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Vinyl guy seeking recommendation for a top level cd player

I know cds are dead.  Best time to buy a cd player, the way it looks.  I want an all in one box.  I don't stream so a separate DAC is not required.  Most of my cd collection have been ripped to a PC as Flac files and then down loaded to a Sony HAP-Z1ES.  Currently about 3000 Redbook and perhaps 100 SACDs.  The way cds are being dumped I figure on becoming a buyer again so these numbers will go up.  I have looked at Marantz SA10, Esoteric K1 (lightly used), and Luxman D-10X, so far.  It would be good if the sound could approach vinyl.  The Z1 does up to a point.  Listening this morning to the same recordings, the Z1 compares to a high end MM cartridge, but not to a SoundSmith Experion.  Maybe I am asking too much, but in any event a new cd player is being sought.  Thanks in advance for any advice.
Bill
billstevenson
dvddesigner
78 posts
 
Fully appreciate the one box approach and is a good solution for the number of CDs you own. If I remember correctly your Sony has Burr Brown DACs in them which were very popular and good sounding DAC.

I concur with other to look toward an Esoteric of some flavor and would add to listen to one with an AKM AK4497 DAC chips in it. While there are other factors such as analog output stage design and transport that will have an impact on sound, my Linn streamer with their Katalyst DAC  is based on the same chipset and it is simply the best DAC/Analog output stage I have heard or owned. 

Also - this could be your exit market investment in CD playback. Worth a purchase if you will get the use out of it.


earlflynn's avatar
earlflynn
461 posts
 
Simaudio 260D with DAC.
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,579 posts
 
"...You misinterpreted my post. A Laser can go out AT ANY TIME..."

I did, I noticed it after I posted and re-read your post. Yes lasers can die abruptly and/or time out.  
bradluke0
163 posts
 
Congrats on you purchase of the Luxman. It was on my short list but I wound up with an Ayon. Both are great players. 
jymc
110 posts
 

You can always identify a diehard high-end vinyl guy. Their ears are conditioned to a lifetime of listening to the best of what vinyl has to offer. Therefore, even the most pristine and capable digital playback will NEVER be acceptable to their highly conditioned ears and brain processing of analog audio.

This is not a dig at vinyl proponents, but rather, an honest assessment of their conditioned listening history. Digital presents audio with significantly higher dynamic range and more discernible mechanical detail than vinyl.  Furthermore, digital foregoes the inherent analog reproduction problems, which nonetheless have come to be identified by vinyl proponents as "the warmness of vinyl".  With subjective semantics at play, such "warmness" is the vinyl lover's way of suggesting the unobscured detail of digital equals harshness, edginess, etc etc.

BOTTOM LINE HERE:  This is not an argument to be won by either the analog nor digital side.  Listening history burns a blueprint into our brains of what music of any genre is supposed to sound like. This is true for both digital and analog proponents. If one owns 2,000 vinyl albums that they’ve been listening to for 40 years, there is likely no high quality digital presentation that will ever match and fulfill the audio expectations of such a listener, following 40 years of exposure to vinyl. Any variations in audio presentation will not sound right. And the same reasoning applies to a digital proponent attempting to adjust/listen to vinyl.  

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