Inherited a big CD collection - is a used DVD player best value as a transport to feed DAC?

[antcg1]

A late relative has just bequeathed to me somewhere in the region of 2,000 classical and jazz CDs, for which I'm very grateful and now intend to listen to all of them - expanding my musical knowledge and keeping a selection. My system is streaming-based (iMac - Arcam irDac - Arcam A19 - MA RX1) so I'm now scouting for a decent quality CD transport to play the new music via my irDAC - either coax or optically linked. While searching online it occurred to me that Arcam DVD players on auction sites might offer better value than CD players. Same build quality, same digital outputs. Am I barking up the wrong tree -- or is this the best value solution? I'd really appreciate anyone's thoughts on this. Many thanks.

 

[gbuilder]

Hi Ant,

Good thinking, I can see your logic. Unfortunatly in my experience, CD playback quality from DVD/Blueray players is suprisingly poor, even through the digital outputs. I've tried listening to CDs through several DVD/BR players ranging from budget Samsung/Sony through to mid-range Arcam, Cambridge Audio and Oppo.

I don't know why exactly, and to be honest I'd expect all optical sensors fed more or less directly to a digital output to sound identical. But I tend to find them grainy and in some cases unlistenable.

Luckily for you, CDs are a dying format and so good CD players can be picked up at bargain prices on the acution sites and forum classified pages.

This is all purely from my listening experience, and I'm not saying there aren't DVD players that do a good job of playing CDs.

Cheers

 

[Thropplenoggin]

I wonder if any other forum users have experienced poor CD performance from Blu-Ray/DVD players.

I was considering buying a Sony BD S4100 and using this as a CD transport feeding into a Musical Fidelity V90-Dac, allowing me to spend more on an amp.

Any thoughts?

Throppers

 

[TnA200]

Just a thought, I bought a Sony SACD player (in footer) a while back and find it plays great in both stereo and surround for SACDs and regular RedBook CDs seem to sound even better. It was around £140 so not a huge investment and my experiment in SACD, but I must say I enjoy the sound and it is less work than my capable BD/DVD player as transport.

Just my 10cents worth..

 

[Cypher]

My source is a Sony BDP-490 blurayplayer used with a Musical Fidelity V90 DAC. The sound is really good because of the fantastic DAC.........

I haven't experienced what gbuilder says...............I don't see what the difference could be between a good CD player and a blurayplayer used with a good DAC. A cd player is also just that...........a transport with a built-in DAC.

 

[Overdose]

My source is a Mac mini, I find it more than adequate.

 

[Crocodile]

Not sure if it's what Overdose meant but have you tried the drive in the iMac? If routed through the DAC it should be good enough to judge if a disc is something you want to keep, in which case you can rip it.

PS

Ignore the post heading, just that the PoS software that this forum runs on does my head in sometimes. Well pretty much every time I try to post actually. :roll:

 

[bigfish786]

i've had 6 cd players, and 3 dvd players, and only the arcam dv88 was any good at playing cd's with the kind of quality you would want.

the dv79 i have now is a bit of a let down.. the spec list is impressive, but this does not crossover into music. the rega i have is far far superior to anything i've had before.

one thing of note, the first arcam cd player i bought cost me 30 quid, the original arcam alpha.bought 2nd hand. find a good one of these and you will not be disappointed.

 

[Overdose]

Not sure if it's what Overdose meant but have you tried the drive in the iMac? If routed through the DAC it should be good enough to judge if a disc is something you want to keep, in which case you can rip it.

Pretty much as you have stated, but whether rips or CD playback, the common point is the DAC and in a digital system as this is, the transport is irrelevant with regards sound quality.

 

[robg1976]

Good point but i would strongly disagree with CD a dead format.... Look at vinyl... CD is not dead yet not for a long time

 

[robg1976]

I would say as a Rule. Cd player are always best. A £100 cd player sounds bette rthan a £200 pund DVD player so you have to spend over a £1000 to match lets say a £400 cd player this is purely because it cost more to produce the dvd player so more needs to be spent to match a dedicated CD player

 

[Cypher]

IMO just buy a very good DAC and the transport you are using is not so important anymore. No problem if you use a cheap dvd/bluray player with a digital out (coaxial or optical). The DAC will do most of the work.

 

[busb]

Good point but i would strongly disagree with CD a dead format.... Look at vinyl... CD is not dead yet not for a long time

Not the best comparison IMO. CD will remain for a good while longer but the only discs going to be spun will mostly be vinyl. Digital will of course stay but be streamed more & more. Cassettes are largely dead in the west but I bet 100s are being played this very second around the world.

The demands of BRDs are far higher than CDs so I don't understand why a CDP will be better.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

I wonder if any other forum users have experienced poor CD performance from Blu-Ray/DVD players.

Not so much poor performance with the Marantz UD5007 I was using, it was not bad for CD playback - the issue I had was the practicalities in use; having to press buttons several times to get it to play/eject etc and the slooooooow loading times. I don't know if this is common across other dvd/bd players but it wound me up no end. Also had very poor connectivity, only HDMI and RCA outputs, although that's rare for a player of its type.

Although it was £400 and labelled as a 'universal' disc player rather than a dvd/blu-ray player that can play CDs...There was (unsuprisingly) a huge gulf in sound quality when I got an Audiolab.