Bottlehead Forum
Other Gear => Digital => Topic started by: johnsonad on September 02, 2013, 10:46:23 AM
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I'm quite happy with the sound of my old Meridian 508.24 CD player. It's about 20 years old and sounds great to anyone who has heard my system. Is anyone else out there happy with the sound of their player? I admit it's a lot of system synergy but the Meridian has out lasted any single piece of gear in my system.
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I feed an original Proceed PCD (circa 1990) into an Ack! dAck! and I am very pleased with the sound. I like my LPs better, but the CD playing system is awfully good too.
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It's the ease of CD's and the dead quiet background that keep me coming back (--not to mention this player sounds very good). And depending on the recording, that makes all the difference. I'll give an example. One of my favorite CD's is the FIM K2HD disc of Cantate Domino (1976 Proprius). They did a remarkable job on this CD. Saturday I borrowed an original vinyl copy of it to compare. After cleaning it on my trusty VPI 16 it went for a spin. This copy had horrible surface noise which distracted from the quiet passages of this recording and there was bleed through. An original copy sells for $75 plus depending on where you get it. Now this may be a bad pressing or just not played well in the past. Sadly there was no hidden magic in this recording to one up over the CD copy.
I don't want to start a vinyl vs. digital debate. I'm really interested in if anyone has a CD player that they are happy with? I've had other players of which I quickly sold.
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I am heavily into LPs these days, but sometimes I wonder if it is worth it... I love the clean sound of CDs and the sound quality itself can be phenomenal. And the expense of playing albums can get silly when you get too far into it. A well recorded CD can be a treasure.
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no you are not alone--i have several- aJolida 100a fully modded by partsconnexion i believe with a tube stage-a Musichall 25.5 that i modded-and a Elekit TU884 tube cd player-i like them all -a good cd is a good listen--also there is a fair amount of music out there that may never make it to vinyl--
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I'm very happy with my Marantz SA8004 player. It is an SACD player and has a USB input so I also use it as a DAC for my ripped music library played back via JRiver on a computer. I think vinyl is a bit better but digital sounds awfully good through this player too.
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I got kinda lucky too. I have Cayin tubed output CD player, not sure of the model. I also like an old Yamaha SACD player, but I never have horse raced the two of them. Seems that the Cayin has more musical ability than the Yamaha.
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As much as I hate to admit it, I cannot hear a significant difference in sound quality between my heavily modified Oracle turntable vs. my Sony SACD player from the 1990's. I have a well recorded LP of John Klemmer "Touch" along with the CD version that I have listened to literally a hundred times and while they sound slightly different, it is extremely subtle. Agree with all the above, CD's are cheaper, have a black sound backround, and much more convenient!
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Lloyd, I'll give you $100 for the Oracle!
(Tongue in cheek) But seriously, what a great table/arm/cartridge combination!
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Probably not, but I'll never go back.
For me, music server forever blows the CD player in the weeks in both SQ and convenience!
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I listen to my 47labs kit player on weekdays. And I really enjoy its sound, which is better than my Denon DVD3910 that I use for the few SACD I have. Weekends is vinyl mostly.
@Tickwomp: How do you like your Audio Note Dac? Would you recommend it?
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Lloyd, I'll give you $100 for the Oracle!
(Tongue in cheek) But seriously, what a great table/arm/cartridge combination!
Thanks Grainger! But unless I am down to my last buck, I could never let it go for any amount of money due to sentimental reasons.
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Tickwomp,
I too have found a music server with a memory that is just what I always wanted. Funny how the concept from Olive, Yamaha, and few others didn't quite take like it should have. I will never regret the small amount that I paid for my Yamaha MCX1000.
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I have an original Rega Planet that's still going strong over 14 years later. Of course paired with my V-DAC Mk II it sounds even better! But then I don't listen to CDs very often. I just add the songs to my hard drive and put the CD in storage.
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I owned a Rega Apollo, and I have to say, it really is one of my favorite CD players. Yup, should have kept that one.
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I had a Rega Apollo as well. Nice piece of kit for the bucks. Computer bested it. Funny thing is, I sold it for MORE than I paid for it! I guy here in Tucson bought it from me (we met at a Starbucks on Broadway and Kolb) - right down the street from where I bought it (wholesale) - Brett Interiors - Greg - I thought you would like that story!
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The only thing that I sold for more than I paid was my soul.
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The only thing that I sold for more than I paid was my soul.
I did that too... I'm fixin to buy it back!
