Hi, I'm looking to buy a new CD player soon, to replace my old (very cheap)
Sony one, which finally seems to have stopped being able to play most of my
CDs (yes I have tried cleaning the lens...). I have around £200-300 to
spend, my requirements are fairly straightforward: 1) It must sound good
(especially, but not soley with electronic dance music), and 2) it should
ideally have optical out, so that I can make digital copies on my portable
minidisc, which has no co-ax connector.

CD players I have shortlisted for audition (in order of increasing price)
a

* Marantz CD5400 OSE (cheap at around £150, has had good reviews)
* NAD C521 BEE (very tempting offering from a respected make, though it
doesn't have optical out...)
* Cambridge Audio Azur 640C (looks good value for what you get, and has had
fantastic reviews - looks v.tempting)
* Nad C542 (possibly my front-runner, though is at the upper end of my price
range)
* Arcam CD62 (No longer being made, but Richer sounds are doing this for
under £300 i.e. £100 off, and I've heard Arcam players can be very good...)
* Rotel RCD-02 (meant to be very good, but is a bit out of my price range
and has no optical out)
* Arcam CD73 T(out of my price range really, but would like to auditon for
comparison purposes)

Could anyone a) comment on these choices and b) maybe suggest some other
players I should consider in this price range

Thank you! :-)

Paul

Paul Groves wrote:

Could anyone a) comment on these choices and b) maybe suggest some
other players I should consider in this price range

I can't comment on your choices, but you might like to take a look at the
recent threads on using an external DAC with a cheap player. I just went
down this route a few days ago and I'm very pleased with the improvement -
I'm hard-pushed to tell the difference between my DAC and a mate's £500
Arcam player. (My player is a Schneider DVD player which sounds positively
feeble on its own.)

Search for 'dac' on eBay, and view Completed Items to see recent prices. In
the last few weeks, there were two or three deals at £50-100, a good
selection at £100-200, and about the same again up to £400. My feeling is
that the law of diminishing returns kicks in beyond about £150. Perhaps
others will comment on the likely differences between a used DAC and the
players you're interested in.


--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery

Thing is I would still need a new CD player/transport if I took the external
DAC route, as I think the lens or laser is faulty on my existing player (it
is quite old), as it no longer reads 70% of my discs (which play fine on
other people's players)

Thanks for the advice, though!

P.

Wally wrote:
Paul Groves wrote:

Could anyone a) comment on these choices and b) maybe suggest some
other players I should consider in this price range

I can't comment on your choices, but you might like to take a look at
the recent threads on using an external DAC with a cheap player. I
just went down this route a few days ago and I'm very pleased with
the improvement - I'm hard-pushed to tell the difference between my
DAC and a mate's £500 Arcam player. (My player is a Schneider DVD
player which sounds positively feeble on its own.)

Search for 'dac' on eBay, and view Completed Items to see recent
prices. In the last few weeks, there were two or three deals at
£50-100, a good selection at £100-200, and about the same again up to
£400. My feeling is that the law of diminishing returns kicks in
beyond about £150. Perhaps others will comment on the likely
differences between a used DAC and the players you're interested in.

Paul Groves wrote:

Thing is I would still need a new CD player/transport if I took the
external DAC route, as I think the lens or laser is faulty on my
existing player (it is quite old), as it no longer reads 70% of my
discs (which play fine on other people's players)

I know - but cheap players are *very* cheap. About a year ago, my Schneider
player was £100 at Asda, later reduced to £70. There are loads of cheap DVD
players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical out). If you got a DAC for
around £100 and added a player for £50, I'm doubtful that you'd be able to
approach the quality in a £150 player.

In other words, you could spend the lower end of your budget, and get
something that is conceivably as good as, if not better than, what you might
find for your upper limit. Superb bang for the buck, basically.


--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery

Wally wrote:

... There are
loads of cheap DVD players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical
out).

Just had a re-read of KeithG's comments about the DVD player at Lidl - 38
quid and has optical out.


--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery

Wally wrote:
Wally wrote:

... There are
loads of cheap DVD players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical
out).

Just had a re-read of KeithG's comments about the DVD player at Lidl
- 38 quid and has optical out.

I thought the optical out on DVD players was not passing out the same
information as the optical out on a CD player - isn't it trying to output
Dolby 5.1 or DTS info for a 5/6 speaker setup? Or is that only when its
playing DVDs?

I actually already have a DVD player, a Toshiba SE-220, which is fine for
DVDs, but the sound quality on CDs is noticeably worse than my old budget
Sony player, so I guess this might be an option.

cheers

Paul

Wally wrote:
Wally wrote:

... There are
loads of cheap DVD players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical
out).

Just had a re-read of KeithG's comments about the DVD player at Lidl
- 38 quid and has optical out.

I thought the optical out on DVD players was not passing out the same
information as the optical out on a CD player - isn't it trying to output
Dolby 5.1 or DTS info for a 5/6 speaker setup? Or is that only when its
playing DVDs?

I actually already have a DVD player, a Toshiba SE-220, which is fine for
DVDs, but the sound quality on CDs is noticeably worse than my old budget
Sony player, so I guess this might be an option.

cheers

Paul

Wally wrote:

... There are
loads of cheap DVD players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical
out).

Just had a re-read of KeithG's comments about the DVD player at Lidl - 38
quid and has optical out.


--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery

Paul Groves wrote:

Thing is I would still need a new CD player/transport if I took the
external DAC route, as I think the lens or laser is faulty on my
existing player (it is quite old), as it no longer reads 70% of my
discs (which play fine on other people's players)

I know - but cheap players are *very* cheap. About a year ago, my Schneider
player was £100 at Asda, later reduced to £70. There are loads of cheap DVD
players at 50 quid or less (but check for optical out). If you got a DAC for
around £100 and added a player for £50, I'm doubtful that you'd be able to
approach the quality in a £150 player.

In other words, you could spend the lower end of your budget, and get
something that is conceivably as good as, if not better than, what you might
find for your upper limit. Superb bang for the buck, basically.


--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery

Thing is I would still need a new CD player/transport if I took the external
DAC route, as I think the lens or laser is faulty on my existing player (it
is quite old), as it no longer reads 70% of my discs (which play fine on
other people's players)

Thanks for the advice, though!

P.

Wally wrote:
Paul Groves wrote:

Could anyone a) comment on these choices and b) maybe suggest some
other players I should consider in this price range

I can't comment on your choices, but you might like to take a look at
the recent threads on using an external DAC with a cheap player. I
just went down this route a few days ago and I'm very pleased with
the improvement - I'm hard-pushed to tell the difference between my
DAC and a mate's £500 Arcam player. (My player is a Schneider DVD
player which sounds positively feeble on its own.)

Search for 'dac' on eBay, and view Completed Items to see recent
prices. In the last few weeks, there were two or three deals at
£50-100, a good selection at £100-200, and about the same again up to
£400. My feeling is that the law of diminishing returns kicks in
beyond about £150. Perhaps others will comment on the likely
differences between a used DAC and the players you're interested in.