Parasound CD-1

$4500 CDP without DAC or SACD, is probably hard to sell. I did a double take in the Audioadvisor catalog. Could not believe the price, especially coming from Parasound for a CDP without any INPUTs. Maybe some others can justify the price.

I'm sure it's decent, as is all Parasound stuff, but it looks like another case of a manufacturer attempting to sell a piece of gear based on some angle - the dac chip, the memory buffer, diamond tweeters, whatever. I can certainly appreciate the concept of loading all the info into a buffer where it is "cleaned up" before replay, but, AFAIK, few, if any of the best-sounding players use this technique. As with everything, a purchase decision should be made by listening and the maker's reputation for quality and service. Fortunately, I believe AA does offer money-back, so you can decide for yourself. Who knows, it may be a killer, but if it is, the memory-buffer stuff is just a part of the sound.

I know in these responses you guys sound skeptical but I've heard this player and it is the real deal it has absolutely no digital glare and it has a lot of analogue like qualities. It has a full bodied sound. Sound like vinyl. Best CD player I have ever heard.

Here's an informative PDF, looks very interesting.

I first must disclose that I have been a dealer for Parasound Products for about six years. I normally never comment on these threads because of my obvious bias as well as I'll be instantly chastised for being a shill.

In this case, I'm willing to take the abuse. I have always felt that Parasound provide some of the best value products on the market. Their price vs performance is outstanding. That being said, I have never considered them to be in the league of the "elite best" products on the market. My opinion has now changed at least for the Halo CD-1.

I had a customer that wanted a CD-1 very badly. I ordered one in with the intention of selling it to him and not keeping one in stock, mainly for the same reasons that were listed above. (Who would ever buy a very expensive CD player that only does redbook?).

My plans changed. After hearing the CD-1, I was so impressed that I decided to keep it. It is still in my demo room and I think it will be there for a while. My customer came over for the demo about a week after I received the first CD-1. It wasn’t really even broken in yet, but after 1 ½ songs on his demo CD he brought over, he said “Sold”.

I had the same experience as Calvinj. This is one of the best CD players or best CD player that I have ever heard. Sound is smooth, yet detailed, no digital glare and analog like with layers of music and big 3-D like sound stage with height and depth. Three years ago I switched from a CD player to streaming WAV files over of a hard drive to an expensive DAC. I had switched to streaming WAV because it out performed all of my CD players and as a bonus was very convenient. Because of the CD-1, I have taken all of my ripped CDs back out of storage and the CD-1 is now my source for my personal digital listening. I still have my streaming device in the system, but if I have a CD, that's what I'm listening to now.

I would not expect anyone to purchase a CD-1 without an audition first. All I’m saying is that this product is much better than you would ever expect and I think it can give almost any piece of digital equipment out there a solid run no matter what the price point. It’s that good, but don’t take my word (I’m a shill) go out and listen for yourself.