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Buying expensive used CD player/transp = bad idea?

Hello Everyone,

I wonder what is your say(from your experience) about
buying a second hand "hi end" cd player or transport.
As far as I know the optical block(laser) in even the best cd transports(like Philips Pro)are good for 5000-6000 playing hours and after that must be replaced.
Purchasing 4-5 years old Hi End CD player which may have accumulated nearly 80-90% of above stated figure seems to me as an absurd.
Of course,laser block can be replaced,but is it always available??(might be discontinued)
and what the cost is? + the hassle of the whole procedure.
Going for more affordable(brand new) cd transport and spending the big money for top class DAC seems to be a better idea.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you.
kdbg00
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Laser assy will last a LOT longer than the hours you guess at. I had a Sony ES89CD changer that I left on every day all day for my pets FOR EIGHT YEARS. Plus I used it myself.
That is like 50,000 hours of play. And it failed because the computer type data carrier from the sled to the dac failed, NOT the laser.
An earlier Philips 880 failed after 10 years of heavy use because a cap failed... again, not the laser.
mizuno
59 posts
 
is a DAC much better in terms of D to A conversion than a good pre-amp/ integrated amp?
bar81
754 posts
 
A preamp/integrated amp generally does not perform D/A conversion.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
is a DAC much better in terms of D to A conversion than a good pre-amp/ integrated amp?

A separate DAC (with no DSP processing) may be better at dealing with incoming jitter and internal generated jitter than a DSP pre or integrated - there is a lot less going on. However, "in theory" there is absolutely no reason a good preamp/integrated cannot sound as good. I suspect that a separate DAC may be the most cost effective option as the lower priced DAC's sell in large volumes, which reduces the machining costs on the most expensive pieces - fascia etc. Often the raw ingredients (chips/components) will be similar - as practically nobody makes their own chips/components for their own specific player...
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