Quiet CD Player

[tomayresss]

Hopefully upon receipt of money for christmas I can look at buying a CD player for my system.

One of the most important things is a quiet mechanism, as I'll be listening close to the unit itself and at low listening volumes.

Would be more than happy to go second hand - have done with my current two components (C352 and 11Ls) and got so much for very little money.

Budget will hopefully be about £300. I mostly listen to classical music - lots of chamber ensembles such as string quartets but also plenty of large scale orchestral music.

EDIT: Spending less money would be fantastic - my CD collection isn't very extensive.

Tom.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

A bit leftfield here, but bear with me.

How about an iPod Classic with a suitable dock and remote?

Well within budget (should be somewhere around £220 for all), very reasonable sounding, and silent.

I use mine in my 2nd system, and using losslessly ripped tracks (using the Apple Lossless setting in iTunes), the sound quality is really rather good.

You also get the benefit of being able to take your music with you...(but obv saving £15 for the obligatory CX-300II replacement earphones).

If you don't have a computer, however, this is not going to work, and I apologise for going on so...

I couldn't recommend my Alpha 6 for you, as I have noticed it's transport noise (even if only when no music was playing) was just about audible.

 

[cjackson]

I would recommed looking on eBay, look at such decks as.

Pioneer - Any Series really

Technics - Any Series

Sony - Again Any Series

All quiet decks and reliabe, and cheap.

I'm sure there are more. You'd probs pickup a nice deck for something like £40 in good condish.

Chris.

 

[tomayresss]

Getting an iPhone so will be using that on the go with Spotify Premium.

There's just the doubt in my mind that computer -> dac -> amp is better than the cdp, but is it just in my head?

My laptop is always next to my system so the iPod dock etc probably isn't necessary - maybe a DAC will eliminate this decision...

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Well, in that case, a Beresford, MF-V-Dac or CA Dacmagic (all circa £200) running from your laptop will blow away either the iPod or CD Player solution for similar price.

My Beresford (the non-usb cheaper one) with my Mac easily beats my Alpha 6.

Job done.

 

[cse]

How do I find the lossless setting in itunes?

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Edit>Preferences, then halfway down the page "Import Settings", then change the "Import Using" to Apple Lossless.

NB that this will only affect files you rip from CD from then on - not anything that is already ripped (not that there would be any point - anything "missing" from a lossy (MP3/AAC/WMA) rip can't be put back by going lossless).

 

[Anonymous]

man asking for quiet CD player and you are offering computer + dac. Common, people.
1) computers are noisy for quiet listening (mostly, even laptops). Of course, you can get some quiet Atom system, but is worth to do it just for music?
2) you can't get comp and dac for 300, but you can find very good older CD player for this money.

I at the moment have laptop + dac combination, but as soon I will have money, I will get a normal CD player. It is quiet, more easy to manage, and I rather will record my favorite tracks on CD-R then to buy some iPod or Sonos systems. That will be cheaper for me and will do the same job.

Aaa, tomayress already has laptop, didn't notice that. I you are happy with it, then maybe dac is alternative to CD player. But I personally found my Core 2 Duo processor based laptop too noisy for this job.

 

[Anonymous]

ediots: ...Aaa, tomayress already has laptop, didn't notice that. I you are happy with it, then maybe dac is alternative to CD player. But I personally found my Core 2 Duo processor based laptop too noisy for this job.

An Airport Express will fix that problem.

 

[Anonymous]

ediots:
man asking for quiet CD player and you are offering computer + dac. Common, people.
1) computers are noisy for quiet listening (mostly, even laptops). Of course, you can get some quiet Atom system, but is worth to do it just for music?
2) you can't get comp and dac for 300, but you can find very good older CD player for this money.

I at the moment have laptop + dac combination, but as soon I will have money, I will get a normal CD player. It is quiet, more easy to manage, and I rather will record my favorite tracks on CD-R then to buy some iPod or Sonos systems. That will be cheaper for me and will do the same job.

Aaa, tomayress already has laptop, didn't notice that. I you are happy with it, then maybe dac is alternative to CD player. But I personally found my Core 2 Duo processor based laptop too noisy for this job.

The laptop doesn't need to be by the hifi remember - someone's mentioned AE.

Also, computers vary a lot in the noise they generate. I've been trying to silence my own PC and whilst it's not water-cooled, it's now very close to silent if there isn't manic hard drive activity - not to get too tangential but...foam coated cases, large slow fans, large cpu/gpu heatsinks, rubber/foam hdd caddies, v efficient psus with quiet large fans etc...

 

[Anonymous]

Airport Express is only transport (to replace cables), I still need to get access and manage tracks, so there must be another (probably expensive) gadget as remote control, if I put my computer in the another room (which is not possible). Also all that silencing efforts also cost money.
I am not against all those modern things, just from my view of point for limited money a few years old good CD player has better value. I am not skipping to next track after each 20 sec, I am not listening a hundreds of tracks every day. I am happy to put a CD on or write on CD-R selected tracks and just sit down for an hour or more. I use my laptop and dac with headphones mostly for checking music and building playlists. But for late night listenig I better would like have a CD player.

 

[Tibor]

ÿ Technics, Audiolab 8000 series,Yamaha recent S series,Teacs, Cambridge A. Azur series, many of Denon andÿ Marantz non budget players are not noisy

 

[the record spot]

If you can get my CDP (the Marantz in my signature line below) for that money, then cool, if not the standard SA7001 will be a delight. Fantastic player for the money, wonderfully detailed, the thing just plays music like a dream. Had mine for 18 months now and would be hard pressed to swap it for anything else right now under £1000. Superb with classical and handles the frequency range with aplomb. SACD compatibility too which may be handy given the wide range of titles available on that medium too. You don't get that with a DAC or iPod.

 

[gpi]

An older Pioneer PD-S502 with stable platter and their Legato Link system went for a maiden bid of 0.99p the other day. Now is the ideal time to grab a bargain. I think there's a Sony 55ES on the bay right now.

 

[Anonymous]

Many people have said that the Marantz CD63 MKII K1 signature cdp is a good match for the 11L's (older version) ...

paid £130 for mine off ebay (mint condition, boxed with remote and instructions etc)

 

[tomayresss]

Does the AE let me stream Spotify to the hifi?

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Only if you invest in Airfoil - a £20 app for your PC/Mac. It will then stream to other devices that can run Airfoil Speakers (free download) as well - currently PC/Mac/Linux/iPhone/iTouch.