How Much Has CD Technology Improved in 14 Years?

Lashman:
I am quite sure that you will get a wide variety of responses to this thread. I will offer mine.

My learning has occurred over the last decade or so and my system has grown and changed in that time. I have used a number of players and for my tastes I have settled on separates.

In my view, I would argue that a far greater amount of product improvement has been made in the 'marketing and sales department' than has changed in comparison to what was available in top quality gear made in the mid 90's.

My front end:
CEC TL2 Transport: circa 1995: they seldom appear on AG, and when they do, they seldom last long. Interpret of that what you will.
Audio Logic M34DSB DAC: circa 1998: Jerry Ozment's first DAC, a four-tube design. Occasionally seen on AG, and reasonbly priced. Highly sensitive to tube selection. A product you can truly voice to your own tastes.
Yes, good digital cables are necessary and they really make a difference: I use a Kimber Orchid.

I am quite sure that there is better gear that is available in current production, by my point is that there IS gear that was made more than ten years ago that is VERY VERY good, if not as good as Current Generation Redbook Product. The ONLY thing I miss is HDCD decoding in my DAC.

I personally am quite satisfied with my digital gear, and am focusing on rekindling my Analog Gear.

Yes, there are improvements, however you too have not mentioned power conditioning. It can do "wonders" for the sound of an older machine as well as being a serious upgrade for newer systems. Try some. At least to isolate the inevitable digital noise from contaminating your other excellent components. I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions if you ask just Don't let anyone tell you it won't be a benefit. Try.

CD technology has definitely improved since '93. However, the change may not be significant to you. Does your old player cause listener fatigue? Many newer players are a lot easier on the ears.

You will have to borrow or buy a newer player to see how it sounds in your system. Some people would go on at length about the differences between 2 different players in a given system, while someone else would say they pretty much sound the same.

I would suggest trying a Marantz SA 8001. You can find one for somewhere between $500 to $800. IMHO you would probably hear an improvement over your old player.

You’ll only need a digital cable if you have a DAC and a transport as your source. The DAC’s outputs, like a CD player’s, will use standard analog RCA cables. The single cable between a transport and DAC would be a 75-ohm digital cable.

Although there are expensive digital cables that deliver great sound, even quite inexpensive ones can work fine as long as you make them the right length. You can find posts that deal with this in the archives but briefly, a 1.5-meter length ensures that the almost unavoidable reflections within the cable do not arrive at the DAC at the wrong time.