Am I the only one happy with the sound of a CD player?

[johnsonad]

I'm quite happy with the sound of my old Meridian 508.24 CD player. It's about 20 years old and sounds great to anyone who has heard my system. Is anyone else out there happy with the sound of their player?  I admit it's a lot of system synergy but the Meridian has out lasted any single piece of gear in my system.

 

[Grainger49]

I feed an original Proceed PCD (circa 1990) into an Ack! dAck! and I am very pleased with the sound.  I like my LPs better, but the CD playing system is awfully good too.

 

[johnsonad]

It's the ease of CD's and the dead quiet background that keep me coming back (--not to mention this player sounds very good).  And depending on the recording, that makes all the difference. I'll give an example. One of my favorite CD's is the FIM K2HD disc of Cantate Domino (1976 Proprius). They did a remarkable job on this CD. Saturday I borrowed an original vinyl copy of it to compare. After cleaning it on my trusty VPI 16 it went for a spin.  This copy had horrible surface noise which distracted from the quiet passages of this recording and there was bleed through. An original copy sells for $75 plus depending on where you get it. Now this may be a bad pressing or just not played well in the past. Sadly there was no hidden magic in this recording to one up over the CD copy.

I don't want to start a vinyl vs. digital debate. I'm really interested in if anyone has a CD player that they are happy with? I've had other players of which I quickly sold.

 

[Paully]

I am heavily into LPs these days, but sometimes I wonder if it is worth it...  I love the clean sound of CDs and the sound quality itself can be phenomenal.  And the expense of playing albums can get silly when you get too far into it.  A well recorded CD can be a treasure.

 

[howardnair]

no you are not alone--i have several- aJolida 100a fully modded by partsconnexion i believe with a tube stage-a Musichall 25.5 that i modded-and a Elekit  TU884 tube cd player-i like them all -a good cd is a good listen--also there is a fair amount of music out there that may never make it to vinyl--

 

[kgoss]

I'm very happy with my Marantz SA8004 player.  It is an SACD player and has a USB input so I also use it as a DAC for my ripped music library played back via JRiver on a computer.  I think vinyl is a bit better but digital sounds awfully good through this player too.

 

[4krow]

  I got kinda lucky too. I have Cayin tubed output CD player, not sure of the model. I also like an old Yamaha SACD player, but I never have horse raced the two of them. Seems that the Cayin has more musical ability than the Yamaha.

 

[Woid]

As much as I hate to admit it, I cannot hear a significant difference in sound quality between my heavily modified Oracle turntable vs. my Sony SACD player from the 1990's.  I have a well recorded LP of John Klemmer "Touch" along with the CD version that I have listened to literally a hundred times and while they sound slightly different, it is extremely subtle.  Agree with all the above, CD's are cheaper, have a black sound backround, and much more convenient!

 

[Grainger49]

Lloyd, I'll give you $100 for the Oracle!

(Tongue in cheek)  But seriously, what a great table/arm/cartridge combination! 

 

[Tickwomp]

Probably not, but I'll never go back. 

For me, music server forever blows the CD player in the weeks in both SQ and convenience!

 

[Zimmer64]

I listen to my 47labs kit player on weekdays. And I really enjoy its sound, which is better than my Denon DVD3910 that I use for the few SACD I have. Weekends is vinyl mostly.

@Tickwomp: How do you like your Audio Note Dac? Would you recommend it?

 

[Woid]

Lloyd, I'll give you $100 for the Oracle!

(Tongue in cheek)  But seriously, what a great table/arm/cartridge combination! 

Thanks Grainger!  But unless I am down to my last buck, I could never let it go for any amount of money due to sentimental reasons.

 

[4krow]

Tickwomp,

I too have found a music server with a memory that is just what I always wanted. Funny how the concept from Olive, Yamaha, and few others didn't quite take like it should have. I will never regret the small amount that I paid for my Yamaha MCX1000.

 

[corndog71]

I have an original Rega Planet that's still going strong over 14 years later.  Of course paired with my V-DAC Mk II it sounds even better!  But then I don't listen to CDs very often.  I just add the songs to my hard drive and put the CD in storage. 

 

[4krow]

I owned a Rega Apollo, and I have to say, it really is one of my favorite CD players. Yup, should have kept that one.

 

[earwaxxer]

I had a Rega Apollo as well. Nice piece of kit for the bucks. Computer bested it. Funny thing is, I sold it for MORE than I paid for it! I guy here in Tucson bought it from me (we met at a Starbucks on Broadway and Kolb) - right down the street from where I bought it (wholesale) - Brett Interiors - Greg - I thought you would like that story!

 

[4krow]

The only thing that I sold for more than I paid was my soul.

 

[earwaxxer]

The only thing that I sold for more than I paid was my soul.

I did that too... I'm fixin to buy it back!

 

[Paully]

A friend actually bought somebody's soul in college.  The seller needed money pretty badly.  So he sold it to my friend for $20 and signed a piece of paper to that effect.  The bad thing was that the seller was actually the son of a preacher and he regretted being so flippant pretty quickly and was always trying to buy it back.  But my friend kept the paper in his wallet and whenever they would drink he would pull it out and say "Hey Sam, I got your soul!".  And it really did torment the guy.  I believe he still has that piece of paper.

 

[4krow]

I went to camp with a kid whose father was a cobbler. He answered the phone once, "Sissons shoe service, how's your sole?" This kid was gifted with that kind of humor every moment it seemed.