CD/SA-CD Players
dr1978
Posts: 424
in Electronics
I didn't know that expensive cd players were even a thing before joining this forum. At this point I'm just either playing vinyl or streaming. I do have a pretty extensive cd collection, but no SA-CD's. Would it be worth my while to eventually get a decent player even if I may end up with a very limited selection of SA-CD's?
Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra
Comments
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Absolutely. Even though it seems that streaming is the new thing.....a solid CD player or transport just has an edge over that. IMHO.....But! There are a few builders that have the best of both worlds in one chassis.
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I've also just been learning about DAC. Are you referring to SA-CD players that also have that feature?Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra
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Rabbit hole opening....
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And I guess what I was getting at originally is would I see much improvement in using a dedicated cd player rather than just a dvd or blueray player for listening to cd'sPro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra
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110% yes, absolutely.And I guess what I was getting at originally is would I see much improvement in using a dedicated cd player rather than just a dvd or blueray player for listening to cd's
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Rabbit hole opening....
Tell me about it. I've already pushed my wife just about to the limit. I'm probably a good year away from taking the next step. Or so I think now....Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
Very nice Pioneer player in the FS section
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/179896/pioneer-pd-d9-mkii-675-00-shipped-conus#latest -
And I guess what I was getting at originally is would I see much improvement in using a dedicated cd player rather than just a dvd or blueray player for listening to cd's
Some people will say no. Rest assured, they have never heard a really good CD/SACD player.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Very nice Pioneer player in the FS section
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/179896/pioneer-pd-d9-mkii-675-00-shipped-conus#latest
Not sure if I should consider this helpful or unhelpful! But yeah, I noticed that. Bad timingPro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
I do regret offloading a good chunk of my cd's at our garage sale. I just figured those days were behind me since I didn't really have anywhere to play them besides a car.Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
At what point does a CD/SA-CD player become really good? I'm trying to set a priority list at this point. New front speakers, external app, power supply, cd player, DAC...one item a year would make sense.Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
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Yes. Sacd
And get a dedicated playerMagico M2, JL113v2x2, EMM, ARC Ref 10 Line, ARC Ref 10 Phono, VPIx2, Lyra Etna, Airtight Opus1, Boulder, AQ Wel&Wild, SRA Scuttle Rack, BlueSound+LPS, Thorens 124DD+124SPU, Sennheiser, Metaxas R2R -
Exactly. The Pioneer SACD player for sale here will mop the floor with most universal players. Dare I say it would even compete favorably with an OPPO for sound quality.Some people will say no. Rest assured, they have never heard a really good CD/SACD player.
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Joey, how are you. I got kicked off AA, so I haven’t seen any of your posts. Careful what you say about the parasitic maggot who runs that site. His sycophants are on other audio sites. LOL.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
At what point does a CD/SA-CD player become really good? I'm trying to set a priority list at this point. New front speakers, external app, power supply, cd player, DAC...one item a year would make sense.
Around a grand will get you a good player, around 3k will get you a damn good player. BTW, you don't need a DAC with a good player.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I have an Oppo and a Cambridge SUX. I dont spend nearly as much time with them as I would like. I am mostly listening to FLAC rips. But I am looking forward to getting a Marantz dedicated player as oppesed to the "universals" that I have. Word on the street is a dedicated player will take it to another level.
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That all being said...it's best to do some reading and learning, sure you can go spend tons of money on a disc player or in my case, a nice "budget" player like the CD6004 that does indeed punch well above it's weight in the sound quality department. Sure I could hook up an external DAC to it but honestly it sounds great on it's own. That's my opinion only and thanks to F1nut for pointing me in that direction.
But it also depends on the rest of your system, cables, speakers, pre/pro/receiver? etc. tons of variables. When I first popped up on this forum I was green, now I'm bit more educated...just have an open mind and don't be afraid to take...risks, cause in this world you really never know what a component will do until it's inserted into your audio system and allowed to make itself known.
This^^^^^^^^
You’re talking one piece of gear a year, that sounds like a pretty tight budget, is your system more 2 channel or a 5.1 Home Theater as well?
Your question could be answered better with knowing what else you are running, and knowing what your budget is..
I also agree that Pioneer would be a great starting point, hell you might keep it forever..EDIT: the Pioneer Sold...
For me I wanted a player that would play all my formats ( CD, SACD, DVD-A, BluRay Audio ) I also don’t have the room for multiple players so I have the OPPO 205..
As stated get your read/learn on, find a path that works for you and your wallet..
