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Best used Red Book Player for Rock-N-Roll

Hello people.
I am starting my journey into hi-fi beginning with the CD Player.I am looking for a used player in the under 3,000 range.
My amp and speakers are Mid-Fi to be sure but are good enough to hear the differance in sound of the two CD Players I have tried so far,wich are both Naim units.The CD5 W/Flat Cap2 and the CDX W/XPS.
I found the CD5 good but after a while the cymbols being rolled off and not much openness was starting to bug me.
So next I went to the CDX.The cymbols are very good with good sound staging,air,space,and detail.I don't think it is going to cut it either though.It lacks mid bass detail and bass slam for rock and roll.
I have orderd a Meridian 508.24 from someone here on Audiogon and am looking forward to evaluating it.

My music is Rock-N-Roll.Bands I like are:
Steveie Ray Vaughn
Yes
Tho Who
Michael Schenker
Rush
Scorpions
Black Sabbath
Led Zepplin
Hoobastank
Uncubus
Red Hot Chillie Pepers
Iron Maiden
Metallica
Judas Priest
DIO
From mild to wild.As you can see I need a player with good P.R.A.T
Some of these recordings have tons of midbass action and articulation,with bass slam and plenty of cymbol work.Yes some even have been recorded with openness.The CD5 didn't show that but the CDX did.

Some of the players that I am considering are:
Linn Ikemi
Cary 303/200
Wadia 830

I have heard that the Sony SCD777ES is good but light in the bass department.Any thoughts on that one.

Chris
tweakster
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
If you go to pinkfishmedia.net (UK's unofficial naim board) you'll find many posters have dumped Naim players for Densen B400 CDP. It's only available in the US via audio outlet in NY state (www.audiooutlet.com), and I've never heard it myself (though I own a Densen amp, which I really like) but if you can demo it you might like it.

The Densen sound is rhythmic like naim, but with better treble, stereo imaging and detail. They're better known for their amps than the CD players, but if you can demo or find a rare used one it might fit the bill.

The meridian is supposed to be a refined polite player, so I'll be interested in your reaction.
goose
696 posts
 
Tweakster, I have a Cary 303 player and I listen to all types of music except Rap. Rock is Zep, Floyd, Govt Mule, Southern Rock, Hendrix etc. I have been upgrading my system over the last few years and the Cary is the one piece that has stayed. The biggest sound changes came when I upgraded my electronics from older McIntosh gear to Herron... and the amp made the biggest difference. The electronics tightend up the base and it was now deeper. The soundstage grew and air between the instruments was better defined. So the Cary is good selection, just don't forget the rest of the electronics.
coffeey's avatar
coffeey
363 posts
 
This might be a little off track but here goes,music is music even though a person might listn to say only one type of music a player damn well better play all types of music,not this Oh this player does rock and roll better or classical better,it has to do it all.I mean cmon,audiophiles can be picky.Im just saying these things need to play music,the its ok for rock music but it cant do clasical but hey it works for rap or whatever.If it would be more specific for one type of music compared to other types,then I just plain look for something else
rgs92
974 posts
 
In my experience, CD recordings of rock & other popular music can be harsh and artificially grainy & scraping on systems with components (speakers especially) that have lots of detail in the highs. The speakers have more influence, I believe. More forgiving speakers (notably the Aerial 10Ts & Apogee Stages I used to own) were excellent on rock, even bad recordings, removing that scraping, acidic sound in voices & guitars. On classical, a more detailed sound (Wilsons and Kharmas) can bring life to instruments like piano & strings. I'm not sure one approach can be best for both. That said, my Accuphase dp75v was much smoother with rock than the Meridian 508.24 it replaced using Wilson WP6s.
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