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What am I missing using a 20 year old CD player??

I have the Sonographe SD-1 CD player which I purchased in 1988. Sonographe was a subsidiary company of Conrad Johnson. They modified a Magnavox 2610 CD player to produce the Sonographe SD-1. The unit has operated flawlessly for 20 years. Overall, its sound is clean textured and dynamic, but also can sound hard and somewhat sterile or digital. This "characteristic" has been consistent through several speaker systems I have owned over 20 years. It was formerly mated to Aragon and CJ electronics until recently. My current system is a Creek Classic SE5350 integrated amp; a pair of new(recent) Silverline Preludes and Analysis Plus Oval 12 speaker cable, and a Audio Magic Spellcaster II interconnect. Therefore, I am curious how much better have CD players gotten in the last 20 years. What might I be missing sound-wise that would offer noticeable improvement??? I ask because I am considering the Rega Apollo player. Finally, I was told by a high end audio specialist that I might need to spend to $1500-2000 to better the Sonographe. I question that because it only received above average reviews. I think, though not sure, Stereophile put it in their "C" equipment category..... Any and all advice welcomed. Thanks, Jimbo
sunnyjim

Showing 1 response by stevethe4th

stevethe4th
37 posts
 
Just want to throw this out there to everyone:
How about skipping issues??
I have an older CD player too..a predecesor to the SONY ES line before they had ES, and what I love about it, and the reason I still use it, is that it does not skip AT ALL !!
It will still play virtually any disc no matter how scratched or in bad shape the disc is. In the 12 years I have had this player, I have heard it skip maybe three times! AMAZING...what frustrates me now is how new equipment..more expensive gear, skips a lot more often.

I have no idea why this is, I am not an engineer, but I still use my old CD players just for this reason!
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