Valve CD players

[skularatna]

Has anyone heard valve cd players and do they sound better? Also how do they work, CD's are digital recording so that means the valve amp must be converting the signal somehow im not sure? Also will CD's sound better when played via a valve amp as opposed to a solid sate amp?

 

[the record spot]

Haven't the foggiest about how they work, but great things are spoken of the Eastern Electric Minimax and Unison Research kit (actually, not sure if their CD units are solid state...?) but at £900 the EE has to be worth shortlisting if you're thinking of it.

As to how they sound, is it an absolute? I think it depends on the listener - you pays your money and all that. Preferably after a bit of a listen beforehand though. Cetainly, if I had the cash, I'd be shortlisting a good few amps of the valve kind (Icon Audio, Graaf, Unison, Pathos...I'll stop before I get too depressed I think).

 

[Anonymous]

I believe that a valve CDP simply uses a valve output stage, with the signal being received after it has been through the D to A converter. Now this is just a complete guess, but I suspect that the signal is amplified to line level using these valves, providing the same benefits that you get within a valve preamp.

 

[Anonymous]

I've owned a Shanling CD player for a couple of years now, and I'm very happy with it. When I bought it I auditioned it against a Roksan Kandy which was about the same price and it was no contest for me on sound quality or build quality. I also demo'd it against a 2nd hand Cyrus and Marantz player where the choice was closer but I haven't regretted my decision since. The rest of my setup is conventional solid-state electronics.

As far as how they work, they operate in the same way as a convential CD player at the digital level but once the signal has been converted from digital to analog it passes through a valve amplification stage.

Some of the Shanling players offer a choice of outputs on the same player. You can chose either valve or solid state analog outputs.