What was/is your favourite CD player
- Thread starter snaphappybob
- Start date
sunbeamgls
pfm Member
To answer the OP - my Linn DSM, plays ripped CDs better than a CD player.
Minio
Kind of Sort of Not really...
I am currently comparing the aforementioned Naim CDX2.2 with a more reasonably priced Arcam CD 8se.
I can understand how the CDX2.2 does not appeal to all ears. It is the leaner and more accurate sounding player which seems to favour more natural acoustic recordings but could be construed as harsh on more complex studio material.
On the other hand, the Arcam tries to please everyone with a more generous (less accurate) lower mid. It succeeds in this trick by getting everything else pretty much right and being more friendly to a wider range of music styles.
But. Miles Davis ' Kind of Blue is ultimately more realistic on the Naim. To name but one musical example.
I can understand how the CDX2.2 does not appeal to all ears. It is the leaner and more accurate sounding player which seems to favour more natural acoustic recordings but could be construed as harsh on more complex studio material.
On the other hand, the Arcam tries to please everyone with a more generous (less accurate) lower mid. It succeeds in this trick by getting everything else pretty much right and being more friendly to a wider range of music styles.
But. Miles Davis ' Kind of Blue is ultimately more realistic on the Naim. To name but one musical example.
jtgofish
pfm Member
All those Sonys but not a CDP715 .Which is a cracker and sounds better than any of the ES or ESD players .It sounds uncommonly clear, open and 3D.
Gervais Cote
Predator
If I may ask, is it difficult to bypass the inboard DAC of a Mimik and install a RCA digital output ?
I’m asking because I have one and always got the feeling I can get more out of it but I didn’t know how until I read modded Mimik !
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
My Mimik already has a coax digital output on BNC, I have seen a couple in pictures with no digital output, odd, not sure why Linn would do that when they had a very posh DAC in the range at the same time... it’s a clock mod on mine, definitely improves it, but it’s still a little cool and detached to my ears as a stand-alone machine... now as a transport into a decent DAC, it’s very good indeed. I think if Linn would have included the clock sync function on the Mimik (and they could’ve done, it is the same PCB as the Karik after all), it’d have dented sales of the Karik, because it’d have become the one to buy with the Numerik!
Mike P
Trade: Pickwell Audio
And you know this because you've got significant experience with all the ES and ESD players on that list?....
flatpopely
Prog Rock/Moderator
Have you heard a CDP338ESD?
Cereal Killer
432
Mission DAD7000
Micromega T-Drive/T-DAC
Meridian 588
Linn Ikemi
Micromega T-Drive/T-DAC
Meridian 588
Linn Ikemi
Sonci
pfm Member
What is it about the SONY that I try so many of them ?
Well, this company is really fascinating. While many companies had 2-3-4 models of CD players in all their history, Sony had HUNDREDS.
Even if most of them look identical, they are NOT identical. Their faceplates differ by 2 buttons or 2 millimeters. So it was not part sharing or economies of scale that drove this proliferation.
They were mutating like Drosophila flies. And proliferating like rabbits in Australia. Amazing. I haven't seen any part sharing at all. Every PCB is different and so on.
Sony was the company which made their products in the most solid way, most honest, without pretending to be Burmeister or Jadis.
Some people can sit motionless for hours and stare in the fire place. I can stare into KSS190A mechanism loading and unloading the CD in the same way as the fire watchers.
http://lampizator.eu/lampizator/REFERENCES/Sony338ESD/Sony CDP338ESD.html
Well, this company is really fascinating. While many companies had 2-3-4 models of CD players in all their history, Sony had HUNDREDS.
Even if most of them look identical, they are NOT identical. Their faceplates differ by 2 buttons or 2 millimeters. So it was not part sharing or economies of scale that drove this proliferation.
They were mutating like Drosophila flies. And proliferating like rabbits in Australia. Amazing. I haven't seen any part sharing at all. Every PCB is different and so on.
Sony was the company which made their products in the most solid way, most honest, without pretending to be Burmeister or Jadis.
Some people can sit motionless for hours and stare in the fire place. I can stare into KSS190A mechanism loading and unloading the CD in the same way as the fire watchers.
http://lampizator.eu/lampizator/REFERENCES/Sony338ESD/Sony CDP338ESD.html
GREAT topic ... actually during the early Covid-19 lockdown times I have started listen to CD again and now it's approx. 50% of my listening time with digital sources were I turn on the CD player.
First CD-player was a new Denon DCD-500 back in 1987, the most affordable Denon player at that time. First CDs I bought were Peter Gabriel "So" and Simple Minds "Live in the City of Light". Was really excited until in 1988/1989 met a guy owing a LP12, we did a direct comparison and afterwards I wanted something else ...
