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Best player for Poorly Recorded redbook CDs?

There is lot on the cutting edge of digital players, Meitner, APL, Esoteric, Zanden, Reimyo, and the list goes on. Most have great reviews and their own followers. The problem is we usually test this with better recorded CDs or do not actually consciously think about how well a player plays poorly recorded CDs. If I have a main player for SACDs and avg-well recorded CDs, is there a player out there that somehow makes poorly recorded CDs sound better, and better than other equipment? Note this only pertains to poorly recorded CDs...and its not about being truthful/accuracy per se...all I want is something that will improve on bad CDs. Meitner is OK at this but I wonder if other players out there (and indeed it may well be a budget player,...who knows) that specifcally do this well. Given as music lovers, we generally own our fair share of poor sounding but great music CDs, I think this is potentially quite important and can pay lots of dividends after some investigation....at least that is the hope. Now thinking about this, its also somewhat surprising that professional reviewers do not really address this aspect much. Hmmm.

Any suggestions? Do you agree with this line of thiniking?
henryhk
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Inexpensive copper interconnects can help, as Sugarbrie suggests.

I'd like to offer two other options. My preferred option would be to make the source as good as possible and add a tubed preamp in the chain. Once you give up resolution in the source, you can never get it back. You know this already. I see you have an EMM/Meitner digital front end.

The sound can be softened and tailored by rolling tubes in the preamp.

The second option would be to add a tubed CD player for the same reason.

Tube selection can make all the difference.
mapleleafs3
190 posts
 
Sorry cables is not the answer.Cables being made for the equipment of the time is not the case. Thats such a way off base comment.
Cables should impart what is on a CD not change the sound to suit your taste.

Cables and wire are the same basically. Copper is copper and Dialectrics are what they are. They have not changed. What has changed is marketing and reviewers and Magazine that are addicted to the revenues they generate.

I have had many cable shootouts over the years. Have had many many different cables.

In the end its not usually the big money cables that win.
kana813
956 posts
 
If its not about being truthful/accuracy per se... instead of using cables and tubes as tone control,the most efficient way to modify the sound of Poorly Recorded Redbook CDs is to add an EQ devise to your system. This can
be done in the digital or analog domain. There's lots of talk about EQ devises on Robert Greene's(TAS) forum over at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/regsaudioforum/
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Kana813, you're right.

I withdraw my suggestion.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
If the problem with the CDs is frequency balance, then the EQ suggetion is an excellent idea, but if the problem is over compression/limiting, then there is no corrective solution. You'll just have to train yourself to focus on the music, not the sound.
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