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A friend actually bought somebody's soul in college. The seller needed money pretty badly. So he sold it to my friend for $20 and signed a piece of paper to that effect. The bad thing was that the seller was actually the son of a preacher and he regretted being so flippant pretty quickly and was always trying to buy it back. But my friend kept the paper in his wallet and whenever they would drink he would pull it out and say "Hey Sam, I got your soul!". And it really did torment the guy. I believe he still has that piece of paper.
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I went to camp with a kid whose father was a cobbler. He answered the phone once, "Sissons shoe service, how's your sole?" This kid was gifted with that kind of humor every moment it seemed.
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Sounds like he couldn't keep his tongue in check. What a heel. Or was he otherwise pretty straight-laced?
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Way to go, now there aren't more shoe puns for the rest of us. Perhaps you should be punished in a punatentery. THAT wouldn't be very punny, now would it.
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I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes (I don't know who said it):
"Some claim that the pun is the lowest form of humor. I, on the other hand, believe it is the foundation of all humor..."
And just now I came across this Edgar Allen Poe quote: "the goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability.
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You know Poe was on drugs, heavy drugs, right?
I am a big fan of Poe's writings. Have been since the fifth grade.
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Waaait a minute there buddy. Poe hadn't even written in his diary yet when you were in 5th grade.
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You know Poe was on drugs, heavy drugs, right?
I am a big fan of Poe's writings. Have been since the fifth grade.
Those were the good old days... Opium - legal, Cocaine - legal, pot - legal. It would make Amsterdam look tame.
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I listen to my 47labs kit player on weekdays. And I really enjoy its sound, which is better than my Denon DVD3910 that I use for the few SACD I have. Weekends is vinyl mostly.
@Tickwomp: How do you like your Audio Note Dac? Would you recommend it?
The Audio Note Kit DAC is stunning and I definetly recommend it. Once I had my Parmounts and Foreplay III running/playing I wanted to implement a music server and replace my modified Oppo 83-SE.
It would have been cheaper to simply wait for the BH DAC, but I'm much too impatient. And, it was this impatience that led me to Audio Note Kits (ANK). The DAC was so impressive that I build and installed a ANK preamp into my system. Now that I've finally finished my car project, I'm saving up for the interstage monos to complete the system.
Now don't get me wrong, I've got nothing but love for BH. My Paramounts sound so good that everyone who comes over for a listen simply can't believe that they are making such incredible music. More than once, I've had to yank a speaker cable off an amp to "prove" it was actually powering a speaker (and not some hidden component).
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"It would make Amsterdam look tame." Well, before there was New York, it was called New Amsterdam.... Maybe, it was a rockin' place... I am quite familiar with the Meridian 508 player.. Nice, neutral, balanced sound...And I too, am quite satisfied with my cd playin' gear... However, I still will one day, have it all ripped onto a server like the Mac Mini... but will not sell my cd players...I will find some use for them in other rooms/systems....And having said that, I will not be buying any new cd players either... Servers and Dacs are the future for me.... uhh, and vinyl of course...
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Here is my short story of a beautiful Phillips CD/DVD player. I bought it, but it developed bugs. One day it wouldn't give back a CD. I tried all kinds of stuff, except taking it apart. I turned it on, bent over close to it and whispered, "I don't want to do it, but if I have to, I will get an old set of rusty pliers. The CD is coming out one way or another...it's your choice." The CD drawer SLOWLY opened!!! No joke. I took out the CD, unplugged all of the cords, and walked the player out to the porch of my cabin. I raised above my head, violently threw it to the ground. "You can't hurt anyone anymore", I said. Later I ran over it with my 4 wheel drive, just to be sure.
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I would say you are a sick puppy but it worked. Running over it is a nice touch.
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Greg told me once what he did when his VCR chewed up a tape. I'd repeat the story here, but there are women, children and men with weak stomachs who browse these forums, and I don't need the FBI knocking on my door...
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Now I recall, a CD club kept sending CD's to me that I didn't order. Once again the 4WD came in handy, and afterward, I sent it back to them like that. Funny, no more CD's came my way. That's how it's done in Wyoming.
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Back in the day of IBM computer punch cards a buddy of mine told me, and showed me how, to add some odd holes in the card to send back to them. It worked pretty well. The cards would be kicked out of the system and someone with a brain had to handle it.
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My old co-worker hipped me to a good Phillips DVD player that can be easily made region free. The one downside to them is they under-speced the voltage rating on one capacitor, so they have a high failure rate, usually with the disc drawer. His was developing problems, so he brought his player into the office, we walked over to RadioShack and I soldered in a new cap for him. Later I found the same model at a Goodwill and I still use it for playing foreign DVDs.
