CD Players vs DVD Players

[admin_exported]

I’ve just started to put together a new stereo system which consists of a Moon I 5.3 amp and a pair of Art stiletto 6 speakers with Nordost cabling

Now I am in the market for a cd player as I am using my old Denon 3910 dvd player as the source at the moment

So last night I asked my friend to bring his Naim cd5x cd player up to my house so I could see what improvements a £1600 cd player would bring

A short answer NONE if anything the dvd player sounded better even my friend agreed and was very upset when he took it home

I get What Hifi every month and dvd players are not supposed to be good at playing cd `s not compared to cd players costing twice as much

I ‘ve been buying and listening to HiFi for 20 years it’s the first time I ve compared a dvd player against a cd player at playing cd's and now I am glad I did

Now I am starting to wonder if buying a cd player is a good idea and if I do how much I am going to have to spend to get real improvements.

Has anyone any thoughts on this ?

 

[Anonymous]

Tested a £1000 arcam CD player against the Denon 3800 on analogues. Couldn't hear any difference. This was into an Arcam AVR600 and PMC OB1i speakers.

Think it depends on the components you're using. If they're as good as yours then there should be nothing wrong with using the Denon 3910 as a CD player, it was built to be an outstanding deck. I'd stick with it personally.

Sometimes, the rule book is just designed to convince you to upgrade. Let your ears decide. Very difficult to see how you could improve the sound you're getting without upgrading all the components together at huge expense. At the level of kit you're running, without spending alot of money, I'd say you'll get diminishing returns for a not inconsiderable outlay if you tinker with just one part of your stack. If it sounds good, stick with it!

 

[aliEnRIK]

I assume stock mains cables were used?

I too couldnt tell ANY difference between certain cd players until I upgraded the mains cable

 

[lordmortlock]

mikearc:
I've just started to put together a new stereo system which consists of a Moon I 5.3 amp and a pair of Art stiletto 6 speakers

Must sound lovely. Never mind cd vs dvd- my old aiwa tape deck would probably sound sweet through that set up!

 

[JoelSim]

My CD192 sounds a fair bit better than my DV79 with CDs, far more depth and detail rather than just bang, but the DV79 is ok really.

 

[Tonestar1]

I bought a DV135 end of line for £299 instead of £899 as my primary CD source. Couldn't hear anything that came close around the £300 mark. Arcam are known for producing musical players see http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Arcam-DiVA-DV135/

I think I would have to have went £500 plus to get something of the same quality and I would have needed an extra box for DVDs.

This was probably more a case of purchasing at the right time though, I'm sure a £900 CD player would blow it out the water.

I'm very happy using this as my primary source as I think the sound quality is excellent.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it does sound really good but i had set my heart on a top cd player probably the Moon cd 5.3 rs or the Naim cdx2. But now i really can't see the point like i said the Naim cd5x is supposed to be one of the best around the £2000 mark and it wasn't has good has my Denon dvd player i thought it would blow it out of the water what a let down you should have seen my friends face he's thinking of upgrading to the cdx2 but not now

Because of what i ve read in magazines i ve spent a small fortune on having a separate cd player over the years i wish i had compared them before

 

[Craig M.]

maybe you should try listening to more cd players. if you still can't find something you prefer to the denon, bonus! i thought a roksan caspian sounded great with my moon amp.

 

[neil fd2]

Interesting subject. My own hi fi is mostly Cairn gear & for dvd playback i use a Yamaha DVD-S1700. The dac on the Fog 3 cd player has inputs for other sources & because the Yamaha has sacd playback i connected it to the Fog 3. I decided to try it playing an ordinary cd & have to say the cd player sounded marginally better but the differences were so slight most people wouldn`t notice. Couple a decent dvd player to a decent dac & i`m pretty sure it would run an equally priced cd player close plus the bonus of movie playback.