Universal Disc Players

Irrenhaus

Hello:

I am planing to get either a Marantz UD5005 or a Pioneer Elite BDP-53FD, My question is for CD music what will be the best conection HDMI, Optical or Coax. Off course I will use HDMI for movies.

Cheers

BlueFox

Will your AVR play CDs over HDMI? If not I would say coax, with a good digital cable. It eliminates two conversion steps, digital to photon and photon to digital. Of course, if the AVR DAC sucks then it really will not matter which method is used.

Irrenhaus

Yes it does play cds via HDMI at least from the BD player is a Onkyo TX-NR709 and thinking about it I have an old Audio Alchemy DAC in a BOX now if only I can find the power supply so I can dusted and use it.

skrol

I was looking at the Marantz UD-5005 too. I guess some stores are discounting them a little since the UD-5007 is out. I'd be curious what folks think of the unit.

mantis

Using HDMI is a good clean way to run all signals from your Universal player to your AVR or Preamp. But the key here is using a high quality HDMI cable to reduce Jitter as much as possible. You don't have to spend thousands on a HDMI cable but you should get one that passes spec and is built to a high standard.
Using Coax or Optical is no better unless the Jitter is less. Jitter is the key thing that makes or breaks a digital transfer. You have to get the entire signal from A to B in real time. Once thats achieved , your done. On the flip side of that a better cable of any of the 3 will make no difference at all once the gaol is achieved.
Out of those 2 players I'm not sure which one I would buy. I had the Pioneer Elite BDP-53FD and it broke in a weekend. The Marantz looks cool but I have not put my hands on it.
IMO there are only 2 BD Universal players on the market I would consider which is Oppo and Cambridge Audio. I have Installed many Oppo's and love them. I also have done many Cambridge Audio players and I also own one.
So lets talk about spinning cd's , I think this is old school thinking and can be done much better with a PC or streaming device. There is a whole new world way of listening to your favorite music which when done right is superior to using a cd player.
I suggest going down that road and learning about hard drive music , it's the way to go.

Devlon

+1 on the Oppo's

Irrenhaus

Hey thanks for the reply. I have narrow my options to those two players because I am using miles to get them (good part about traveling for work). I do have a NAS on my network with a good chunk of music but I still have many CDs that I dont want to listen to them as MP3's. I can get a dood HDMI cable and try it to see where it goes.

Cheers

Xharlix

I have the Marantz UD 5005 and I use both HDMI and coaxial depending upon the receiver settings. Mostly, I go with coaxial because I have a receiver & HDTV that require a constant HDMI handshake for connection.

mantis

Xharlix wrote: »

I have the Marantz UD 5005 and I use both HDMI and coaxial depending upon the receiver settings. Mostly, I go with coaxial because I have a receiver & HDTV that require a constant HDMI handshake for connection.

What does that even mean?
Ok running a cox Digital connection is fine IF your watching DVD movies or playing music back from CD. Anything else should be done over the HDMI and or 6 channel out analog. This was you get the full audio recorded on Blu ray movies and the full DSD on SACD or transferring DVD AUDIO music disc's.
All HDMI devices require a constant HDMI handshake. It's how it works as much as it sucks.