Del monaco
Del Monaco
Sounds like it’s worth hearing.Love my Rotel though.
What was/is your favourite CD player
- Thread starter snaphappybob
- Start date
david ellwood
Kirabosi Kognoscente
My old Meridian 206 with trichord clock was fantastic.
It lasted and lasted and lasted and was still sounding fantastic when I finally sold it after 30 years service.
It played anything , never skipped and was built like a battleship.
It lasted and lasted and lasted and was still sounding fantastic when I finally sold it after 30 years service.
It played anything , never skipped and was built like a battleship.
Philips CD104b, which sounded screechy, hard and metallic. 32 years on I can still remember the harshness when I listen to the CD's that I used to play on this machine. It had the good grace to fail in service after about 3 years......allowing me to move on
Dennon DCD610, budget player, much nicer sounding
Arcam CD92, a decent step up from the Dennon, and almost on a par with a Naim DAC.
Dennon DCD610, budget player, much nicer sounding
Arcam CD92, a decent step up from the Dennon, and almost on a par with a Naim DAC.
chartz
If it’s broke fix it!
Ah the good old CD player that could skin a cat myth. I thought it was long gone.
The thing is, Philips did nothing to tweak their CD players to sound nice in period systems that were themselves tweaked to sound acceptable with dull vinyl replay systems. That included speakers.
Hence the Mission DAD7000...
The second and third next generation players were nicely biased towards such systems, but it was a trick!
Try one today and be impressed at how nice and fluffy the CD104 actually sounds – and has always sounded like!
lagavullin10y
pfm Member
Was it the special output filter? The ‘trick’?
chartz
If it’s broke fix it!
Definitely yes. It actually made the player worse by adding yet more op-amps, but it sounded nicer in the context of the unbalanced systems of the time.
Today they would sound dull and lifeless!
Even McIntosh made one based on the CD304, and they sold it 7 times more expensive.
It looked as ugly as the rest of the range... whereas the Philips was nice.
Big Tabs
looking backwards, going forwards
My favourite cd player is my 20+ yr. old Arcam Alpha 9
especially since @linnfomaniac83 did some funk to it.
Listening to the album To Bring You My Love - PJ Harvey on c.d. and
Working For The Man is an experience.
especially since @linnfomaniac83 did some funk to it.
Listening to the album To Bring You My Love - PJ Harvey on c.d. and
Working For The Man is an experience.
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
Glad you’re happy with it buddy, I’ve been listening it myself whilst on soak test, it’s an excellent sounding machine!My favourite cd player is my 20+ yr. old Arcam Alpha 9
especially since @linnfomaniac83 did some funk to it.
Listening to the album To Bring You My Love - PJ Harvey on c.d. and
Working For The Man is an experience.
PS, we went and had a bite for lunch at Felley Priory from yours, what a lovely place... got a couple of nice plants for my garden from there too!
My Philips CD630 is also 30 years old this year, though it's been languishing in the loft for a good while. The only problem I've ever had with it is that the drawer mechanism "sticks" a bit if I haven't used it for a long time, but apart from that, it has been faultless. I must dig it out at some point very soon and see if it still works...
Hazelberry
sister
My CD player days are probably over as I've streamed from a laptop for ages now and am very happy with the arrangement and sound.
I went through more CDPs than any other component. Sony, Technics, Yamaha, Marantz, Philips, Denon models, all from budget to midrange. That should tell you something! The well regarded Arcams were out of my budget and I didn't try the Rotel 855BX (?) and 965BX either.
My favourite was probably the Philips CD502 with TDA1540 chip I scored for $40. NZ has never had the vast second hand market of the UK and $40 was a very good price for a used deck that originally sold for a budget $400. It was the nearest I got in enjoyment to my Planar 3 and was the most neutral sounding. Most were either glarey or dull, and/or coloured in some way. The Denon 1020 or something got excellent reviews but was too lean and so artificially pacy that it appeared to trip over itself! Also it didn't like CDRs. Away it went. The Philips CD850 II (I think it was - I might still have it somewhere) had a really lovely easy smoothness to it but a rolled off treble as I recall and deep but soft bass. I think it was either the first or second Bitstream model. It reminded me for all the world of a suspended TT from the 80s with an A&R P77 cartridge. Miles away from a solid and dynamic Rega 3 with AT cartridge.
I went through more CDPs than any other component. Sony, Technics, Yamaha, Marantz, Philips, Denon models, all from budget to midrange. That should tell you something! The well regarded Arcams were out of my budget and I didn't try the Rotel 855BX (?) and 965BX either.
My favourite was probably the Philips CD502 with TDA1540 chip I scored for $40. NZ has never had the vast second hand market of the UK and $40 was a very good price for a used deck that originally sold for a budget $400. It was the nearest I got in enjoyment to my Planar 3 and was the most neutral sounding. Most were either glarey or dull, and/or coloured in some way. The Denon 1020 or something got excellent reviews but was too lean and so artificially pacy that it appeared to trip over itself! Also it didn't like CDRs. Away it went. The Philips CD850 II (I think it was - I might still have it somewhere) had a really lovely easy smoothness to it but a rolled off treble as I recall and deep but soft bass. I think it was either the first or second Bitstream model. It reminded me for all the world of a suspended TT from the 80s with an A&R P77 cartridge. Miles away from a solid and dynamic Rega 3 with AT cartridge.
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I do not know if Philips created accurate sounding machines back then or not so I will not make comment on your statement to that effect. But I do know that in the same system the proceeding two players I inserted (Denon then Arcam) did not sound harsh and screechy as per the Philips. If the Denon and Arcam were tonaly incorrect as you seem to assert, then I say good!
Nye Samuel
Herr Katze
Mike P
Trade: Pickwell Audio
I'm going to have to update the above to include my recently aquired Marantz CD12 transport and DA12 DAC which I'm finding utterly beguiling.
puddlesplasher
pfm Member
Curious as the difference you got with adding a hicap to the cdi. Only asking as I was considering doing myself.
Thanks
Thanks
mega lord
Centre tapped
At one time I had seven psu's on my Naim CD3.5 The original for everything before the dac chip, three for the dac chip, one for the pfm flea powered tentlabs clock and two for the anologue stages.
Now I only have five Bypassed the anologue stage so two became redundant. You can't have enough psu's.
The original for everything before the dac chip, three for the dac chip, one for the pfm flea powered tentlabs clock and two for the anologue stages. Now I only have five
Bypassed the anologue stage so two became redundant. You can't have enough psu's.