Polk Audio SDA 2.3tl Fully Hot Rodded. 😎
SVS SB16 X2
Cary SLP-05/Ultimate Upgrade.
Cary SA-500.1 ES Amps
Cary DMS 800PV Network
OPPO UDP 205/ModWright Modification
VPI Scout TT / Dynavector 20x2
Jolida JD9 Fully Modified
VPI MW-1 Cyclone RCM
MIT Shotgun 3 cables throughout / Except TT, and PC’s -
Music Direct has been selling the Marantz SA8005 for $899. That is a solid SACD/CD player and high quality DAC all in one. Build quality and sound quality are above its normal selling price of $1199.
https://www.musicdirect.com/dac/marantz-sa8005-sacdcd-player
The Oppo 205 is also a solid choice for more money as it does more. The sound quality has been improved a little bit from the previous 105.
What you are playing a source into makes a big difference in what source you would see a benefit from. If it is a home theater receiver you could set your sights lower in price for a source component. If it is a dedicated two channel preamp you could go higher. The DAC in a high quality home theater receiver can actually be reasonably good these days so you could stream to that and spend money on better speakers. If you are planning on new speakers that is where I would recommend starting for the most improvement.
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At what point does a CD/SA-CD player become really good? I'm trying to set a priority list at this point. New front speakers, external app, power supply, cd player, DAC...one item a year would make sense.
Depends....how much coin you want to dedicate to each. My advice is to buy used as you'll get more bang for your buck. Audio gear loses value like a new car rolling off the lot.
I would also suggest to get your read on before making decisions. Go through some old posts on subjects your interested in, get a feel for the direction you want to go.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
I appreciate all of the comments. I'm definitely planning on taking it slow and making sure I do my research before any next steps. I have 4 kids (step-daughter in college, step-son in HS, and my two boys who just entered elementary) and we've been making it work with just one income while the little ones were at home. So over the past few years I've basically spent no money on myself aside from the occasional record or concert. Oh, and beer. But I do the budget so that gets slotted in with food and water!
This journey all started when I picked up a set of Polk RM95 at a garage sale for $10. I then opened up the checkbook for a PSW450 sub through facebook marketplace, and then went to Best Buy to pick up an entry level Sony AVR and a cheap audio technica turntable. At that point I thought I was set for life after spending under $350. Then came the itch...
My setup was a decent upgrade from the soundbar that I previously had, but especially for music listening, I wanted more. Within the last couple months my wife picked up a part time job and I got a promotion at work, so that gave me some wiggle room. I did some research here and ended up getting a pair of used S20's, and shortly after that, buying a new S35 center. This was a very noticeable upgrade, but it still seemed like there was still some oomph missing. That's when I started researching AVR's and I realized that I made a mistake by jumping on the Sony (str-dh550). I poked around the classifieds here for a bit, but ended up settling on a Marantz SR5011 from A4L. That should arrive sometime tomorrow. Thanks to Skip and Clipdat for helping point me in the right direction.
So that's where I'm at. I just updated my signature to show my setup. Going forward I'd love to have a 5.1/7.1 HT setup in the living room, and then a separate 2-channel setup dedicated to music. But our current house wouldn't really allow for that. So my plan is to make purchases at a relatively slow rate, that would allow me to go into either direction. There's about a 50/50 chance we'll be moving in a couple years once my step-son graduates high school, so I'm trying to keep the option of two setups open. And I think I'm in a pretty good place for that. Really as far as HT goes, I think I'll be fine once I get the new receiver in place. We aren't that big into movies anyway. So if we move to a new place with more space, I can keep that setup the same and then buy a pair of tower speakers and an amp. Or if we stay in this house long term, I can just put the towers up front and bump the S20's to the side, and RM8's to the back. However, I'm assuming I would need an amp to help drive all of that, and I'm guessing an amp I get for that purpose might not be interchangeable with something I'd get for a 2-channel setup, so that's where I might have to hold off for a while until the house thing gets settled. That's why I'm inquiring about the SACD-CD player (good point Skip on being sure that my music is even available in that format). That or an upgraded turntable will probably be my next move.
That said, from here on out I don't want to make any purchases until I have a firm understanding of what specs I should be looking at, what they mean, how results can differ based on interactions between equipment, room treatments...all of the fun stuff. With that in mind, does anyone know of a good online resource that is dedicated towards teaching this stuff? I love reading the posts here, they're both entertaining and informational, but I'm only learning so much from the bits & pieces and anecdotal stories. I really need a high level explanation, and then detail on each link of the chain. So if anyone has recommendations for that type of material I would greatly appreciate it.
