Decided to change my cd player, suggestions please?

Used REGA Isis valve cdp/DAC...

 Goliath killer .... google the reviews
 
Two big advantages:

(1) with its direct USB input into its high-end DAC and the separate USB input button on the remote, your digital files are played on your external HD.

(2) REGA has two matched serial number transports set aside for each unit sold so that longevity risk is eliminated 

highly recommended 

If you think you may have any interest in exploring non-physical media you may consider putting that money into a DAC. You can use the DAC with your current CDP and improve sound quality and also have flexibility down the road.

I would get a used Esoteric player.  It will last a lifetime and are better than most.

Bryston is about to release the BCD-3.  Their DACs are highly praised, and I'm still using their BCD-1.  I plan to purchase a "3" soon.  BTW, superlative factory support and service, if every needed.

Luxman D06U.    Just reviewed on Sterophile.  These units come up once in a while. 

Can't help but recommend Ayre C-5xeMP, it is a reference player that can handle any format you throw at it. It can usually be had for roughly $3500.00 used here on the 'gon. Check the reviews.

Ha! Just looked through current listings, there is a unit available for $3k.

Oppo?

contains a DAC and he is well below his $4k budget (which can then be used for new cables or a can of woo-woo)

Does woo-woo come in a can or does it come in a little baggie? The kind that enhances sound!

some great suggestions already, tbh I was strongly considering Esoteric and Ayre.
Also has anybody any experience with Gold Note Stibbert or Shanling players?

often a good idea to stick to a larger manf. that will stay in business when the component needs repair

I'd want to be sure a boutique manf.'s player was a LOT better than something like Bryston before buying...

The Goldnote Stibbert looks very cool but such a niche product doubtful you'll find anyone with real experience, are you able to audition one? Never heard a Shanling myself but they are certainly more out there.

I have heard a few of the Shanlings, they are really nothing special.  Unless you like their looks.  As I stated above, a used Esoteric sounds better than most and will last you a lifetime.

Gamut CD3 bested my PS audio DS. A lot to say. If you find one buy it. 
Regards 

All the ones mentioned here are good CDP but not in the league of gamut CD3. That CD player made me a believer on shinny disc for real.

Esoteric and Ayre are on my watch list
However somebody early on did suggest possibility of keeping the Krell and running it through a dac.
Anybody have experience with this type of upgrade, just using my player as a transport and if so what dac may give a benefit?

it's common for people to use a separate transport if they think a different or newer DAC will give them better sound

Nagra makes a DAC for $30,000 - see if it sounds better to you

Not quite what I was asking I think.
More on the lines of would running my Krell through a dac make any appreciable difference to the Krells existing "sound" or just better to go for a differing player altogether?

Hi uberwalz,

Check out the new ModWright Truth Marantz SA8005. I have owned and loved my Ayre CX-7eMP player for many years. I recently upgraded to a used MW 5400ES player, and all I can think about is how much I have been missing all these years. The CX-5e is an incremental upgrade in sound quality (if that, according to your sonic preferences) over the CX-7eMP whereas the MW player is a night and day improvement and can hold its own with the very best regardless of price.

One of the things that I particularly appreciate about the MW player is how it makes rock come alive. I used to have to listen to most rock on my vintage system in order to get in the groove, but no more as the MW sounds fantastic playing my favorite rock music on my hi-end rig.

Best to you uberwalz,
Dave

You need music streaming and USB DAC capability. Oppo 105 (D) or coming 205 would be good choice. I rarely use CD and DVD players now and only use Netflix or Tidal service for video and audio purpose.

I'm kind of in the same boat.  I haven't decided my ultimate route.  I'm not really interested in the computer/server solution but want to go down the Tidal streaming route.  I have a Modwright Sony 5400 which I really like but I am tempted by the new Marantz Modwright player which has a usb input for a streamer.  I have heard good things about this particular mod.

Hi goose,

You may want to contact Agoner "wig" re: the MW Marantz. He bought one and sold me his MW5400ES so he could give you his impressions of the sonic differences in the two. Great guy.

