Will I notice much difference?

[John M]

Hello all this is my first post on the forum!

I decided to upgrade my early 90's Technics amp to a Yamaha R-N500 which is now paired with Kef Cresta speakers and it sounds very good to me.

I also have a Technics CD player SL-P3670A also from around 1992 which is still in perfect condition. When buying the new Yamaha amp, I hadn't considered upgrading the CD player but after trying them both out for a while it got me wondering if upgrading the CD player would make a marked improvement after technology moving on some 24 years. I have tried the CD player on both optical and RCA connectors with no detectable difference in sound quality to me.

So my question is, would I be blown away by upgrading to a budget amp of no more than £200 or would the difference in sound quality only be marginal?

I was considering matching the amp with the Yamaha CDS300 or perhaps with the Onkyo C7030 both sub £200, however changing the make would add to my ever growing mountain of remotes.

Any opinions much appreciated.

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

The technologies didn't evolved that much for the CD. At the very start in the 80's, the chips had sometimes problems to follow the flow, but, at least in 1992, the problem was largely under control and the available DAC chips where fast enough .

The mid-old technics of the generation you have, are, even now, appreciated CD players by knowledgeable hifi enthousiasts, because of their sturdyness, good neutrality, their ability to extract everything from the disc and good pace. Today's top players can't do it better. The only reason I would see to change for an entry level player of today would be visual. But if you are chasing the same build and tonal quality than your technics, be prepared to pay around 2K£, at least.

#theLHCmissedagain6

 

[The_Lhc]

Oh, I'm watching...

 

[keeper of the quays]

It may depend on your amplifier more? I have a few cd players and the modern ones sounded similar to each other..my old mission pcm 7000 sounded esp good..and as a transport it's brilliant..i changed my amp..now my arcam diva cd/dvd player is clearly superior to mission? Lol...im surprised you think rca and optical similar? Clear difference on my kit but which is actually better? I'm not sure..i keep on about t amps..sorry to be boring..but the Daytona one for $39 is bout £30? That little plastic box may give a surprise...(big surprise!) in my opinion..

 

[matthewpiano]

The SLP-S670A was one of the best of the Technics players, and very enjoyable. Most CD players fitted with their MASH D/A conversion were very musical, including a Sansui one that also featured it (CD-X111). The SLP-S670A is also a nice machine to use.

Personally I feel you'd match it with a Denon DCD720ae or Marantz CD-6005 now, but you wouldn't improve on it at that level. As you already have the Technics and it sounds like it is working fine, then I'd keep running it until it stops working fine and then replace it with one of the above. Alternatively, save up for a more rewarding upgrade - minimum of a Rega Apollo-R or a Marantz SA8005 IMO.

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

@LHC : Miss 7, 6 help, 1 funtalk

 

[John M]

Well in short I took the Technics CD player to RSounds to try against the Yamaha C-DS300 and Marantz CD5005. In the shop there wasn't a lot in it. The Yamaha sounded noticibly more detailed which the salesman noticed too and I could hear a feint beat in the background which couldn't be heard in the Technics. I couldn't tell any differnce between the Marantz and Yamaha.

At home in the living room, the Yamaha is somewhat more detailed and there is more seperation but it's marginal. After listening to the Yamaha for quite a while I think it was worth getting it. The Technics cd loading and reading is almost instantanious where the Yamaha takes a little while to read the disc and is a little laggy. Also I dont need another remote!

Also many thanks for the feedback fella's.