Digital Drive

RE: NEW CD Player Choice

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fantja

In Reply to: RE: NEW CD Player Choice posted by mbrierley on May 26, 2025 at 12:20:54

mbrierley
Give the new MF gear 200 hrs of break-in. I would keep or update your MF CD player for best outcome. If you must step away from MF CDP, both Accuphase and Bryston are excellent.

Follow Ups:

More break in - mbrierley 12:51:53 05/27/25 (3)
Thanks all for input so far. I was hoping ye would have direct experience of the items for consideration.
Some notes- I will never replace CD with streaming. Not until the format is dead and 100% not available. I've given it a whirl and, well, no. I like physical media and the ritual of inserting a disc, closing a drawer and hearing the whir of the reading.
I should also clarify- my current CD player isn't new. The amplification is. IC's are pure silver from both source to pre and pre to power and moving from RCA to XLR stepped things up a little. Can't ask for more transparency than pure silver. Power are heavy duty OCC Copper/Silver and speaker cables are OCC Copper/Silver.
Why go for a new player? Dedicated DAC's per channel or even 2 per channel, fully balanced designs etc. "should" equate to a better sound.
The Bryston ONLY plays CD's. No digital inputs of any description which follows the logic of separates i.e. a pre does pre amplification, power amps do power and so on. So a CD player that's been designed for one purpose "should" be a better player than one that has been designed as a jack of all trades.

Edits: 05/27/25
- CD fan - psgary 17:25:23 05/27/25 (2)
  I'm with you. They'll have to pry my CDs out of my cold, dead hands before a streamer becomes part of my system.
  
  I don't know any of the players you noted but what caught my attention is their age. That's vital regarding improving the sound.
  
  I had a Cary 303/300, circa 2010, that I loved but died on me. It originally retailed for over $3k U.S. A trusted friend and excellent audio technician suggested I get a low priced CD player, noting the tremendous strides DACs had made in recent years. I was highly skeptical but wanted some way to play music, so I got a Rotel CD11 Tribute, list price $600 but on sale for $400.
  
  When I hooked it up my jaw dropped. It blew the Cary out of the water and for less than 1/5 the price. No doubt you can find a Rotel or Marantz in Ireland and one might really surprise you. Will an audio shop allow you an audition at home?
  
  My advice is to first try an external DAC. The digital out on your CD player may be fine and given the progress of DACs, it wouldn't surprise me if a modest DAC would outperform any of the CD players you noted.
  
  My recommendation is for a Geshelli J3. Excellent opportunity for customizing the sound and they have a very reasonable return policy that allows you to try it at home. At a cost of $600 - 800, it's hard to imaging that the Geshelli wouldn't outperform the high priced CD players from 6-12 years ago.
  
  E-mail me if you want.
  
  Good luck.
  - PSGARY DAC - mbrierley 02:28:50 05/28/25 (1)
    Hey,
    
    I hear you on your suggestions. A good few years back, I had a loan cheap CD player and I had a mid end CD player both from around the same era. Gotta admit, the loan Pioneer sparkled with tonnes of fun, attack and pop but lacked refinement, resolution and finesse.
    
    I currently have a new, cheap external DAC and for a few hours with my Musical Fidelity CD, I thought "WOW- this device kills a device 10x the price" but the more I listened, the more I had the same experience as the old Pioneer that sparkled. At face value, the cheap DAC won but lacked ultimate resolution, sound stage etc. etc.
    
    See, I am cursed with waay above average hearing. Even with permanent tinnitus in the 2-4khz range my doc showed me where normal is vs me and there is a very large gap.
    - Hearing - psgary 18:56:23 05/28/25 (0)
      We have the same curse, including the tinnitus part. 5 kHz is where my hearing goes astray.That happened to me almost 50 years ago. Too many hours in discos. Despite the ringing, an audiologist said he wouldn't mind having my hearing.
      
      After reading a bit about your MF M6s, I still feel that the digital out would be quite good and the answer at this point is a top-notch DAC. Again, Geshelli provides that with the J3, although there are a number of other good DACs under $1k U.S.
      
      Should a new DAC offer much improved sound, you could then decide whether a dedicated transport would be warranted, although the MF M6s might offer all you need.
      
      Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

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