Cheap CD Player as Transport

[admin_exported]

I've recently bought a DAC, and was considering the purchase of a modestly-priced CD-player (e.g. a Marantz CD5001 for £79.99 in the Richers sale) to tide me over while I consider the transport situation more seriously (or wait for one to come up on Ebay!).

Has anyone got any experience of using a cheap CD-player as a transport? And more specifically:

1. How did it compare to a similarly-priced DVD-player?

2. Any recommendations for make a model? Presumably transport performance doesn't always correlate with sound quality.

I'm currently using a budget DVD-player, but it's driving me mad - it's fiddly to use and you need to switch the television on to program it!

 

[Thaiman]

DVD player should be better than cheap cd player for transport only purpose however the dedicate transport like Theta or Teac P30 would outclass both mentioned above.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I was fed up with the DVD-player (fiddly buttons, and the remote control has stopped working) and decided that £79.99 was cheap enough to just give it a go, so I've answered some of the questions myself.

There is clearly a difference in the sound produced from the DAC when fed with the Marantz CD5001 - the bass has been been completely transformed; it's much deeper, more powerful and textured. Why should that be? Both CD and DVD players fed the same input with the same cable - I'd have thought, given the number of samples per wavelength, that the bass would be the area least affected.

There's possibly less detail in the upper frequencies than with the DVD-player, but that could just be an illusion because the bass is so much more prominent.

 

[Anonymous]

Just wondering, if you are using Digital Coaxial or Optical out from a DVD/CD player to your AVR's DAC, does it really matter what player you are using; eg: a Philips DVD player Vs. Denon 1930?! - obviously I'm talking about sound quality here.

Or will one has to take the Analogue out from the 'good sonics' DVD player and connect it to the CD Input and choose the source as CD in the AVR instead of DVD? Will that work/sound different? - Now am really confused!