Okay......best single box reference CD player

The notion that one has to merely wait for superior products to appear at lower prices because of increases in computing power ("Moore's Law") does not necessarily hold. It is true that most manufactures are captive to basic parts (transport mechanisms, DAC chips) that are made by big manufacturers. But, it is hardly true that these parts are improving. In fact, basic DAC chips are designed to serve many functions, and increasingly, doing basic redbook decoding is less and less a priority and chips have been going down hill in terms of their abilities on that front. That is why many manufacturers of premium units horde old chips and pay a premium for chips that are 10-years old or older in design and no longer manufactured. Even designers who have not been able to do this have admitted as much (I believe Charles Hanson of Ayre has said this).

Yet some are already working with 32-bit DACs for new upsampling schemes. Those 32-bit DACs are under $50. What's better, a new 32-bit generic DAC or a ten-year old 16 DAC built like a brick sh*t house?? I don't know and I think that a lot depends on the designer's skills.

Just like a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Charles is good at "talking his own book." There's more than one way to skin a cat, particularly in digital technology.

Dave

Larryi,

You're scaring me. Are you saying that some premium manufacturers charge a premium for older digital CD technology because older CD digital technology is better?

I love antiques myself. Antique technology may hold value for historical and collectible reasons but when someone tells me that older digital technology is inherently better than newer digital technology, something doesn't sound right.

From my equipment and listening experience, I believe that most common stock CD players today are way better than high end players from 10 years back or more.

Though any digital format, like CD, must have some inherent technical limits, whether realized in practice or not, digital playback is one area that should continually benefit from new technology innovations and the cost benefits that come from marketing successful new technology products over time.

Multi-format DVD players are perhaps more popular than CDs these days. Perhaps that is where the current advancements are occurring most rapidly and catching up or perhaps even surpassing that of pure CD players?

Very interesting topic and discussion, by the way!

I don't think that's what he's saying at all. It sounds like he's making a valid point for many things, in that products produced before heavy commoditization in the field are often times better in quality than newer products, which may also have different priorities going into their design. Of course, that's to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

With regard to the comment about "stock" CDPs now versus units produced 10 years ago, my Wadia 861se GNSC Statement unit would beg to differ and raise you a Meridian 808.2i to boot.

Some ultra-premium manufacturers, such as Zanden, and Naim (for their CD555 and CDS3 player), use legacy chips that are no longer made. Whether they are charging more because of this, or for any other reason, it is hard to say. But, a manufacturer that uses such chips must factor in their scarcity, and must limit production because some parts have to be held in reserve for repairs and servicing the product for years to come.

By the way, the Audionote DAC-5, which uses "primitive" technology is, to me, one of the very best DACs on the market. I also agree with Bar81 that a GNSC-modified Wadia is no slouch when compared to just about anything out there.