The £200 CD PLayer market

In december/janaury I want to replace my CD Player as its getting old now (I've had it 4 years) and its been used for at least 4 hours a day on average.

The big problem I face is I need to find somthing new for £200 than will sound better than my Sony 530. I've seen the Marantz CD5400 but I think the sound difference from this will be suble. The 6010OSE may be a little bit bright with the rest of the setup.

The entry level NAD CD522?(maybe wrong about that) looks promising though I have never heared one.

These are only 3 contenders I can think off, the likes of Rotel/decent Denons are probably out of my budget. Sony don't seem to make any £200ish CD players anymore.

I have considered buying a DAC but they fetch stupid money second hand.

I am I stuck with my Sony for another 5 years until I can afford to spend £500?

 

I had to spend £800 to get a worthwhile improvement on my Sony CDP-XE300. All the £400 - £600'ish players sounded harsh to me.

 

Erm I did almost consider buying one of them TAG DAC20's but decided it would be overkill and that would literly be too hard justify its simply to much money for me at the moment. I may be inclined to keep my Sony until it breaks.

 

You say dac's fetch stupid money, but there are a few available second hand (and the superdac new) for around 200 quid. Get one and try it, if it does nothing for you, you will get most of your money back thanks to ebay.
An old dac is a better investment than another cheapish cd player. For example, my old Sony 510 and Cambridge Audio DAC3 stuffs the NAD 541i in my house.

 

I've got the NAD C521BEE, having previously owned the Sony CDP-XE370 CD player and a Sony RCD-W3 CD recorder. Neither of the Sony units (in my opinion) were on the same level as the NAD.

Both were good budget machines for the money, but the NAD definately outperforms them in the detail department. I also prefer the warmer sound that the NAD offers, without being too harsh and bright. That's not to say it's a lively player - I listen to a wide range of music, from classical to rock, to easy listening, to jazz to dance and it handles all of them very well.

In my eyes, it was a worthwhile investment and unless I have a significant cash windfall in the next few years, I don't plan to upgrade for a good while yet - I think I'll need to spend a fair bit of dosh to gain any improvement that I find noticable.

 

All the mags seem to be bending over for the NAD C521BEE at the moment. Disputable as to whether it is worthwhile changing to this in order to 'upgrade' though. Maybe just keep your Sony as it is still working. You've enjoyed it thus far

I'm using mine on the back of a CD5400 A lot would deem the above to be an oxymoron anyway.

 

Probably worth noting that the reason I changed my Sony was because I could afford to. I was never unhappy with its performance.

I suggest you keep it until it breaks (by which time you may have enough money to replace it with something really worthwhile).

 

get one of the cheap DAC's floating around. If you don't like it, sell it you'll get your money back. If your CD goes pop you will be to replace it with another cheap one then, after all it's usually transport and laser problems that kill CD players. I'd recomend anything by Audio Alchemy, or perhaps one of the Cambridge DACs. Some people swear by their old Meridians as well, If it sounded good a few years ago it will still sound good now. I had to buy a Rotel RCD991 to improve on my Technics/Audio Alchemy combo, there's not been as many changes in the last few years as the manufacturers would have you know. Most effort has been put into DVD. If you buy the Nad you'll be going sideways, if you buy a DAC it should improve your sound. If you want to try the one I'm getting rid of you are more than welcome you live not far from me don't you, if nothing else it'll give you some idea of whether or not it would be an improvement worth considering

 

cd players

hi all i have a nad 540 cd player and although have not heard demoed the later nads 521bee or 522 have just got the arcam cd73t, according to most dealers who stock both nad and arcam models the cd73t was touted as the "better player"

however at home comparing nad540 vs cd73 i find the differances are rather small .

i completly forgot about going the dac route but somehow feel this might have been in reallity a better option, nad540+dac if dac did not suite then could be sold on.

or possibly going for older alpha 9 cd player.

 

Re: cd players

In the past NAD players + dac weren't that much of a happy coupling. Tried the 540 and the 540i with TAG's DAC 20 but the NAD's coax out seemed to deliver an unstable signal... DAC didn't lock.
No problems with players from other brands though.

 

I was thinking of the Cambridge DACS but I heared they where bright and thats the last thing my system needs. If anything it needs calming a little. I think its the interconnect to blame for this as its only very slight. I can live with it though atm as longs as it gets no worse.

I guess my £200 would be better put to use on my drinking trip to Edinburgh in a few weeks time.

 

Cambridge DACs definetly arent bright...

 

On a completely different subject Paul.

y didn't u look as good as your avatar at the bake off?

 

Maybe one of these will solve that problem then? I guess the gamble is if an old DAC found in the DAC Magic 2 or 3 is better than the Sony one.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3054176969&category=3272

couple of days left yet, but may be worth a shot. As said, you can always shift it on. I'd be tempted to hold out till I could afford a MOre significant improvement. There should be a few DACs floating about for £200 though! Perhaps that little number Tone was doing the DIY job on? Not sure how much that worked out at, but maybe worth a go.

 

Thanks I will keep an eye on that auction, I am not going to pay silly money for it though but it goes cheap it should be easy to sell on.

 

MO is right. You will get MOre significant improvement by adding a DAC. I added a DAC recently and very impressed. I will never be DACless again.

How about the M-Audio SuperDAC 24/96 for about £160 new or about £125 used?
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/55338.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/supdac.php

The SUPER DAC 2496 features include: full 24 bit, 96kHz digital to analog conversion; Optical (TOSlink) S/PDIF, Coaxial S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital formats; balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4" analog outputs.

 

If you are going for a Dacmagic avoid the Dacmagic 2 that is now at eBay and go for a later model for few more dosh.

DacMagic was designed by John Westlake, former Pink Triangle Tech, and digital conversion is accomplished by a pair of Philips TDA 1305 "18-bit" hybrid chips (the Naim CD 3.5 uses one).

DacMagic 2: Dual Philips TDA1305 hybrid DACs with symmetrical dual differential circuitry. Three separate transformers feeding 19 independent power supplies. DacMagic 2 is an improvement over the DacMagic 1.

DacMagic 2i: Many significant improvements. Design revisions resulted in reduction in distortion by as much as 50 per cent, gold-plated printed circuit boards and connectors, and better quality low-noise transformers.

Dacmagic 2 Mk II: same as Dacmagic 2i but with AD 712 JN output chips (about £1 each).

DacMagic 3: was the last of the series.

 

I wasnt wearing my normal weekend clothes