DVD player hell (or selling the lot...)

I only partially agree with this philosophy Paul, because:

a) True - we don't really have a choice if the transport is going to fail every 3-5 years. Send your cdx back to Naim and get a full service done while its there perhaps?

b) afaik, buffering DACs that are fed a poor signal (from a cheapo transport say) can only reduce jitter so much. e.g. they can re-clock a 1000ps signal to down 100ps, or say 100ps down to 10ps, but not 1000ps down to 10ps!!

The effectiveness of this method is questionable and I'm sure a lot of people at Naim would agree - especially after the (considerable) lengths they go to, in order to reduce jitter in their integrated players!

DT

 

Erm, but my Pioneer's only used for watching DVDs - kind of the point of a DVD player. I have a CDP for when I want to listen to music, rather than noise...

Dynamic Turtle - err, yeah, I do expect the DVD player to do all it says on the tin - but I didn't buy the machine for DVDA-SACD (that's what vinyl's for!) - it was the only machine Techtronics had in the Pioneer range in sensible territory that had Macrovision disabled (see Sony TV comment above) and 2 scarts... You're right though - laser mechs these days are crap - even the one in my Naim CD5 is plastic shit.

My Technics SLP2 from 1985 is looooong in the tooth, but has only (last few months) started getting temperamental. Mind you, it's in a kitchen, and was given to me for, err, nothing, so it owes me nothing.

The Poo-oh-dear on the other hand...

 

Read about the benchmark dac1 - it is 100% jitter free. People on PFM are using cheap £100 dvd players as transports for their music systems, having sold 5k naim cdp. Just a thought.

 

How much is this dac????

 

100% jitter-free via SPDIF? Heard that before, from dozens of manufacturers over the past ten years.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying you're mistaken, i'm just highly sceptical about this sort of claim. If its 100% jitter free via this limited connection, why aren't £2-3k cdp's jitter-free? They generally use full-bandwith data signal circuitry (over 4 or 6 channels, as opposed to SPDIF's 2), using independent clocks, and almost always have residual jitter in the 5-30ps range.

DT

 

Just read about it, or better listen to it. Theres a lot of detail on PFM. Can be had for £750. People are using it with £10-20k systems. The reason it's not £3k is it's pro studio gear, not rip off highstreet badging. It only containes a few parts anyway. How much do you really thing a few caps cost?! A few of us heard it with TAG, meridian and a cheap dvd player with no difference, into some highly revealing £8k active ATC studio monitors. If your nervous look at the hifi+, hifi news, the online pro studio reviews. Have fun.

 

I've seen the glowing reviews Paul! TBH, I'm sure it sounds superb, The ONLY issue I have, is the manufacturers/designers using terms "100% jitter-free", when it clearly isn't.

"negligible jitter" would be a more accurate claim - i.e. still exists but in "inaudible" amounts.

DT

 

Hmmm - £750 is a holiday for me (my hifi's OK, but I can't keep blowing cash on it forever)...

Back on topic, I cleaned the laser (using a cotton bud and headcleaning fluid!) last night, and no difference in performance, so either the laser's bust, the discs are buggy/rotted (possible - I've only had issues WITH those two discs so far) or the electronics are shot, so I'm keeping a watching brief, as they say, on it.

 

good point - cd's do decay slightly over time, especially if they're left near sunlight (like mine are - on the window ledge!!!).

 

Thats my way, cheap Dvd throught the Quad 99cdp dac for fab sound [I only run stereo none of this new fangled HT thingy].