Best to you goose,
Dave

I second the Esoteric choice, HOWEVER, they do not last a lifetime. I bought one recently. UX3se. It wouldn't read some discs. The repair center said that ALL UX units needed to go back to Japan for calibration. ($2000.00 for that alone). I returned the unit. I bought another Esoteric. Before the seller shipped it he informed me that the transport made a little noise when spinning. The factory said he may need bearings soon. Both of the players are in the 10 year old range. I was most impressed with the sound. If you like rock, the Esoteric sound is for you. Do not buy a UX machine though. Joe

Thanks Joe, my readings had sort of confirmed the ux series was not quite up to par compared to some other Esoteric offerings even though there is a ux being offered fairly local to me.
Not sure as I overly concerned on going the total digital route with usb et al. Huge collection of cd,s and no inclination to rip them to any music serve in the near future...

Buy an Oppo 105 and use the dedicated Sabre DACs for critical stereo or multi-channel listening direct from disc.  For more casual listening, rip all your CDs to FLAC (lossless format) and move them to an external hard drive.  Plug that into your Oppo for convenient, beautiful listening (as I am doing now).

I tried Oppo 105D, Sony MW5400, esoteric, wadia, etc etc. Gamut CD3 best spinner ever. Gamut rooms always crowded and always best of the show and this CDP it is always used. Organic you can taste the instruments.
Good luck 

Skip the CD player and go straight to a hi-rez music server and service if you don't want to rip your collection of CDs. You will never look back. 

I am over the top happy with my Oppo 103D... it rendered my DAC ineffective. Better yet would be the Oppo 105D with a $400 upgrade from Stereo Dave's Audio Alternative to signficantly improve the sound staging and inner detail.  Oppo is in my mind the best performance vs. cost component on the market.  

Do you have a lot of discs other than red book CD? PS Audio just came out with their DirectStream Memory Player to replace their Perfect Wave Transport.  If you have all red book then the PWT is now $2k on their web site and you may find it even cheaper on the web.

i am really in the market just to replace the cd player, at this time i do not have the inclination or intention to go fully digital with usb or wave file players, way too many cds going back years and years to be bothered to "rip" them to a music server or computer or similar.
Pretty old fashioned and cd digital tech is about as far as this old fart is moving tbh.

I just went through this process of replacing a CD player.  I listened to the following:

Yamaha CD-S2100
Marantz SA8005
Marantz CD 6006
Atoll CD 200SE
Simaudio Neo 260D

I could have lived with any of the above but in the end it was a run off between the Atoll and the Simaudio.  I was able to A/B them on my system which was a bit of a pain as they have slightly different live level output levels which required adjusting volume for fairness.

In the end the Simaudio won out.  I liked the horn sound better and the bass was a little tauter (although I felt the Atoll went deeper).  The build was better for the Simaudio in particular the CD tray was far more robust. The clinchers were the 10 year warranty for the Simaudio (2 years on the tray) along with their trade up program (up to 100% in the first year).

I would buy a nice dac and keep your CD player as the transport.   This will give you the upgrade in sound quality you want since you have just replaced the audio processor in the cd player with something presumably newer and better.  And you will be able to use the dac with other devices like phones, tablets, computers, etc. for streaming or Hi-Rez music files.  I use an external DAC to decode a coax feed from an Oppo Blu-ray player, and my dac has an additional optical input and a USB input for switching between other connected devices. When im not using the Oppo, I can plug my phone into the USB input and stream hi res Internet radio stations. Love the flexibility. 

I was in the market for a new CD Player last year after my Cambridge Audio went south. I’ve got a Bryston BDA-1 DAC and tried using my Oppo as a transport but it just didn’t sound anywhere near as good as the Cambridge Transport and Bryston DAC.
When I decided to get a new CD player I planned to just get something less expensive and use my old DAC. I tried several "Transports" including an Emotive but ended up getting a Simaudio Neo260D with the optional $1000DAC card installed. When I listened to the DAC in the 260D, it simply blew me away how much better it sounded compared to the Bryston. I sold the Bryston and bought the Simaudio with the optional DAC installed at the factory.
You can’t beat the quality, warranty and trade-up policy Simaudio offers.
Yes, an Esoteric might edge it out but without a long factory warranty it’s an expensive boat anchor IMHO if something breaks. Why do you think there are so many for sale?
Try to find a Simaudio 260D used....not likely unless the owner is trading up to a 650D or something even more exotic and costly.
I’m using a Simaudio 700i amplifier with Focal Sopra2 speakers and the sound is just magic. Very musical with tremendous air, and 3D transparency that almost sounds like analog. Almost!...
Check out the TAS review and others available online.

i had decided to give an ayon cd7 an inhome trial for 15 days and see how that goes, simaudio players I have looked at but the ones I have seen in my price range did NOT have balanced xlr outputs?
not sure if the 260d does or its price, will have to research that
thank you

I will be picking up my ModWright Marantz player next week and will post my impressions.  I have also been a fan of Dan's work and this will be my third player and I will be looking forward to some Tidal steaming via the usb input to the DAC.  

