2. digital
  3. 986399438

Old Philips CD as transport or new playe

I need help with an upgrade. I have a 10 year old Philips CD-50 CD player, which happens to have a digital out. I see my options as:
1. Use the Philips as a transport and buy a reasonable (e.g, MSB or Perpetual) DAC; or
2. Toss the Philips and get a new player or transport-DAC combo.

Can I get some input on whether a 10 year old player (original retail about $300) will mate well with a new DAC or is it too old to be worthwhile and I should buy a new player/transport-DAC? Prefer to stay around $1,500.

BTW, the rest of my system is Plinius SA-100 Mk III amp, Rogue 99 pre-amp, into Coincident Super Eclipse speakers.

Thanks for the help!!
seldenr

Showing 1 response by joe_b

joe_b
421 posts
 
I was once told by a technician that a Phillips CDM9 transport, which was one of their better mechanisms had an estimated useful life of about 3500-4000 hours. Whether that is true or not, I don't know. If your player has a lot of hours on it, I would consider replacing it. I have a 10 year old Marantz cd94 that I have used for many years as a transport with Theta and Micromega dacs. However, I could not stand to listen to it without a jitter reduction device.
The Aiwa mentioned above, in its stock form, is comparable as a transport to the Marantz (not bad considering its price). A used Theta Data Basic (mentioned above) will imho outperform the Marantz and many other transports.
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