CD player need upgrading?

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jonbhoy67

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Is my CD player getting the best from my headphones?
I am currently considering uprading my CD player to get more out of my headphones. My question is whether the CD player I use just now is sufficient enough for the other gear I use.

My headphones are AKG Q701 (Quincy Jones) and I use a graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear with Musical Fidelity power source to drive them.

My CD player is a Marantz CD6004 and, while I still think it's a terrific player for the money, I'm not sure it's on the same level as the Headphones and certainly not the amp.

My budget of around £400 dictates that I would need to go for a used CD player. I have been considering a Cyrus CD8 SE2, Naim CD5i or a Roksan Kandy K2.

Ultimately, my question is whether there would be a difference noticeable enough to justify the £400+ spend. I'm not even 100% sure the Q701s are of the same quality as these CD players.

Any advice would be much appreciated as £400 is a fairly large indulgence for me and I just want to make sure it's one that is justified.

Thanks in advance, John.
 
I'm not sure if your going to get much more performance for £400.the marantz is quite capable and it'll take a very good cd player for improvement.If you really want to try something different,I think (if your player is in good working order)you should consider an external dac and use your marantz player as the transport via coaxial or optical cables,chord mojo,arcam ir dac are a couple to start you off with,but go and audition before you buy and see if it's worthwhile,digital sources are all pretty good these days and I doubt you'll hear much difference from the dacs to the cd player,new cans is probably the best bang for your buck,but looking at your gear it shouldn't sound to shabby at all.
 

MajorFubar

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You've already been given great advice above, but I will add that if you do buy something different, be it a DAC or a different player, check if you can return it if you really can't tell much difference from your current set-up, or if you prefer your current set-up. Might be worth trying something out on loan if you can. I realise all of this is very diffucult if you're going to buy second hand; it just sort of relies on the hope you'll get your money back if you sell it on.
 

radiorog

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Consider a Cambridge audio 651c (now £300) I would expect its a significant upgrade.

Maybe rega appollo r (above budget though)

Your other choices could be fine but I've not heard them.
 

jonbhoy67

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Thanks for the replies guys, all advice appreciated. I ended up going down the new CD player route and have opted for a Primare CD22 which I cannot wait to arrive on Thu!*biggrin* I felt the bang for my buck eclipsed all the others I mentioned.

I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison rather than listening several hours apart.*music2* I'll update with my findings if anyone has any interest in hearing a critique on the CD22 once I've had a proper listen.

Thanks again,

John.
 

MajorFubar

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jonbhoy67 said:
I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison

The difference may slap you in the face or it may not. I expect it will, because the expectation-bias you will have when upgrading a four year old £300 CD player to a new one costing four times the price is completely unavoidable. I'm not even nearly suggesting your new player won't really sound better, but the odds are stacked hugely in its favour before you even receive the box. It's completely natural and you can't avoid it or circumvent it unless you listen blind and get someone to swap between machines without telling you which one you're listening to.

But none of that matters really...just enjoy :)
 

Thompsonuxb

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jonbhoy67 said:
Thanks for the replies guys, all advice appreciated. I ended up going down the new CD player route and have opted for a Primare CD22 which I cannot wait to arrive on Thu!*biggrin* I felt the bang for my buck eclipsed all the others I mentioned.

I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison rather than listening several hours apart.*music2* I'll update with my findings if anyone has any interest in hearing a critique on the CD22 once I've had a proper listen.

?

Thanks again,

John.

Good call!

Its gonna make the rest of your kit look 'cheap' though......so, this may just be the beginning.

For a second there I thought these 'experts' would talk you into the standalone DAC route...... *sad*

I genuinely look forward to your findings.
 

MajorFubar

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Thompsonuxb said:
For a second there I thought these 'experts' would talk you into the standalone DAC route...... *sad*

Go on, indulge us...we could do with a laugh after the demise of Bowie...why would that have been so wrong, as opposed to being just an alternative route to the same solution? You'll happily believe some sharlatan of a manufacturer who sells you directional speaker wire, but the DAC manufacturers are taking the piss?
 

Thompsonuxb

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I say.... Steady on Major.

