Single disc cd players

[tonyvdb]

Everywhere I look I cant seem to find and good inexpensive single disc CD players anymore. Are they on the way out or can one still find them.

[jackfish]

A Sony Playstation One SCPH-1001 in good condition on eBay is probably one of the best CD players you can find for under $100.

[yourgrandma]

Huh? Really high S:N ratio or what?

[avaserfi]

jackfish wrote:

A Sony Playstation One SCPH-1001 in good condition on eBay is probably one of the best CD players you can find for under $100.

The rumor that that Playstation One with analog outs was anything special in regards to CD players was busted long ago so I wouldn't get your hopes up.

My recommendation for a good CD player is use your DVD player - DACs are a fairly mature technology now so there aren't problems with lower end ones, but if you worry about it just use digital connection and let your receivers DACs take care of the job.

[tonyvdb]

I would rather use a separate CD player because the A2 takes so long to boot up and is undue wear on it that I don't want. I would like to have one that has an optical out. My Yamaha 5 disc player upstairs is a great one but I want it to stay there.

[avaserfi]

tonyvdb wrote:

I would rather use a separate CD player because the A2 takes so long to boot up and is undue wear on it that I don't want. I would like to have one that has an optical out. My Yamaha 5 disc player upstairs is a great one but I want it to stay there.

I currently use my Oppo 981 as a CD transport and am very happy with it (when I use CDs as I store most my music on an hard drive now). Perhaps a lower model Oppo purchased on ebay would suffice?

[tonyvdb]

avaserfi wrote:

when I use CDs as I store most my music on an hard drive now

I have an older nomad jukebox that I upgraded the HD to a 30 gig that I use but there still is something about an mp3 file that is not quite the same quality as the real thing (I have all my mp3s encoded at 60%vbr) and am not prepared to re sample all 350+ cds

[avaserfi]

tonyvdb wrote:

I have an older nomad jukebox that I upgraded the HD to a 30 gig that I use but there still is something about an mp3 file that is not quite the same quality as the real thing (I have all my mp3s encoded at 60%vbr) and am not prepared to re sample all 350+ cds

That I can understand. I don't like any form of lossless encoding, except on the road. My HDD is 500GB hooked up to my PS3 and I just store everything in WAV files. Before I was in the hobby everything (200+ albums) was ripped to 192kbps MP3s (not even LAME encoded :eek). I just sat down one day and ripped them while doing homework/reading and watching TV it took a while, but was well worth it.

[riley804]

sent you a message.....

[jackfish]

avaserfi wrote:

The rumor that that Playstation One with analog outs was anything special in regards to CD players was busted long ago so I wouldn't get your hopes up.

My recommendation for a good CD player is use your DVD player - DACs are a fairly mature technology now so there aren't problems with lower end ones, but if you worry about it just use digital connection and let your receivers DACs take care of the job.

The only thing debunked is that people were actually paying 1000s of dollars for them because of one web piece saying they were as good as a $6000 single disc player. In fact they are a good CD player. But only someone who has actually listened to one would know that. I have an OPPO DV-970HD and it doesn't sound any better than the SCPH-1001.

[avaserfi]

jackfish wrote:

The only thing debunked is that people were actually paying 1000s of dollars for them because of one web piece saying they were as good as a $6000 single disc player. In fact they are a good CD player. But only someone who has actually listened to one would know that. I have an OPPO DV-970HD and it doesn't sound any better than the SCPH-1001.

At the same time it doesn't sound any worse . I have listened to one and seen measurements proving it to be nothing special (as previously stated) I never said it was bad per say.

I never said one was better than another - in fact if anything was implied it was that CD players are such an old technology (along with DACs) that any well made player will be the same as another at least audibly.

[yourgrandma]

Well Id have to say that from a visual standpoint, not much is worse than a PlayStation in your rack, plus the lack of digital outputs and a door on the top would rule out any possibility of a ps1 entering my system. I have a PS2 in my setup, but Ive never played a DVD or CD on it.

Whats wrong with a lower end DVD player? As was stated, if you use the digital out, you avoid cheap DACs and the signal to noise ratios are pretty good on all but the worst WalMart junk. That's what I'd do, but yaa know...

[jackfish]

Thanks for your replies. Certainly, they are nothing special other than providing adequate sound for dirt cheap ($10-$50). Digital output from cheap DVD players into a good DAC makes sense. If it is a decent transport one can use some of the improved relatively inexpensive DACs available to get some pretty good sound. The Diyeden Musiland is quite a unit for $300.

[riley804]

that any well made player will be the same as another at least audibly

Have you done side by side testing on this to prove this ? So, basically you are saying that a Jolida JD100 and a Wadia are going to sound the same ? Might want to read some forums either at AudioGon or AudioAsylum about the sound that different cd players have.

[avaserfi]

riley804 wrote:

Have you done side by side testing on this to prove this ? So, basically you are saying that a Jolida JD100 and a Wadia are going to sound the same ? Might want to read some forums either at AudioGon or AudioAsylum about the sound that different cd players have.

You can also check out AudioGon and AudioAsylum to buy expensive speaker cables - all of which are claimed to sound different as well as speaker cable risers to remove EMI from the line produced by carpet .

I prefer to use science rather than subjective opinion when it comes to decisions like these. With proper testing it can easily be proven that properly made DACs that are designed to be transparent are exactly that. Besides my suggestion was simply to buy a CD player and use it as a reader allowing the receiver's DACs to do the decoding as it were which means the CD player would have even less cause to change sound quality.

I will point out that just because someone claims to hear something doesn't make it so - or are some cables really dancable? .