does a cd player sound worse with age ?

[admin_exported]

Hi , i have rotel 930 amp , kef coda 7 speakers and a technics slpg570a cd player all were got about 1997 out of lazyness i put a cd on my xbox through the tv into my amp and its sounds better so does my wee ipod with a simple lead , have things moved on that much or is it knackered .

 

[manicm]

I don't think so, funnily enough I had a Technics CD player for 11 years ('91-'02) and sounded great right till I replaced it (and I bought it secondhand as a durabililty test mule!). Apparently their recent hifi products till they went out were not so great.

But what surprises me is that you think your xBox sounds better.

 

[Anonymous]

it honestly does ,i dont't want it to thats why i wondered if my cd player is on the way out .

 

[SteveR750]

The laser is an optical device, and probably needs cleaning. You can get CD cleaners - a disc with little brushes on it that might help.

 

[Pooh Bear]

Some electronic componenets will degrade with age such as electrolytic caps on the PSU for example. Internal connectors may become oxydised over time and any potentiometers may degrade if not twiddled now and again as the wiper contact degrades.

Obviously mechanical parts such as the complete laser carrier may degarde with use due to wear which may cause tracking to become worse and make ther electronics work harder to track the disc.

Dry joints on the circuit board can also degrade performance causing high resistance connections and this is made worse by differential expansion due to temperature cycling when the unit is turned of and on.. A lot of course depends on the quality of manufacture and of the parts used. Newer units that use lead free solder are much more prone to this.

The answer is basically that yes it can become worse with age but it won't necessarily. You probably wont notice it until you compare it with a new one as the rate will (probably) be very slow.

Twidle as many pots and connections that you can and don't smoke in the same room as the HI-FI. Smoking killed one of my HI FI units.