All Cd Players sound the same?

[struth]

certainly the older cd's were better made than the majority of the crap you get now....but as far as records go, I have some from the 50's that still play as well as they did imho, although the equipment used then was inferior.

 

[FiftyPlus]

I would love it if a dealler could show, in a properly conducted blind level matched test, why their CD player was better than a Tesco CD player. That dealers never try this suggests that they can't.S.

Your own ears should be enough. I have heard several CD players through my system (borrowed and owned) and I have to say they ALL sound different to one another. I currently have 3 linked into my system, a Cambridge Azur 640C and Marantz CD6002, both similarly priced, and a Pioneer PDR-609 recorder (S/H purchase) that was originally a bit cheaper. The Marantz has the best all round sound, cleaner, with a sense of space and depth, and more evenly balanced. The Cambridge has a brighter, slightly less clean sound but with a very open airy feel to it (a bit like a budget MC), and the Pioneer, whilst it makes excellent recordings, has a less satisfactory playback sound. Less sense of space and a slightly stodgy bottom end. A sound that is strangely more acceptable than it sounds on paper as it is quite well balanced. I am curious to try an upmarket machine, but cannot afford one - though the Cambridge might get me part of the way there if I got a decent S/H price for it. In the early days of CD and DVD I heard other players that were variously harsh or dull sounding. These are products that certainly justify auditioning and comparing.

 

[Voice_Coil]

I would love it if a dealler could show, in a properly conducted blind level matched test, why their CD player was better than a Tesco CD player. That dealers never try this suggests that they can't.S.

:cafe:

 

[JVS]

I would love it if a dealler could show, in a properly conducted blind level matched test, why their CD player was better than a Tesco CD player. That dealers never try this suggests that they can't.S.

It suggests nothing of the sort. They wouldn't do it because it would be a complete waste of their time and money.

 

[pure sound]

I took part in many level matched blind listening tests of CD Players for HiFi Choice back in the early 90's. To suggest that all CD players are indistinguishable from one another under such conditions is foolish.

(they all measured differently as well)

 

[Chumpy]

Psychologically/objectively some (albeit crippled by the specs etc of the format) CDps seem better than others.

It is possible to enjoy almost anything, however cheap-overpriced, good or rubbish.

Your life/your money/your choice.

 

[Jerrykan]

I don't know if this is on topic but I had a Trichord clock 4 installed in to my TEAC VRDS 25 and that made a big difference to the sound, for the better. I can only assume changing other parts of the CD player also has an effect on the sound, perhaps not as much but still a change. Also, if all internal dacs sounded the exactly the same surely pure business economics would have dwindled the manufacturer count down to two or three?

 

[awkwardbydesign]

I've changed output caps on my NOS DAC and heard a difference. I then changed to output transformers and heard an even bigger difference. That, of course, is in the ANALOGUE section of the DAC, which will vary from DAC to DAC, but I don't have the skill to fiddle with the digital section. (Actually I don't really have the skill for the analogue section, but at least I can change it back!)

 

[MJ.]

I'm happy to believe that DAC chips can 'sound' the same, if a chip can sound anything, but a CDP is far more than just a DAC chip.

 

[tones]

I've listened to quite a few CD players, and have only heard one that sounded in any way different - a Wadia something-or-other. Apparently Wadia uses some odd sort of filter (spline filter, something like that?). In any case, in the opening of the great Lauda Jerusalem chorus of Monteverdi's Vespers (Gardiner's San Marco version), there was this great bass thump that I'd never heard before (and I know every nuance of this performance).

I once borrowed a Naim something-or-other CD player, which, the Basel Naim man assured me would sound so much more "musical" than the Meridian 588. So, I rigged them up with the same recording (2 copies of the same CD) and switched from one to the other. B'gosh, I thought, he was right, it DOES sound much more musical - and then I realised that I had the switch the wrong way round and I was listening to the 588...

 

[mikeoz]

FWIW every CD player I have owned has sounded different - I agree the improvements are more evident at the higher end and am not sure that there's much in it between two 300 quid players.

However the suggestion that a £2k player sounds the same as a £50 Tesco jobbie just isn't true imo. The Merdian 506 I used to own was a lot better than the cheaper stuff I started out with.

 

[i_should_coco]

Shock! Horror! Uncritical listeners fail to hear differences. :roll:

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

CJR will be along in a minute.

 

[bandit pilot]

"Less digital" Rick??!! Better rinse your mouth. There's no such sound when we are all talking about flat response and minimal distortion! What else is here to give you a " digital" sound PS. Last time we met you and i both moaned about how turntable wasn't as good as cd...I see you've now gone all analogue crazy

Did I really say that? Perhaps I meant 'not as practical'.

Maybe all cd players do sound the same. But in my experience, all output stages do not.

 

[Howlindawg]

I currently have four CDPs in the house (Consonance CD120L, MF A3.5 CD, Pro-Ject CD Box SE, Arcam) and I'm pretty sure that I could tell them all apart in a blind test(*).

As transports through the dCS/Young they all sound identical to me.

(*)

The Arcam actually sounds pretty much the same as the MF but the noisy transport would give it away.

The Consonance has a NOS DAC so it stands out.

 

[browellm]

I'm surprised nobody, especially Serge, has mentioned the effect of different output voltages yet. There's a nominal 2V standard for line level kit but I'm sure I've seen CD players kicking out up to 6V, and if you're doing a direct side-by-side comparison without proper (not by ear) level matching the 6V player will win every time. - Someone does the maths for me; how many dB up is even a 1V difference?

By the way, I'm not saying all CD players sound the same. I've heard an EMM-Labs CD player on two separate occasions that has had me thinking about a bank loan, but I couldn't sit and swear I heard it under anything like level matched conditions.

 

[i_should_coco]

Thing is, I find long term listening (where you really get to know components) far more illuminating than a quick A/B/whatever. For me, quick A/B tests only seem to be able to identify gross differences, while the subtler characterisation of a component manifests as a feeling about something over time, usually a growing sense of dissatisfaction with some aspect which can then be contrasted with something else over time.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Thing is, I find long term listening (where you really get to know components) far more illuminating than a quick A/B/whatever. For me, quick A/B tests only seem to be able to identify gross differences, while the subtler characterisation of a component manifests as a feeling about something over time, usually a growing sense of dissatisfaction with some aspect which can then be contrasted with something else over time.

Agreed.

 

[browellm]

Thing is, I find long term listening (where you really get to know components) far more illuminating than a quick A/B/whatever. For me, quick A/B tests only seem to be able to identify gross differences, while the subtler characterisation of a component manifests as a feeling about something over time, usually a growing sense of dissatisfaction with some aspect which can then be contrasted with something else over time.

Agreed.

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Agreed.

I agree more.

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

I'm surprised nobody, especially Serge, has mentioned the effect of different output voltages yet. There's a nominal 2V standard for line level kit but I'm sure I've seen CD players kicking out up to 6V, and if you're doing a direct side-by-side comparison without proper (not by ear) level matching the 6V player will win every time. - Someone does the maths for me; how many dB up is even a 1V difference?By the way, I'm not saying all CD players sound the same. I've heard an EMM-Labs CD player on two separate occasions that has had me thinking about a bank loan, but I couldn't sit and swear I heard it under anything like level matched conditions.

Indeed my Krell CDP kicks out 6V and causes some pre-amps problems with input overload, so I have put it on variable output rather than fixed. My Micromega T-DAC/T-Drive kicks out 2V.

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Agreed.- - - Updated - - -

I agree more.

Is that BMW agreed or Audi cunt faced agreed? :roll: