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In Reply to: RE: More break in posted by mbrierley on May 27, 2025 at 12:51:53
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.
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.
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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