vintage cd player v's modern dvd player

[kiwilistener]

On 05/09/2023 at 6:52 PM, NONURD said:

Kiwi, i don't know if you know this but there is a site called Dynamic Range DB here at:  https://dr.loudness-war.info/

It gives you an artist/album search and lists the dynamic range ratings for the songs and the album average. It is a FANTASTIC reference and I can so far confirm its accuracy for rating the good Vinyl & CD recordings over the bad ones.  I have checked my own cd's on this site and sure enough the flatter even pitiful sounding recordings in my collection have the lower ratings on this site.

 

Your setup is more than good enough to notice better source reproductions - this is what you are noticing. The quality of the recording mastering etc has far more potential impact on SQ than your equipment.   I decided to return crap commercial cd albums for refunds after listening to them on my cheap car stereo.  I don't need to play them at home to confirm - they sound worse on better equipment.  This is why some equipment reviewers recommend certain reference cd's to test/compare players/amps/speakers.  I have some of these cd's in my collection so I tagged them for this purpose. Google "Top  Audiophile Tracks For Testing Equipment"

 

The "Best of" compilations are usually the worst.   I rarely buy CD's on-line UNLESS from Discogs at

https://www.discogs.com/ because their listings give you audiophile quality data on the recordings. You can't get this info from looking at the cd jacket. You don't even see ADD, AAD, DDD stamped on cd's anymore or any mastering info. So if I walk into a Virgin Music store and find what I want,  I'll lookup the cd reference on the discogs site (on my phone ) and on  Dynamic Range DB. Sometimes you can't tell but at least I can return a crap CD to Virgin - as I have many times (like a re-release of Counting Crows- films of ghosts - many versions of this one). So far every album I have purchased from Discogs is true to its description.  Knowing what to look for with respect to re-releases and remastering of older music is the trick.

Drew

 

 

Yep, been aware of the database for a while now. The figures shown in the database  back up what I was hearing in the recording of The dark Side of the Moon that I currently have. I'm now looking for a 1980's version that should be somewhat better. When buying new or replacement records or cd's the database has become my first stop. I also check Discogs, but generally don't buy through there if its at all possible some of the prices and good until you work out the freight, which considering the size of a cd is in my mind a total ripoff ... 

Edited September 7, 2023 by kiwilistener

[NONURD]

Well thanks for the replies.  I should clarify a couple of points raised with KIWI.

 

This thread started out with questions about the sound quality of  vintage cd players compared to more modern players like DVD/CD players (most of us accumulated different models due to HD/HDMI upgrades). 

 

For me 99% of the SQ of a player relates to its DAC so it has to be hooked up via RCA in order to output an analogue signal. Same for any modern player with digital-outs  you are comparing it to. Both players must be tested with the same Amp. Using the digital-out on one player and  RCA-out on the other  invalidates the comparison. Digital-out bypasses the player's DAC, sending the signal to the Amp which then converts it to analogue using its own DAC.  The SQ of a player is irrelevant if it isn't producing analogue output. That point got a bit lost bc the context shifted from comparing players to comparing player/amp combo's.

 

There is plenty of 'real world' evidence that cd/dvd players sound the same if they are hooked up digitally as transports acting as disc readers only.  Maybe one player will jump or skip more at higher volumes. 

 

But if you have an older Amp with no digital input then the SQ of the player's analogue output (its DAC) is important and noticeable.  My cd/dvd combo players sound better (analogue out) than most older dedicated cd players. Well at least I realize that now,  since this thread started. 

 

I would only get an older carousel player for its convenience as a 5cd changer - optical out  gives it more flexibility.  I hope it sounds better (analogue out) connected to my analogue Amp ... better than my recently acquired Sony CDP-397 piece of crap. Otherwise I'd hook it up via optical to my Yamaha/Pioneer receivers,  then the SQ won't matter.

 

So thanks for the feedback on the carousels Kiwi.  I'm going to try for a cdp-ce345 or similar.

 

 

 

[Teee]

I own a late 80s early 90s Kenwood DP 1100SG CD 

player.

Top of the line in its day, has an S/N ratio of 105.7db and weighs just shy of 12 kilos!

It categorically smokes my DVD players.....

  

 

 

......and gives my Kenwood vinyl rig a very serious run.

Sounds magnificent.

Check out the all alloy drive!

 

Yes I'm a vintage Kenny Fanboy so possibly a little biased?

 

Edited January 19, 2024 by Teee