

I started a thread here "For SACD fans only" where you can see the responses to my similar question/dilemma.

disc
119 posts
 
Hey Jereboam, 2 months ago, I was in a similar situation— several thousand cds, no strong desire to stream, and sound that was good but….   My player was an Oppo 105.   After reading Teajay’s review here of the newish Pro-Ject RS2 CD Box transport, I did some research and later bought one to run direct into a Boulder 866 integrated with a built-in DAC.  (My thinking is that I can upgrade the DAC later if I want).  After sorting the cabling (AES/ENBU), I couldn’t be happier.  
The Oppo 105 analog or digital out wasn’t in the same league (nor did I expect it to be), and the system outperforms previous systems based on the Meridian 508.24 and a Granite 657 with a variable tube output stage.  The earlier system was very different (modified Spectrom Musician III and Supratek Syrah, so I can’t give an apples to apples comparison, but I feel like the Pro-Ject has breathed some much needed life into my CDs, which if I’m not mistaken is your goal as well.  Cheers
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