If the OP is happy to move on and can confirm I'll indulge you......to be fair it was coveded in that last thread.
 

radiorog

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MajorFubar said:
jonbhoy67 said:
I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison

The difference may slap you in the face or it may not. I expect it will, because the expectation-bias you will have when upgrading a four year old £300 CD player to a new one costing four times the price is completely unavoidable. I'm not even nearly suggesting your new player won't really sound better, but the odds are stacked hugely in its favour before you even receive the box. It's completely natural and you can't avoid it or circumvent it unless you listen blind and get someone to swap between machines without telling you which one you're listening to.

But none of that matters really...just enjoy :)

This is absolute rubbish. Don't listen to major F., if you can't tell the difference between certain CD players, for example a marantz and a Cambridge azur, then you are as good as deaf and should buy a £20 boombox from sainsburys.
 

NSA_watch_my_toilet

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In fact, his advice was already going in the right direction, I would have said it with other terms (because I'm not englandish), but it's as he sais it. And stop insulting peoples if they are not sharing your beliefs please. It's not the first time we are reading such behaviors in a short amount of time and it's really disturbing to read such agressivity. It remembers me of a special blog in germany where they threatened to kill a specialist that was (competent) discussing hifi myths.

What he's referring about is knowned as "phénomène de l'attente" (sorry, I don't know how you translate this exact scientifical terms in english), that will let you have an expectation for something. It has a good impact on the perception peoples have on sounds. This could although be triggered by champaign colored cases, massive aluminium fronts with vu meters and higher casing dimensions.*crazy*
 

matt49

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NSA_watch_my_toilet said:
What he's referring about is knowned as "phénomène de l'attente" (sorry, I don't know how you translate this exact scientifical terms in english), that will let you have an expectation for something.

= expectation bias
 

MajorFubar

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radiorog said:
This is absolute rubbish. Don't listen to major F., if you can't tell the difference between certain CD players, for example a marantz and a Cambridge azur, then you are as good as deaf and should buy a £20 boombox from sainsburys.

That's good, insult two people in one post.
 

radiorog

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MajorFubar said:
radiorog said:
This is absolute rubbish. Don't listen to major F., if you can't tell the difference between certain CD players, for example a marantz and a Cambridge azur, then you are as good as deaf and should buy a £20 boombox from sainsburys.

That's good, insult two people in one post.

Who was the second? And I wasn't insulting you, just stating that your comment was totally absurd. Let's say I have two fruit, a banana and a lemon. I try the banana first, it tastes good, like a banana should. Then next onto the lemon. Now, I know lemon are really sour, so there is huge expectation bias towards it tasting that way. I stick the lemon in my mouth and bite down hard. Wowzers!!! That's sour! Now you can't tell me that the only reason that lemon tastes sour is because I was expecting it.
 

radiorog

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NSA_watch_my_toilet said:
In fact, his advice was already going in the right direction, I would have said it with other terms (because I'm not englandish), but it's as he sais it. And stop insulting peoples if they are not sharing your beliefs please. It's not the first time we are reading such behaviors in a short amount of time and it's really disturbing to read such agressivity. It remembers me of a special blog in germany where they threatened to kill a specialist that was (competent) discussing hifi myths.

What he's referring about is knowned as "phénomène de l'attente" (sorry, I don't know how you translate this exact scientifical terms in english), that will let you have an expectation for something. It has a good impact on the perception peoples have on sounds. This could although be triggered by champaign colored cases, massive aluminium fronts with vu meters and higher casing dimensions.*crazy*

If you're talking to me, it wasn't an insult. I just found it really bad advice to give to someone who is looking for some guidance, so I made it clear how innacurate I thought the comment was. And you are way off the mark too if you think expectation bias is really significant here.
 

MeanandGreen

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radiorog said:
MajorFubar said:
radiorog said:
This is absolute rubbish. Don't listen to major F., if you can't tell the difference between certain CD players, for example a marantz and a Cambridge azur, then you are as good as deaf and should buy a £20 boombox from sainsburys.

That's good, insult two people in one post.

Who was the second? And I wasn't insulting you, just stating that your comment was totally absurd. Let's say I have two fruit, a banana and a lemon. I try the banana first, it tastes good, like a banana should. Then next onto the lemon. Now, I know lemon are really sour, so there is huge expectation bias towards it tasting that way. I stick the lemon in my mouth and bite down hard. Wowzers!!! That's sour! Now you can't tell me that the only reason that lemon tastes sour is because I was expecting it.

