Other: Big Buck CD Players

[Stephen Swann]

Rudich, Robert A writes:
>
> >ObAside: Is anyone up on CD units in the L200 - L300 range? Comments
> >appreciated on what's worth buying.
>
> Here's the deal as I understand it.  Once you made the leap to CDs, you got
> 95% or more of the improvement.   I was looking into this question myself.

This is almost true.  However, I was researching CD players a while back,
and I came to a few conclusions about the whole mess.

>  I don't know what specific machines you're looking at, so I'll speak in
> generalities.  You can get better D/A converters, more oversampling, multi
> disc handling, and other user features like programing.   Whether these are
> worth the money is a personal choice.   However, you may not hear any
> difference at all in how the discs play and sound.  If that is your intent,
> go listen to several with headphones of yours and a disc you know well.

Too true.  I went to a big electronics store (one in Buffalo called
Stereo Advantage, that had a room with literally about 60 models of
CD players), and I took with me a set of headphones whose sound I
was familiar with, and a number of my favorite CDs.

Here's what I found:

Regardless of price range, you can always hear a *slight* difference
between players.  Above a certain price threshold (like, about US$140)
it's not so much a matter of good or bad, it's a matter of preference.
Some sound sweeter, some sound brighter, some sound more "smooth",
etc, etc, etc.  You really just need to listen to them - but frankly,
even if you just take a shot in the dark, you won't go too far wrong
with with the mid or high end models of any of the major brands (they
all make sucky low end models, too, but in the price range you're
talking about, you won't have to worry about that).  All the mid and
high end models by the major brands sound excellent.

What I found much more significant was the ease of use.  I originally
bought a mid range Phillips, which sounded fine, but had very poor
controls.  Just for example, it had a very noticeable (and
aggravating) delay between the time you punched the "next track" key
and the time that it actually jumped to the next track.  Not so bad if
you're only jumping one tracj, but if you're like me, and like to
track hop, it's maddening.  The Phillips also couldn't be programmed
with the same degree of precision (I like to make tape mixes of my
favorite album tracks, or, more significantly, parts thereof).  So I
returned it for a slightly more expensive Sony, which I've been very
happy with ever since.

The audio rags make far to much of a fuss about the difference of
sound between CD players.  I guess it's because they have to justify
their existence by talking about a "new" topic every issue, so they
follow all the latest D/A converter black magic, and make a big deal
out of it... but frankly, mid range CD players are mostly within 1% of
each other in terms of sound quality, and the high end models are
within about .1% of each other.

>  Don't take something obscure like that Hawkwang I hear tell of.  Then
> compare to something in the range of what you have.  I've done this and got
> very interested in speakers.  I've also read audio fanzine articles that
> reach the same conclusion.
>
> Ironically, some of the more exotic units have more trouble reading discs
> than cheaper ones.   If you really want to improve sound, the speakers are
> still the best place to attack.

There's no reason to buy an exotic CD player.  Exotic speakers, yes.
Exotic ampflifiers, maybe.  For CDs, though, there's really no reason
to get too funky, the sound difference just isn't that great.  As
already noted, you'll get 100x as much difference by changing
speakers.

If I had to make a single recommendation: buy a high end Sony.
They're as reliable as all get-out, and they have very nicely thought
out user controls - something often missing in the more exotic
"audiophile" CD players), and which you'll appreciate more and more
as you own the thing over a period of years.

Steve
swann at panix.com