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

elliottbnewcombjr

 

Excellent news! May the new Laser last a long, long, time. It is OEM from Denon?

 

Happy Listening!

jafant,

no, I got if from these people on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/str/libertyelectronicsstore

Finds and plays CD's readily.

I cannot find the magic adjustment of the 2 allen screws that raise/lower/align the laser to get it to read SACD discs. I'm going to write the seller this am with questions. 

Both my Sony's, because they are DVD/Blu-Ray players, also play SACD. But the Integra sounds better, so what's the point?

I never went big into SACD. I tried some purposely, didn't like having to concentrate to hear the difference, and found, when concentrating, some like Oscar Peterson piano have an un-naturally dead-quiet background. So out of nearly 5k CDs, less than a dozen specifically purchased as SACD, others simply came as hybrids.

But still, to lose to a machine? I hate that. If I get it working, SACDs are the best!!!!

 

 

I had the seller refund me the cost of the new laser, so it was: Fix it or Toss it.

just found this on diyaudio.com, from moderator

anatech

"To all,
If you can’t afford to fix something, sell it so someone else can get it repaired properly. There is not point in wrecking something so no one can have it. It’s a real shame seeing nice equipment destroyed by the owner, or a friend "who knows something about electronics". TV and Computer shops are fairly notorious for destroying audio equipment too. Then there is my favorite. "I don’t want to spend much because I have already spent $xxx.xx on it so far"! Then sell it! Exactly what does the next poor tech have to do with the history of your machine ... and he has to clean up after someone else who erased all the clues and created new faults in the process. I’m working on a Pioneer SX-1280 like that now. Repaired the negative HV regulator, repaired the traces in the FM section and removed an incorrect chip. Replaced a bunch of missing parts and now need to replace a PA1001-A / KB4437 (missing) MPX decoder and find a PA1002-A / KB4438. The PA1002-A is the actual fault, plus it needs an alignment. The rest was "struck by technician" faults.

-Chris"

I never thought about this point of view, at this point I suppose my trust that I could blindly fix it could be seen as arrogant by someone who knows what they are doing.

Past successes encourage me, you don’t learn if you don’t try, and so many ’for parts’ units are out there.

 

 

SACD: Quieter Noise Floor is about it

"

"Comparison with CD

In September 2007, the Audio Engineering Society published the results of a year-long trial, in which a range of subjects including professional recording engineers were asked to discern the difference between high-resolution audio sources (including SACD and DVD-Audio) and a compact disc audio (44.1 kHz/16 bit) conversion of the same source material under double-blind test conditions. Out of 554 trials, there were 276 correct answers, a 49.8% success rate corresponding almost exactly to the 50% that would have been expected by chance guessing alone.[38] When the level of the signal was elevated by 14 dB or more, the test subjects were able to detect the higher noise floor of the CD-quality loop easily."