The best Cdp that have volume control

whatever cd-player ewe currently have, will sound better run thru a nice tubed preamp, if yer budget can go up to $2k, than whatever $2k cd player ewe can find that can be run straight-in to an amp. try used melos, cary, rogue, audio-research preamps - these are ones i'm familiar with, i'm sure there are many others.

doug

the res-audio cd50 *is* an outstanding cd-player, & can be had used for ~$1700. i finally had the opportunity to hear it on my brother-in-law's system, run thru an audio research ls-16 preamp, feeding an a-r 100.2 amp, driving proac 2.5's. i dint get the opportunity to hear it bypassing the preamp as my brother-in-law sez it's not really listenable, when comparing it w/running it thru the preamp. he also said it's splitting hairs between it & his almost half-as-expensive alchemist cd-player, when run thru the audio-research preamp. he *did* say that it's clearly better than the alchemist if comparing them both w/o the preamp. he *also* said that if he needed the money & were forced to sell either the preamp or the cd-50, and use the alchemist in his main rig, that it was a no-brainer - the alchemist run thru the pre was far better than the res-audio cd-50 run straight-in...

as i said before in this thread, i believe, if ya only got $2k to spend, the combination of a good tubed preamp w/your existing cd-player will net better sound than any $2k cd-player run straight-in to an amp. i a-b'd the same alchemist cd-player w/a $500 nad cd-changer in *my* system, thru my melos pre (and thru the cary slp-98, the short time i owned it), and i had the same experience - no discernable differences between the two players when run thru these preamps, and the nad was much better run thru the pre than the alchemist run straight-in. ymmv...

doug

richards is right - listen & decide for yourself. my brother-in-law also auditioned the cd55 & found it no better than the cd50, if anything, the cd50 was a bit smoother, he said. i haven't heard the cd55, so i have no personal experience. regarding music-choice, my brother-in-law listens mainbly to acoustic music - strings & woodwinds - & hr still prefers his cd50 run thru his preamp. again, listen & decide for yourself

doug

take it easy, carl. my opinion, & that of my brother-in-law, are as equally informed as yours - to our ears - which is what's important, imho. our systems are *also* "splendid", in "correctly treated rooms". who cares if you have listened to res-audio for 50 years, & i only heard it the 1st time yesterday? what's important, is how one thinks something *sounds*.

the only opinion i am "pushing", is my opinion that the digital format (res-audio products included) *can* be improved by quality tubed preamps. this is not an opinion unique to me - many audiophiles share it. i even emailed res-audio directly, & they agreed that in many instances, their player's sound can be improved by the addition of a quality preamp.

carl, i respect the fact that ewe seem to disagree w/me about this, it's baffling why ewe can't seem to respect my opinion about it, or the opinions of others, even including the opinions of the designers of the equipment in question. i'm also baffled why ewe still refuse to divulge which (if any) preamps ewe may have run the res-audio cd-player thru, which has led ewe to your conclusion.

i have always found that having an open mind has helped me to learn about achieving better sound in audio; it's also been quite useful in other real-world endeavors.

regards, doug

i'm sorry carl, your argument yust duzzent hold water - yew wood have to try a cd player thru a quality preamp in order to determine whether or not it improves the sound - at least for *one* evening...

and, i'm not interested in winning any brownie-points here - i really am not concerned w/whether *my position* is helped here or not. this site is only to help others to decide whether or not they may want to try something in their systems to get better sound. i'm yust giving my reactions to my experiences - they are valid to me, & may or may not be helpful &/or valid to others. of course, i *do* believe that ewe could be more helpful to others by sharing how yu came to yer conclusions - ie: what preamp(s) made yer cd-player sound worse, but if yoo choose not to be helpful, so be it.

regards, doug

ps - i *do* use spell-czech, it's yust filled w/a lot of custom words... ;~)

there's a resolution audio cd50 that's yust been listed for $1650 on audiogon, if anyone's interested. it *is* a nice sounding unit, regardless of whether or not *i* think it's not worth it spending that much money on a cd-player... ;~)

and carl, i don't think i'd get much family respect dragging my in-law into this, but, if yer interested, his comments closely match those of john_l above, regarding "same detail, but less strident & not as much glare." but, he differs in that he doesn't think the differences are so close - he feels the player run straight-in is hard to take for more than 30 minutes or so...

regards, doug

carl, please don't misunderstand me - i'm not picking on ewe or yer cd-player - my comments about a cd-player sounding better run thru a good (tubed) preamp apply to *all* cd-players - yers yust happens to be one of 'em.

of course, i'm not so obstinate to think that there no folks out there who get better sound from their cdplayers run straight-in, in fact many of them post their experiences right here in these threads. only difference between them & ewe, is they give comparisons: what cd-players they've tried, what preamps they've tried, etc. they give me & other people a chance to try & learn something. i'd *love* to find out about a relatively affordable digital playback system that could markedly improve my current set-up.

regards, doug