I think a better example instead of bananas and lemons would be glasses of water.

Lets say you have a glass of tap water and a glass of mineral water and you know which is which before tasting them both.

Then you have the same two glasses and you don't know which is which and you taste them both.

Do you think the conclusions from both taste tests would share the same result?

I think that like water CD Player differences are subtle at best. Water is water a CD Player is a CD Player.
 

chebby

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I've just noticed that the OP has already found his own solution - and ordered the goods - about 12 hours ago.

Let's just wish him lots of enjoyment with the new kit when it arrives.
 

MajorFubar

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chebby said:
I've just noticed that the OP has already found his own solution - and ordered the goods - about 12 hours ago.

Let's just wish him lots of enjoyment with the new kit when it arrives.
Looking forward to his feedback.
 

Electro

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jonbhoy67 said:
Thanks for the replies guys, all advice appreciated. I ended up going down the new CD player route and have opted for a Primare CD22 which I cannot wait to arrive on Thu!*biggrin* I felt the bang for my buck eclipsed all the others I mentioned.

I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison rather than listening several hours apart.*music2* I'll update with my findings if anyone has any interest in hearing a critique on the CD22 once I've had a proper listen.

Thanks again,

John.
Excellent choice !

Primare Cd players are fantastic, many years ago I used to have a Primare D30.2 ( original red display) and I loved it , I would expect you to notice an improvement over the Marantz, I look forward to the review . *smile*
 
Electro said:
jonbhoy67 said:
Thanks for the replies guys, all advice appreciated. I ended up going down the new CD player route and have opted for a Primare CD22 which I cannot wait to arrive on Thu!*biggrin* I felt the bang for my buck eclipsed all the others I mentioned.

I still have the Marantz and look forward to making a side by side comparison rather than listening several hours apart.*music2* I'll update with my findings if anyone has any interest in hearing a critique on the CD22 once I've had a proper listen.

Thanks again,

John.
Excellent choice !

Primare Cd players are fantastic, many years ago I used to have a Primare D30.2 ( original red display) and I loved it , I would expect you to notice an improvement over the Marantz, I look forward to the review . *smile*

I too would welcome his comments. I've had a Primare pre power combo in the past but never did try their CD players (had my Stello transport DAC combo at the time). He certainly will not be worried by build quality.
 

jonbhoy67

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Seriously, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve here. 1 more sleep!!

Unfortunately I won't be home until fairly late tomorrow to listen. I'll update over the weekend once I have a good few hours under my belt.

On a side note, there's one thing we all have in common, the very thing that's brought us all to this forum... Our love of music. Can't we all just remember that and play nice?
 

MrReaper182

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jonbhoy67 said:
Seriously, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve here. 1 more sleep!!

Unfortunately I won't be home until fairly late tomorrow to listen. I'll update over the weekend once I have a good few hours under my belt.

On a side note, there's one thing we all have in common, the very thing that's brought us all to this forum... Our love of music. Can't we all just remember that and play nice?

These people are old grumpy. They don't mean to cause harm with there insults most the time.
 

Freddy58

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MrReaper182 said:
jonbhoy67 said:
Seriously, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve here. 1 more sleep!!

Unfortunately I won't be home until fairly late tomorrow to listen. I'll update over the weekend once I have a good few hours under my belt.

On a side note, there's one thing we all have in common, the very thing that's brought us all to this forum... Our love of music. Can't we all just remember that and play nice?

These people are old grumpy. They don't mean to cause harm with there insults most the time.

Oh shut up! *biggrin*
 

MrReaper182

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MrReaper182 said:
jonbhoy67 said:
Seriously, I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve here. 1 more sleep!!

Unfortunately I won't be home until fairly late tomorrow to listen. I'll update over the weekend once I have a good few hours under my belt.

On a side note, there's one thing we all have in common, the very thing that's brought us all to this forum... Our love of music. Can't we all just remember that and play nice?

These people are old and grumpy. They don't mean to cause harm with their insults most the time.
 
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