Many thanks for the generous offer Jonty, but I do have a Sony CD player (although not as well regarded as yours.
I should have explained my reasons for posting more clearly; Only a few months ago the 555's and 777's were available for far less. Which CD bargains are there out there?
I think that Dave got close in his reply but didn't actually name any names in terms of recommendations.
LP12, Ittok, DV10X5, Phono2(twin supply), P50SA , Art Audio Quintet, LS5, SSC, Rega Ela mk1
Sony cdp xb930, Alessandro ms1
_D_S_J_R_ wrote:Vinyl needs to come close to CD really, but in essence I do understand what you say In past years, cheap CD sounded bleached and tuneless. this is NOT how standard red book digital is supposed to sound, certainly if you listen to a Sony PCM 1610 and later 1630 ADAC's, as well as the best of vintage domestic gear like these Sony's, which I feel I've been blessed enough to be able to do in past years. Thankfully, modern chipsets have drastically improved the potential of low cost digital and I'm going to stick my neck on the block again and say that very few designers of DOMESTIC digital electronic gear really know what to do with it, if bodging a chipset and designing everything from scratch - if they really knew what they were doing, they'd be earning a fortune working in industry and probably being worked to death. I'm thinking of one chap who became something of a guru on PFM, yet he was reported to have bodged and botched his way through so many firmware updates, took his employers practically to the cleaners and then jumped ship to start his own firmware bodging service, leaving his ex-employers to reportedly backwards-engineer their own DACs.
Anyway, the Doc has shown how a neglected audio ic op-amp can ruin what's being done further back in the DAC path and I reckon so many older and cheaper domestic CD players really suffer in power supply cost-cutting.
Yes I see the Chinese employers (if I'm guessing who you are talking about) have a redesigned mkII version of that DAC out now. Amazing it got such good reviews and such a following. Many were saying it really didn't sound good. Didn't he do work for PT at one time?
There's a Eclipse CD101 mk2 going in the bay for £10.00, long time doc recco so should be decent,
failing that Quad CDP-99 or a Sugden SDT-1 are goodies.
I heard an Eclipse player at the Doc's place when he was building up the big triple Cubix Pro speaker system and it did all the basic things properly I thought.
As for fleabay, the prices of loads of gear has rocketed in recent years and some things I once wanted to play with are way beyond my reach now, One such is the AR XB1 turntable, which sounded so good despite the seemingly crummy tonearm, which actually got all its crumminess to artfully balance out when a 1.25g to 1.5g tracking cartridge was fitted and used. Ten years ago, I seem to remember the XB1 (or earlier XA) going for around fifty quid. Now they're several hundred in good condition. Just one example out of many - Tannoy's are another sought after relic from the past.
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way...The time has gone, The song is over, Thought I'd something more to say...
In past years, cheap CD sounded bleached and tuneless. this is NOT how standard red book digital is supposed to sound, certainly if you listen to a Sony PCM 1610 and later 1630 ADAC's, as well as the best of vintage domestic gear like these Sony's, which I feel I've been blessed enough to be able to do in past years. Thankfully, modern chipsets have drastically improved the potential of low cost digital and I'm going to stick my neck on the block again and say that very few designers of DOMESTIC digital electronic gear really know what to do with it, if bodging a chipset and designing everything from scratch - if they really knew what they were doing, they'd be earning a fortune working in industry and probably being worked to death. I'm thinking of one chap who became something of a guru on PFM, yet he was reported to have bodged and botched his way through so many firmware updates, took his employers practically to the cleaners and then jumped ship to start his own firmware bodging service, leaving his ex-employers to reportedly backwards-engineer their own DACs.