"I will be picking up my ModWright Marantz player next week and will post my impressions."

Looking forward to that goose.

Best to you,
Dave 

BTW, it is very easy to test 2 CD players.  Make 2 copies of some test music and set one up to play a few seconds ahead of the other one.  Switch back and forth.

You can use a Tape In if your remote doesn't have dedicated buttons for all sources.

Enjoy - I think you will find that a blind test doesn't show a lot of differences.

well just an update, had to buy it as price was so right
Esoteric sa-50 should be here wednesday, then we will see.....
be interesting to try it through my ar ls2 pre AND running it direct into the power amp, often been said that the best preamp is NO preamp.....

Keep us posted- uberwaltz

Happy Listening!

so the esoteric arrived this morning, hooked it up through my ar ls2 and listened to pat benatar.
best i can describe is that higher volume levels it holds together much better, more cohesive, much more slam for want of a better word and the highs are not as harsh as the krell was by far.
at moderate levels there is probably not a lot between them although still more noticeable bass on drums etc but as volume is increased the esoteric definitely holds its composure much better.
I then tried running direct to my power amp but i ran out of gain on the internal esoteric volume way too early...lol. Yes I like my music loud or at least the option to like it loud! Now I will say that at lower levels I think I did prefer the sound direct to the poweramp, it appeared more full bodied and possibly even better sound staging so now maybe I have to look for a better preamp as well, you know how that goes......

Good to know Randy. Please let me know which tubes give you the best results (and which did not). Have you tried the Philips 5R4GYS rectifier tube from upscale audio? I found it to be excellent in my MW 9.9 power supply.

Best to you Randy,
Dave 

Randy,

Good to hear you're liking the SA8005; definitely roll in some Tung Sol 5687 and if you haven't already, the Philips 5R4GYS that Dave mentioned which will take your findings even further...

Wig

Get a decent DAC ...the discussion of a decent player will...rightfully, end there. A decent DAC can mitigate any shortcomings (real or perceived) of any semi -decent transport.

That ship sailed long long ago.

I've actually owned Big name and expensive Dacs, none compared to my ModWright Sony 5400ES; Not even close...

Ain't it a gas, wig?

Best to you,
Dave

Thanks for the tube tips.  I will get the Tung Sol's and Phillips.  I knew I was on to something with this player when I asked my wife if she noticed any differences.  She did describe the resolution, air and articulation of the instruments. 

Have now lived with my "new" system for a while and just my thoughts.
Replaced both the krell power amp and cd player with Esoteric sa-50 and BAT VK600SE.
After selling off the Krells I am probably out $4k total with some new cables as well.
Did i get $4k perceived value?
Probably not tbh, the sound is different, some improvements but some reductions.

The low and mid bass is noticeably stronger and fuller, much more slam and as I listen to rock music that is a good thing for sure, not fat or bloated just more "iron fist" type of improvement, makes the Ushers work for a living now!
Vocals about the same, maybe a little more chesty but would be a tough call.
It is definitely more volume tolerant without becoming harsh as the Krells were apt to do, I can now watch the windows bow before my ears tell me it is distorting, a sure sign of the huge power reserves of the BAT.
But the soundstage has definitely suffered, a fair bit tbh. Even sitting with my eyes closed I can tell exactly which speaker each instrument or vocal is coming from with ease, a feat the Krells dismissed with ease, guitars would come in through the walls it seemed. That right there is my biggest area of disapointment.
And yes slap all this equipment in another room in another house with different music and ears and the results could well be completely different, I know that!
I suspect the BAT is the main culprit for the soundstage but after spending $4k its going to have to wait a while before I can splurge again!