Another CD Player question

I have never had what I would call great results from CD Redbook. Now I have the opportunity to be able to purchase a 'decent' CD Player.

Amongst the players available to me are the following;

Burmester Rondo CD 992

Mark Levinson No 39

Musical Fidelity kW SACD

Musical Fidelity Tri Vista

Shanling TD 100 C

Meridian G08

All are either used or ex-demo players, any thoughts on any of the above?

Any I should have on the list that I have not.

Budget is around £2000.00

Ken

 

I've only heard these

Musical Fidelity kW SACD

Musical Fidelity Tri Vista

Shanling TD 100 C

Meridian G08

the MF players are average [at there price point]
the meridian left me completely unmoved
but the shanling was an interesting listen ..not nessesarily my cup of tea but worth hunting out for a listen.

 

i concur with Zanash here, my experience of the G08 wasn't great, the MF tend to be overpriced, haven't heard the shanling or Burmester.

the levinson is frankly in a league of its own in that company, i've only spent six hours with one in my own system but it was eye opening.

 

I like Burmester. I have only heard the 001 player but on the strength of that... Nicely made stuff too.

 

Get yourself an audio synthesis Transcend and DAC s/hand - fantastic. In the words of one well known s/h dealer to me in a moment of sublime honesty - - the best Cd player I've ever heard bar none.

Alternatively heard good things about the Italian jobbie the top range Lector

 

I have never been impressed with the ML players. Too 'dead' sounding to me.

Definitely try to dem the Gamut CD1 and Resolution Audio Opus 21.

 

What Ever You Do Do Not Get A M.f. Sacd As The Transport Is No Longer Available, Oracle Are Quite Nice, Or The Kw 25 Transport And D.a.c.,regards Nando.

 

I love mine, definitely give it a demo if you have a chance

 

B4 you commit to spending £2000 why not try a budget high -end CD player Marantz CD17 II for £315.See private ads

 

I would agree with Garmt and Dr Juggles, the Opus 21 would be at the top of my shortlist for that kind of money, either new or second hand. I have owned some serious CD players (Audio Research CD3 Mk2, Sugden Masterclass, Primare D30.2, Copland CD289 etc.) and the Opus, in my opinion, is better than all of those.

Best regards,

Mike

 

give nando a pm - he has got access to 1/2 price new Musical Fidelity goodies

 

Thanks for all the replies.

My not being able to obtain satisfactory sound from CD is not for the want of trying (read spending lots of cash).

I tried CD from day one, have had previous early Meridian and Naim, I have tried more recent machines from Krell (KPS 20), the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC, Sony, Marantz, I am currently getting the best results I have ever had from CD using an older CEC TL 5100 Transport and a Derek Shek NOS DAC.

But it still is not as satisfying as vinyl.

Of the machines I listed I was leaning towards the Musical Fidelity Tri vista or the kW SACD, however a the comments from Nando confirmed by my local dealer that there are no spares for the transport, I think this is outrageous from a company of the supposed status of MF.

 

I loved the wadia 830, very musical and cheaper too second hand

 

ken if an analogue sound is what you crave then the 47labs are worth a listen.

 

You have a PM, Ken.

 

hi Ken, i have a special offer on the m.f. kw 25 transport and dac new sealed 2 year guarantee for £2990.00 also the a 3.5 for £499.00, must say the kw's are super,regards nando.

 

i'd second the recommendation of audio synthesis however when i was looking for a new cd player it took me a long time and lots of auditions to try to find the right one - which turned out to the an audio synthesis dax 2.
transports - i'd buy the newest one you can get - that burmester is from circa '92 so over 10 years old probably.

 

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but the problem is the CDs.

(This should be obvious by now given how many different and well respected brands have been tried with no success).

Try Auric Illuminator!

 

Lector CDP 7t and new Creek Destiny come to mind as well as Consonance Droplet 5.0. The Creek new is close to your budget, the others previously owned.
Being a vinyl mostly, these are the only players that IMO may offer the sound you are looking for.
The Levinson 39 is not a reliable unit it has some issues with the transport. The Rondo is a fine sounding player but cool or clean sound.
Good luck rollo

 

Ken,

Just being the devils' advocate here... but should you expect CD's to be as good as Vinyl on a really good or great system? Maybe its just not possible.? I know I have a crummy little home theater thing that I play DVD's on, and DVD's are 24/48, and they always seem closer to Vinyl than CD's at 16/44.1 And the CD as a medium was designed not for true fidelity, but at the time, the best they could do cheaply.

Anyway, let me describe an Audio Meeting we had about a year back... It was supposed to be a bit outrageous. It took place at the home of a friend, who has a system that includes very high end everything, it cost over $150,000. I'm not sure how much over, but most of the electronics are Levinson - Preamp, Tuner, CD player, its has a three way Marchand Tube Crossover, and three tube and transistor power amps, the ribbon tweeter array was powered by a VTL Tiny Triode Amp with EL84's, the woofer amp was transistor, I can't recall what the MR amp was. It was a tri-amped system, with dual subwoofers that are simply huge, each one was like those two-door refridgerators in size. People cannot move them, you need a forklift of sorts, for the size of the room, everything is large. There are really pricey cables and so on, acoustic treatments, just about every add-on or tweak, included dedicated AC lines. Its a great system, which can go as loud as you'd ever want without strain.

This meeting was to pit a vintage system that cost about $1,000. versus... The high-end System. So I hauled a little system over there and set it up in the center, right between his big ribbon and MR array boxes. The size of which were about six times the size of the boxes I bought and stacked up high.

What Itook over - a stock 15 year old Magnavox CDB-650 CD player (which cost me about $10. used); a stock Dynaco PAS preamp, a stock Dynaco Stereo 120 transistor amplifier, and three pairs of Dynaco A-25 and A-35 speakers stacked high, a pair of series connected A-25's, wired in parallel with the single pair of A-35's on the bottom, and a cheapie little ribbon tweeter placed on top, wired through a 0.68uF cap.

Now when this was all setup, there was a problem, the PAS Preamp was only working on one channel, so time being limited, I did have time to do any troubleshooting, so I had to switch out the preamp and transistor power amp for a stock Dynaco PAS-3x preamp (new caps/old tubes), and a Dynaco Stereo 120 transistor amplifier that I modified myself ( a quite extensive mod, I must admit ) so in the end it wasn't just original vintage stuff costing under $1,000, it was more like two modified units and some older vintage stuff, and nearer to $1,500. in 1970's money versus the $150,000. system.

About 35 people were in attendance from an Audio Society, and using their fav CD's, we could readily play CD's using the Levinson 39 on the big system, then pop it into the little Maggie and play it again on the vintage system. I won't tell you that the vintage system sounded better than the really pricey one, but that is what several people told me.

My point, (yes, there is a point) is that like phono cartridges, CD players sound different, but not so different, that on a good day, when the moon is in the proper orbit and there is a cool breeze, a fifteen year old player that cost $10. used, can sound better than a $10,000 Levinson, and the Maggie is capable of playing some CD-R's that were overburned at 80:29 which the Levinson simply refused to play at all. So if CD has always been a sore point, pick up a well used Maggie and give a listen. You never know, the moon might just be in the proper alignment again soon!


-Steven L. Bender