Thinking about a new, lower end CD Player


My current CD player is a basic, older Sony, probably 10-12 years old. Works fine but I could use it in another location with a lower end system. It seems to sound about as good as my Arcam CD92 that lost its DAC a while back.

So now thinking about buying a new CDP and have a couple of questions.

I’d like to keep this in the $300-500 range for units with internal DAC. Not looking for SACD player. Other than a remote, not looking for special features or multi disk players.

I’m guessing that in this price range SQ is probably comparable to other units in that range.

First, is a CDP in this price range going to sound any better than the old Sony?
Second, if not, is there any reason not to just buy a comparable $200 unit?
Third, for units in this price range ($300-500) is there any reason to look for one with balanced output capability and if so, is there any way to know if it is truly balanced.

Thanks all,

George


n80

Showing 2 responses by mahler123

I love the Bluesound products, and have a Vault2 and two Node2 in different systems in my home.  I would dispute that they blow CDPs away, however; I think that the current state of CD replay is really good, and at best the Bliuesound products equal CD replay, especially when the Bluesound and the CDP are both used as transports into the same DAC
It’s been a few years since I did this, but I do remember plugging one of those Discman players into whatever DAC I was using at the time and being pleasantly surprised at the results.  I don’t  know  how I made the connection—did it have a digital out?