2. digital
  3. 135231-80920

New or Old CD Player?

Let's say I have $5K, tops, to buy a CD player. I don't need digital inputs, outputs, etc. I don't need to spin SACD's. I only intend to play Redbook CD's and want a one-box solution. Would my money be better spent on a new unit, like maybe a Hegel Mohican? Or should I buy a component that was close to state of the art a decade ago? Like maybe a Simaudio 750D, or an Audio Research Reference CD8? Thoughts?
imgoodwithtools
browndt
97 posts
 
If you want an excellent analog player buy an OPPO 205 before they are gone and have the MOD RGHT modification done.
This player beats them all while giving you lots of additional features. I have one that was just modified and have never heard anything like it. Tubes with a superb DAC (ES9800) produce the best of both worlds on any CD. And the total price ($3800) is well within your budget.
whitecap
110 posts
 
Indeed, imgoodwithtools, you know precisely what you should do:  ARC Ref. CD8.   Lo and behold, there's a real nice, lightly used one on the block here at A'Gon right now, and you don't need to spend $5K.  Its offered by some member goes by the moniker, Whitecap.  Check it out.  

grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
EAR Yoshino Acute Classic   +1.  
cjaronica
113 posts
 
I'm going to purchase a Border Patrol Dac and use my CD Payer as a Transport.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
@trelja I just Google-imaged innards of Mohican, Sony and Sanyo CD mechanisms, and the Hegel looks exactly like the Sony, with that tell-tale grid/lattice pattern on top.  Hegel, on the Mohican homepage, states that it's Sanyo, but as you say it's hard to believe.  Ironic to see just today that @monkandmozart was so taken with it.
More to discover