Sorry for the novel!Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
Edit: just saw the OP's equipment list. I'd go with the Marantz SA8005 to go with the Marantz receiver which is a good one. Or go with the Polk Signature S60 floorstanders if looking for a speaker upgrade first instead.
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At what point does a CD/SA-CD player become really good? I'm trying to set a priority list at this point. New front speakers, external app, power supply, cd player, DAC...one item a year would make sense.
Depends....how much coin you want to dedicate to each. My advice is to buy used as you'll get more bang for your buck. Audio gear loses value like a new car rolling off the lot.
I would also suggest to get your read on before making decisions. Go through some old posts on subjects your interested in, get a feel for the direction you want to go.
Advice well taken. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be in the used market for most if not all of the electronic equipment on my list.Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
Don't invest in an SACD player for SACD unless you know the music you listen to is available in the format. Some SACD players like the Marantz SA-14s1 are excellent spinners but also operate as digital hubs for other sources.
Don't throw money at anything until you get your read on concerning all things audio. You are about to venture down a very long road of enlightenment.
^^^^^^
This is excellent advise!
I have the Marantz SA-8005 SACD player and love it but...the cost of SACD's are not cheap. check out the prices of most SACD's here
http://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=topsellers&Top_Count=200&field_cat=4
2 ch- Polk CRS+ * Vincent SA-31MK Preamp * Vincent Sp-331 Amp * Marantz SA8005 SACD * Project Xperience Classic TT * Sumiko Blue Point #2 MC cartridge
HT - Polk 703's * NAD T-758 * Adcom 5503 * Oppo 103 * Samsung 60" series 8 LCD -
And I guess what I was getting at originally is would I see much improvement in using a dedicated cd player rather than just a dvd or blueray player for listening to cd's
It all depends on how good your ears are, and how well you know the music that you listen to.
I have both a Rotel RCD-1072 cd player and a Oppo 103 BR universal player. The Rotel does have a better sound over the Oppo for cd's, but it is not night and day difference better.
If my Rotel broke, I wouldn't be in a big rush to get a new cd player.
I just read the complete thread and in your situation I would get a universal player just to cover all your bases for right now and have flexibility.
I also didn't see a sub listed, that would be my next purchase since it would help with both music and movies. Check out SVS or Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/SVS-SB12-NSD-400-watt-Controlled-Subwoofer/dp/B009F8Y7SO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1514572489&sr=8-3&keywords=svs
https://www.svsound.com/collections/outlet-specials
Post edited by cfrizz onMarantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2 -
Considering the price of a very good standalone player, I just might be looking for a universal to hold me over until we're empty nesters! So thanks for the recommendation.
I do have a Polk PSW450 subwoofer. When it's time to move on from that I'll definitely be checking out svs.Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
Don't invest in an SACD player for SACD unless you know the music you listen to is available in the format. Some SACD players like the Marantz SA-14s1 are excellent spinners but also operate as digital hubs for other sources.
Don't throw money at anything until you get your read on concerning all things audio. You are about to venture down a very long road of enlightenment.
^^^^^^
This is excellent advise!
I have the Marantz SA-8005 SACD player and love it but...the cost of SACD's are not cheap. check out the prices of most SACD's here
http://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=topsellers&Top_Count=200&field_cat=4
Awesome, thanks for the resourcePro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
Edit: just saw the OP's equipment list. I'd go with the Marantz SA8005 to go with the Marantz receiver which is a good one. Or go with the Polk Signature S60 floorstanders if looking for a speaker upgrade first instead.
If I'm sticking with one setup then I probably will just add the S60's. But if I end up going with a 2 channel I'm thinking more along the lines of the lsim705 or 707.Pro-ject 2 Experience SB, OPPO BDP-103, Marantz SR5011, Lounge LCR MKIII, McCormack DNA-HT5, Polk LSiM705, Polk LSiM706C, Polk LSiM702, SVS SB16-Ultra -
The S60's are excellent multipurpose speakers, I love mine. It took me 27 years to upgrade my front speakers, I had to wait until Polk finally made a pair of good looking multipurpose speakers that didn't break my wallet or my back!Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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Glad we could be of help! You are going to love that Marantz, it'll be a night and day difference from your Sony!
Prepare to be blown away!ended up settling on a Marantz SR5011 from A4L. That should arrive sometime tomorrow. Thanks to Skip and Clipdat for helping point me in the right direction.
