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my rant on new single disc players under $500

WHERE IS THE FRICKEN REMOTE VOLUME CONTROL OPTION!!!!!!!! ok, now i feel better. unless i am missing something, in north america you can not purchase a new, current model single disc cd player under $500 with this feature built-in. what frosts my ass is they are available overseas in models from marantz and yamaha, but not here! in the good old u s of a it's denon and yamaha 5 disc carousels with volume control. it seems i would be forced to buy an older single disc player to meet my criteria.

i don't want to buy old technology or current carousel players to get this feature. i have a marantz pm7001 integrated amp and quad 11L's that i want to mate with a new budget single disc player with volume control. i am currently using an older yamaha cdc-685 carousel and do appreciate being able to make fine volume adjustments thru the player but want to move on to a single disc unit. i live in an apartment building with thin walls so the volume is usually fairly low. i have found that using a typical fixed voltage output cd player with my integrated amp gives me a very limited range of useful volume control. the volume just increases too fast for me. however my yammaha carousel allows a greater range of control at lower volumes.

are there any models out there that i am overlooking that would fit my criteria? would putting a resistor in-line be an option or just degrade sound quality? the used players listed on this site with volume control are all over $500. maybe i should just resign myself into having to use a carousel for my purpose. thanks in advance to any input on my ramblings.

regards,
Paul
ptt660
reubent
3,587 posts
 
Dc2daylight,

I believe you are correct. I recall having an e-mail exchange with the folks at Oppo concerning the variable volume control for the Oppo 971. The 970 may also have it.

Enjoy,

TIC
rwwear
2,692 posts
 
You are correct about the Oppo but when you attenuate with a digital volume control you chop off bits when turning it down. One way to get by without losing high resolution sound is to build the digital volume control with much more bits than are required. Accuphase made their CD players with a 24 bit volume control for this very reason. There are some companies that use analog volume controls but unless you run the CD player directly to the amp, you will end up with two volume controls in line which can also cause much consternation.
reubent
3,587 posts
 
Rwwear,

When I spoke with the tech folks at Oppo they suggested that their digital volume control implementation did not lose resolution with a decrease in volume. This would indicate that they had added bit width in order to overcome that issue. I can't verify that, but the Oppo may be a unit to try. Heck, the 970 is only $149 and in high demand. If he didn't love it, he could sell it for only a few dollars lost. It also plays SACD and DVD-A and provides very good video quality.

Enjoy,

TIC
rwwear
2,692 posts
 
I have used the Oppo and I like it but I didn't use the volume control. I did notice the player seems to have less volume than some others though.
ptt660 OP
20 posts
 
reubent, thanks for the tip on the rothwell's. i will check those out. i do not need a dvd player. call me skeptical on an oppo dvd player being a nice sounding stand-alone cd player, but i will at least check that out as well.

great input gang. i have some more options now to look into. has anyone used these rothwell or similar attenuators? any change in the sound good or bad?

thanks again,
Paul
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