Ruminations On CD Players

I have had players/transports w/separate DACS for years and am still buying CD's.

New doesn't mean better. I had 2 Arcams and were underwhelmed. Detailed but over all thin sounding ( to me)

I have a wonderful California Audio Labs Icon II CDP .Built like a tank, nice transformer and is bullet proof. It's mated to a very rare Kora-Hermes  non over sampling tube DAC with a Monarchy Audio re-clocker in between the two.

I think used the whole set up- used ,was maybe 1,400 bucks - less interconnects AC and digital cables . Sounds fantastic! If you want new the Rotel would be the bang for the buck choice.

The nice thing about the outboard DAC is the ability to get more SQ and tailor  (especially with a tube DAC) the sound to your liking.

As far as the whole streamer thing: I have a Internet tuner, running into the Kora,( 3 input DAC! )I have not found a streamer I like yet...

An internet tuner ( there are many out there for a reasonable price ) maybe the way to get your feet wet.

I HAD to go that way because of all the new high rise construction in my area. I couldn't receive the  Classical music station I liked cleanly in MONO! -Stereo reception went away years ago -despite a range of antennas.   

My humble Ocean Digital tuner, less than 200 bucks new with an added IFI power supply - 50 bucks and another Monarchy re-clocker is doing an OUTSTANDING job.  It's been running 24/7 for years!

It's background mostly but it's great fun to listen to stations from all over the world and it does not need a smart phone to run it. It's self contained like a normal piece of gear.

Don't let those snobs push you around. As far as physical media,they are still making plenty of turntables aren't they......

Good luck whichever way you go!

HG-NYC

Folks, 

Please re-read my comments again and you will see my current viewpoint IS based on listening. Yes, behind that, I do understand the technology and along with measurements are ONE side of the information, but it is the music that counts and that is always first. Set aside the convince factor of playing a disk vs dragging several disks to a queue. That does not have any bearing on sound. 

When what is suggested stretches from the unknowns about our hearing and our inadequacy of measurements to flat out impossible in this universe, then yea, my understanding of science pops up it's head.  Maybe a little broader understanding of how the transports actually work would help.   

 In the land of only sound, once you have the bits in a buffer, it is the reconstruction that makes all the difference. All of it. How stable the transport is becomes irrelevant.  What is super is we can then spend our money on that part that does matter: DAC, AMP, Speakers. Even the analog cables if you must as real effects that do not violate the laws of physics exist. At least when I RIP a CD, any re-read is taken care of so playback will never have a skip. Well never is if I set the buffer correctly in the player as Windows is too stupid to pay attention to run level like True64 was. Maybe we can then talk about the really confusing and unknowns with the dozens of digital filtering algorithms, how to deal with filter overshoot,  different up sampling, different dithering, and how those effect the DAC with respect to everyone's  preferences in sound.  All of these things can effect the sound. Some more than others and it differs person to person.  I looked at the WEBs of the fore mentioned transports, and surprise! no discussion of this at all. 

 Granted, how well controls work matters. One thing I loved about my old Rotel is how snappy it was to controls.  Push "Open" and it opened. Did not have to think about it. Powered up without taking forever to boot Java. Hit play, and no screen saying "reading disk". It played. I miss my OPPO DVD as when I upgraded to 4K I had to buy a Panasonic. Dog slow. 

If these mega buck transports are actually streaming real time from the disk so the stability and micro-vibrations they claim are important effect the accuracy or timing, well IMHO, they were obsolete both in engineering and in sound 30 years ago. If your DAC is so obsolete as to require the input timing to be precise, well it too is obsolete. Sorry. My $109 JDS DAC is better than that and it is far from SOA.  A CD transport is not a turntable and those mechanical factors that are critical just do not happen in a transport. 

There is a lot we don't understand about sound reproduction. But there is a lot we do. I have found a degree in electronics to be helpful to point me to where there could be real sonic differences so I can afford real improvements, not that I have not been fooled in the past. We are all human.

I express my experience and understanding so others can think and make rational decisions based on their own hearing and still be within this universe laws. Not "Madison ave. engineering"  For the international audience, that is the headquarters in NY for advertising. Home of very slippery squamata as they are well oiled. Your money of course. 

@mbmi ah, no.  Maybe that's a generational thing but I only search by artist then CD.  Hit play.   Listen.  If I like it I add it to my "virtual" collection.  It's like having a free pass to an infinite record store for less than the price of 1 CD per month.  FLAC quality and I can't tell difference from the disc with a transport and separate DAC.  

jrcotner

I will describe to you my experience, not what I had read or heard from others. I bought Denafrips Ares II and utilized Arcam CD192 as a transport, it was great improvement, then I replaced Arcam with Cambridge CXC transport that was very noticeable improvement over Arcam transport section. I did go further up the ladder since. I have learned from my own experience that dedicated transport matters.

P.S. 

I do not understand why whenever there is a discussion about CD medium, there are multitudes of posters joining in on bandwagon trying very hard to "persuade" how antiquated this concept is and the streaming is the ONLY way to go. 

Then there are others coming up with ideas of an equipment with price tags severalfold  exceeding clearly stated OP's budget.

Just my three cents.

Cyrus makes some nice stuff, I have their transport. Also have a Marantz hdcd-1 which is a good cd player as well as a transport.