Differences in CD players? Am I crazy?

Tomek,

When you did this last audition, were the levels matched? They must be at the same volume level or you ain't really heard nothin' new or better. One of the most common "mods" is a change/alteration of an op-amp which would change the volume level quite a bit.

Don't forget the power of suggestion as well as the urge to be friendly and communal with the demonstrator. These are very powerful and can lead to false results. We see this in medicine all the time, that is why drug and therapy trials require Double Blind Testing for ultimate validity.

Charlie Daniell, DVM

For what it's worth, I've observed non-audiophiles be able to quickly hear changes among mid-fi CD players auditioned through mid-fi systems - even when they weren't expecting to be able to do so - and also other listeners who professed they couldn't hear any differences under similar circumstances, even if I could (all tests casually level-matched). Even in my own higher-resolution system, there have been times where direct comparisions have left me wondering whether small improvements in CD performance were really worth what they cost, but other times when differences seemed quite obvious and important. This may not be of much help, but I suspect your dilemma results from some combination of there not being an earth-shaking difference between the sounds of your players (which is not to say no differences at all), and your lacking the system and possibly the ear-education to fully discern or appreciate what differences do make it through to the listening position. Aside from your experience at the dealer's, I would counsel you to conduct more extended listening sessions using a wider variety of disks - you may find that a clearer picture of the situation emerges over time.

Elmuncy, if you could not tell the difference from CD to SACD in your setup, I think there is something definitely not right. Perhaps, try to change speaker placement in your room.

Zoya, I know that it's possible that the disks used were not the best example of the new medium. But SACD is touted as the next level of improvement. It should be as obvious as can be. One should not have to strain to attempt to hear the difference. The differences that can always he heard instantly is speakers. This audio hobby can be a huge black hole to drop money into.

Try listening with some reasonable quality headphones. That would allow you to hear differences better without buying a whole new amp/speaker setup.