The funniest part of this to me is that on a forum obsessed with fixing things that aren't broken by replacing capacitors, the broken device was smashed rather than fixed with a capacitor. Ending is better than mending. What a brave new world.
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Haha , you are too much 4k... and that is EXACTLY what should be done!!! Fix it???? I think not... Demolition is the ticket.... and I too, remember the huge PITA company that would send me cds to send back.. They would NEVER send me anything I liked either....and let me see, Cabin, violence, destruction.. You are "Jason" (Friday the 13th) to the electronic component world... Did you make the "chooo chooo chooo" noises as you were terrorizing your component?? :)
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OMG Chris, um, no, I I I didn't make those noises, but stranger than fiction, a train ran through the mountains where I lived, casting an Erie light through the trees at night. Me and the elk got nervous at it's arrival. "Hear me! electronic devices, witness your fate after your mediocrity!" Two light bulbs instantly blow themselves...
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"The funniest part of this to me is that on a forum obsessed with fixing things that aren't broken by replacing capacitors, the broken device was smashed rather than fixed with a capacitor."
Speaking ONLY for myself: I don't really understand the circuits, I just follow directions. Swapping in a (inevitably more expensive) component is something I can do without much brain power. And whether it improves the sound or not, the modding (which, again, doesn't require much in the way of understanding) is fun. This is a hobby, after all.
Fixing something requires understanding, unless it is a wholly obvious mechanical failure of a part that is physically large enough that I have a hope of seeing it and being able to fix it. I never would have thought that a sticking disc drawer on CD/DVD player was due to a faulty or under-specified capacitor, and I wouldn't even begin to know how to go about diagnosing such a problem.
It is easier to throw money at something than it is to gain knowledge. It isn't just a question of effort, it is a question of time. I don't mind putting in the effort to learn something, but I don't have the time. While I can post on BH during the day, corporate realities being what they are, I cannot sit at my desk and read electronics textbooks, nor can I tinker with projects and conduct experiments. That has to be done at home, when I make it there, and where I have a host of other competing priorities (primarily my kids and wife).
It is no exaggeration to say that as your income rises, you tend to spend less money on things/objects per se, and more money on things that you could probably do yourself at little to no cost if you had the time.
None of which takes away from the fact that you are right: it is funny that people here "fix" things that aren't broking by inserting capacitors where they aren't needed, but break things that could be saved by inserting capacitors where they are needed! ;)
Regards,
Adam
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"Need" is subjective.
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Great story Greg... It reminds me of my reaction when 750gb drive failed. I had it backed up. So, the sinking pit in my stomach was short lived. It did cause a reaction though. I had read about these drives failing. In a way I was indignant. "How can this happen to me".
Well, it wasnt long after that. I took it out to the garage. Thats where my trusty sledge awaited.... Well you can picture the rest. What did amaze me though.. was how TOUGH they build those 3.5" drives! I had to beat the living shit out of it to even dent it. Steel. I wanted to make sure NO one could get to my data. If I cant have it nobody can...
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we are brothers Eric......I may not have mentioned that the offending DVD player had a bunch of issues, probably due to the many power problems in that area.
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Sometimes the best thing is to just friggin' destroy it, and sometimes to have it repaired... Just make sure the dang thing doesnt puncture your tire when you are running it over...haha, that would add major insult to injury and not to mention the component would be getting the last laugh...
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And with THAT Chris, you leave me no other choice than to tell an old Wyoming tale of a rancher that was having trouble with coyotes on his property. He actually trapped one of them live, and managed to tie a stick of dynamite to it's tail. He lit it, let the coyote loose, and it ran right under his truck! He walked home.
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:)
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Sounds like my kind of luck Greg
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ANNND with that response comes another fine story, so sit back and relax. One day long long ago, a couple of tourists were driving through our great territory when BAM they hit a dog crossing the road. It was knocked out cold, but not dead, so they put in the car and drove to town to see the vet. On the way, the poor dog awoke and went crazy. The passenger took a club(it's what you carry when go to Wyoming) and clobbered the dog unconscious. Fortunately they made it to the vet and told him(doc Bischoff) what had happened. "we are so sorry that we had to club the dog this poor dog but there was no other way to control him." "Well, doc replied, I wouldn't worry too much about it. In these parts we call these dogs coyotes."
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Good one Greg! - You made me laugh twice in a row on two consecutive posts. I think HBO will be looking for you. :D