CD player suggestions

Hi, this is my first post but I have been lurking for a while and you lot appear to be a knowledgeable bunch so based on an itch to upgrade my CD player I thought I would ask for your opinions.

My current setup is-

CA 640C CD player
Prima luna prologue 5 amp, with NOS valves
Audiolab 8000Q pre
Speakers are Fostex FE166 in BLH enclosure, wilmslow audio kit

For me the CD player is now the weak link. I would be spending upto £400 for a secondhand player (probably off ebay) so questions are -

What would you suggest?

and

What kind of improvement will I get?

Thanks for any info in advance.

 

I'd seriously consider upgrading the player you've got with £400 of upgrades it should be very good. Try Zanash or Wadiamaster on here for some options.

Don't bother with ebay, better deals on hififorsale and classifieds here if you want something. Ebay always goes at high prices IMHO.

Cheers, Tim

 

Why not get a home demo of the next model up the food chain? Or you could get an awesome DAC for £400, especially second hand. Something like the AS DAX Decade or Benchmark DAC1 has a pre-amp built in, so you could sell the AudioLab too.

 

sell it get an 840c instead and spend some money on damping the insides with dynamat.

 

First off, E-bay is not always the best bet for second hand kit, you may be surprised at what the dealers have available. As one suggestion- PJ Hi Fi have, (or had) a Rega apollo ex dem at just under £500. Use your £400 + whatever you get for the 640 and treat yourself to the Rega. Superb machine at and above its price band new, and seems to sit nicely with Valve amps.

 

Thanks for the replies

TimF - I have noticed various adverts for modifying my player but it seems like a large cost for something that will probably make it harder to sell in future. It is also hard to grasp whether a modified 640C would be better for example then a 740C.

Tenson - The DAC1 Pre is £1300 and AS DAX £1000 SH? However I hadnt thought of a CD preamp combined. I was always under the impression that seperate boxes were the way to go?

I have spotted an MF CD Pre24 for sale for reasonable money, any thoughts on this?

sq22 - I havent seen any of these going secondhand and £750 new breaks my budget

dudywoxer - I have always been put off by the look of the Rega players but by the sound of it they are also worth considering.

 

AAA5 from Avondale.

 

I didn't realise the DAC1 was that expensive. I just meant the one with a volume control on it. You don't need analog inputs by the looks of it?

What might suit you is the modified DEQ on my website. Its a good DAC, and with your single driver speakers the EQ functions might be really useful, you can correct for bass boom caused by the room too.

 

Ask zanash about a modded arcam a5. He modded a few at one time.

I have one....and can recommend.



or,

I would.

If you on the ball with bidding....you can get stuff.

Then again I haven't had the dosh to do any thing in 6 months so perhapts things have changed.

With the popularity of squeeze boxes it seemed to me there is a lot of good stuff coming on the market.

yOu ahve to know what you are after though and be prepared to take a punt.

 

The modded DEQ is what i'd go for, if i used Fostex speakers.

Can the DEQ be used to filter out the bass, to make it easier to integrate a subwoofer?

 

Yes it can, you have high and low pass filters in the parametric EQ section. You can also filter out the bass below the point the speakers can produce, even if you don;t want to add a sub, so the drivers have an easier time. Or indeed boost the top end a bit where they roll-off, or tame a mid range peak etc...

If you plug a microphone in, it will display the frequency response for you.

 

Sounds like a good bit of kit.
Someone did recommend i get one, when i was using Fostex bipoles, but i was worried about the transparancy and the built in dac. Can the dac be bypassed?
The only reason i ask is because dacs are gradually improving and there will come a time when the dac in the DEQ becomes "old hat". If you can use your own dac with it, it just makes it that bit more future proof.

Sorry for all the stupid questions.

 

Yes you can use it with digital in and digital out.

The DAC chip itself is very good though. It is basically the same one used in Chord's integrated CD player. The analog output stage and the PSU are the weaker links, which is why I mod them. Its more affordable that way than buying a separate DAC that is as good.

 

Ok, cheers.

 

Pity you cant stretch that to £525 ovno, and you could have my Marantz SA 15 S1, (£1100/1200 new)
It is a stunning player, and im only selling it on because ive fallen under the spell of the Squeezebox!

 

The 640c is a terrific cd player in its own right, even with the passing of a few years since it was first released, but I personally would be wary of the mod root, unless DIY and modding is in the blood. While I'm not saying that modding cannot bring about worthwhile improvements, it can also deteriorate aspects of the sound and, many a modder loses sight of that in the excitement of doing what they love. Also, most times, modifying a component will make it harder to sell in the future, so it can lead to an uncertain outlay (uncertain as you'll not know if you like the result) for something which may not deliver and may depreciate the standard value of a component. All of this 'ifs' and 'buts' and 'subject to', but my main point stands, I believe.

I'd say go for a player which represents an immediate upgrade, perhaps with a view to using it as a transport later on, coupled with a DAC (which seem to be improving and dropping in price as time goes by).

Check out the Inca Design Katana cd player - they're difficult to find, to be honest, but they pop up from ebay from time to time and a good condition one will come in under £400. And, again, contrary to some views earlier in this thread, I think it is still possible to find good value hifi components on ebay.

I've used the Katana as a player in its own right and it has a lovely midrange and fine top end - real sense of weight and drama to the music and wide soundstage. Not just that, but I've used it as a transport when a friend put a few of his dacs on the end of it to see how it did - in a word, brilliant. It's a rock solid player with a great cd mechanism so I'd wondered what it would do as a transport. We tried DACs from DAC1 to Beresford and, in each case, the sound improved significantly compared to the sound using my mates Arcam cd73 - all in our opinion, but it was an interesting excercise. Definitely a real step up from the 640c (v1 or v2) either as a cd player or transport - which I've tried with various dacs (I'm not an advocate of the '0 or 1' school or all transports sounds are the same as they only extra and deliver the same binary data)

I'd love to know how the Katana compared as a transport to certain transport very high end transports like TEAC vdrs - anyone know?

 

Thanks cjm for the information.

It seems that there are no bad reviews of any cd players on the net so I assume that within a particular price range they all pretty much sound the same.

I am keeping my eye on ebay so I will reply to this thread when I buy something. There are a few players I have my eye on but the more I look the more my budget seems to be increasing.

 

Mark, I agree that most people swear by the player they've ended up with, else they'd looking elsewhere and it is difficult if not impossible to find objectivity in reviews. If buying blind, the best you can do, I think, is try to find guidance from people who seem to have a similar taste to your own. Again, not easy down the end of keyboard, as you don't really know the person. For me, it's the same with all critics and their reviews - take films for example - I've long realised that some critics consistently praise films I dislike and others have a view more in keeping with my own, so I work out who I can trust. Ditto hifi

And I'd say be careful about assuming that all cd players sound the same within a particular price range - that goes hand in hand with the other dangerous assumption that the more you pay, the better sound you get. In my experience, there are lots of exceptions to this 'rule'. While some players have a similar sound, that I don't deny, the idea that all players within a price bracket have a similar level of hifi ability is a fiction, I'd say, supported by the manufacturers and Hifi magazines, among others.

Who really believes that every newer component of a manufacturer improves upon an older one, that every manufacturer's pricier model sounds better than their cheaper one? Once you sidestep the grip of this way of thinking, I think it opens up all sorts of possibilities towards achieving the sound you want without spending the earth.

Final thought, if you can demo, ALWAYS DO!

 

I bit the bullet and went for a MF X ray V3. Paid £385 off of ebay so it was in budget.

It will be interesting to do a back to back against my 640C to see what the real world improvements are like.