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What high-end cdp for low-end quality CD's ?

I need advice, in some foreseeable future I’m going to upgrade my cdp. My budget is going to be about $4000 top $5000. I was thinking about used Wadia 861, Accuphase 75V. But I had heard that they are true performers only on high quality audiophile grade CD’s. I heard that the more expensive SS cdp playback the worst it will sound with awful quality CD’s.
Unfortunately most of my CD’s is mean quality from BMG, SONY etc. buying CD’s from only audiophile companies or import them from Hon Kong, Taiwan, Japan (they are the best to me) is not a valid solution. I have heard rumor that some tube CD’s like Audio Areo, Lector (maybe Audiomeca ??-it is solid state though) can be more forgiving to mean CD’s, so you can actually listen to them. It is really hard for me to listen to them on my budget Arcam cdp, I cannot imagine it sounding worse with high-end player. So I’m looking for forgiving high-resolution, very dynamic, live, analog sounding cdp. So what would you recommend, I’m listening to soft rock, pop, classic.
Rest of equipment is Clayton monoblocks, Thiel 3.6 speakers by the end of summer I will have Supratek pre (I hope at least).
sorlowski
bwyoung
143 posts
 
You might be surprised how good your bad CD's will sound on a good player. When I moved from older Theta source gear (poorly recorded CD's sounded quite harsh) to my current Resolution Audio Opus 21 cd player I was surprised how much better some of my 'bad' CD's sounded. If you are able, try out some of those players on your list.
rtn1
535 posts
 
It is a myth that a good CD player will make bad CDs sound badder. I have CDs of bootleg recordings from the 1920s. They sound (relatively) fine. I also have alot of CDs from the '60s on forward. If you have a system that highlights the high-end of the spectrum, the deficiencies of the recording might be more noticable. I guess the question is whether you want something that will mask the sound versus the truth. My current cost-no-object system plays these deficient CDs much better than my previous system. If you get the Wadia and only play CDs, you can skip the preamp.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,153 posts
 
Get the absolute best sounding CD player for your system. If your system is reasonably well balanced, then badly recorded CDs will sound like badly recorded albums, but only in rare cases will they be unlistenable. If this sounds like too many "ifs", then an outboard parametric equalizer is very effective at reducing high frequency harshness and/or tubby bass.
viggen
838 posts
 
I just want to add that I definitely think BAD CDs are BAD no matter how good your system is. I say this because my own system's ability seems to be greatly dependent on the quality of the CD I am playing. Next time I am going to Taiwan, I am going to buy A LOT of CDs... that is if I can stand the smog.
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
A high-end CD player will allow a top-quality CD to sound up to it's potential. I own the Audio Aero Capitole Mark II and I was really amazed how well it revealed what is a quality CD and what is not. An example would be a box set of the Motown Collections as released on the Motown Label. I really enjoyed these CDs until I was given a box set of many of the same recordings released on Rhino. The Rhino CDs relegated the Motown CDs to my car's Cd player.

I think that a CD player of the quality that you seek will not add perfection where quality is lacking, but this is not the reason to not buy one. You will find that you will no longer be futzing with bass and treble controls as a high-end Cd player will allow the original mastering of the Cd to come through.

So, to answer your question, Yes, while a high quality Cd player will not 'fix' a recording, it will play even copies of copies of CDs to reach full potential.
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