Wanted to buy a Naim CDi or the Arcam double box CD player (forgot the name) but they were financially too far off at the time so I bought in 1991 a new Marantz CD-94 mkII which I still own and use. Really love that thing, went through certain minor repairs in the early 2010s, right now it's my most used CD player since it has a digital out and I can use it as simple CD-drive and connect it to my DACs (OPPO DAC and Soekris DAC) once in a while.
In 2003 acquired a full 2nd hand Naim Olive set up with a CD2 included. The CD2 plays on the same level like the CD94 and thankfully never had any issues despite changing the puck.
Finally around 2010/2011 gathered a full Naim Olive reference set up (52/SC/135s) from different 2nd hand sources with a CDS2/XPS and a CDi as CD players. The CDi is still in original, excellent shape while the CDS2 now needs a repair (it's not the drive, developed a nasty hum in one channel) but I have hesitated to do so since I have the other 3 CD players mentioned available.
There were times when I thought soundwise the CDS2 was clearly ahead to the other 3 players but this could be an auto suggestion since later I performed serious tests between the CD players and had to notice all players perform at the same sound quality level. Of course there are sound differences (especially between the Marantz and the Naims) but for me it comes down to personal taste and there is no clear winner.
My 2 cents, McN
First CD-player was a new Denon DCD-500 back in 1987, the most affordable Denon player at that time. First CDs I bought were Peter Gabriel "So" and Simple Minds "Live in the City of Light". Was really excited until in 1988/1989 met a guy owing a LP12, we did a direct comparison and afterwards I wanted something else ...
Wanted to buy a Naim CDi or the Arcam double box CD player (forgot the name) but they were financially too far off at the time so I bought in 1991 a new Marantz CD-94 mkII which I still own and use. Really love that thing, went through certain minor repairs in the early 2010s, right now it's my most used CD player since it has a digital out and I can use it as simple CD-drive and connect it to my DACs (OPPO DAC and Soekris DAC) once in a while.
In 2003 acquired a full 2nd hand Naim Olive set up with a CD2 included. The CD2 plays on the same level like the CD94 and thankfully never had any issues despite changing the puck.
Finally around 2010/2011 gathered a full Naim Olive reference set up (52/SC/135s) from different 2nd hand sources with a CDS2/XPS and a CDi as CD players. The CDi is still in original, excellent shape while the CDS2 now needs a repair (it's not the drive, developed a nasty hum in one channel) but I have hesitated to do so since I have the other 3 CD players mentioned available.
There were times when I thought soundwise the CDS2 was clearly ahead to the other 3 players but this could be an auto suggestion since later I performed serious tests between the CD players and had to notice all players perform at the same sound quality level. Of course there are sound differences (especially between the Marantz and the Naims) but for me it comes down to personal taste and there is no clear winner.
My 2 cents, McN
Minio
Kind of Sort of Not really...
Much love for the quaint old eighties format still here on this thread.
Funny to think how back in its introduction there was considerable animosity from the analogue die hards.
Even today, the sound for your pound is hard to beat. With golden oldie players going for beer money and cds going for pocket change.
It's proper hifi with high end sound quality, hard to beat at the price.
Funny to think how back in its introduction there was considerable animosity from the analogue die hards.
Even today, the sound for your pound is hard to beat. With golden oldie players going for beer money and cds going for pocket change.
It's proper hifi with high end sound quality, hard to beat at the price.
I have the 915 which apparently adds a bit of 'fullness' to the sound over the 715. It's a nice listen but isn't really in the same league as my 337 or X7 though. Best player I've heard personally is MikeP's 555 - far from 'stock' though'!
I bought a CDP-101 on the back of a quick listen to Dire Straits (Love Over Gold I think) as I was desperate to get away from pops and crackles etc. Alongside my LP12 (a fairly basic one) it was horrendous in comparison as was every player I listened to until the Karik/Numerik was launched. That's when I got into CD albeit eventually via a Naim player and I have never looked back... have 12,000 plus CDs. I know streaming and downloads are the modern way and the future, but give me a good cheap physical format like CD any day.
mega lord
Centre tapped
That 's quite a collection. How do you choose which one to play ?
LOL, I actually have about 500 in the 'current playlist' collection and the rest filed in alphabetical order. What's fun is my friends come round (and their teenage kids) and they love pulling a few CDs off the shelves that they haven't heard for years (or have heard about and never listened to in the case of the kids) and we have a listening session.... that doesn't seem to happen with streaming to the same level.
Killersteve
pfm Member
Naim CD3
Naim CD5
Naim CDX2
Naim CDS3
Rega Isis
Rega Apollo -R
Naim CD5
Naim CDX2
Naim CDS3
Rega Isis
Rega Apollo -R