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Your experience:a cdp that gets best of lesser cds

I'm looking for a cd player that will get more out of the playback and sound of lesser quality recordings and/or poorly remastered cd's from the past (example: 70's soul/ 50's and 60's jazz remasters. By "more" I mean less thinness, leaness, in the sonics and more weight and lows, yet not rolled off or muted in the highs. In other words, a player that will dig deeper- do more with a lesser cd. I currently have an excellent player, the Modwright Sony 999ES, fully loaded, but synergy-wise it's not maximizing in my system. I'm looking for a used player in the $2500 -$3k area that will improve the sound quality on some of the lesser cd's I own. The one thing about this hobby that frustrates me no end is the synergy thing which can take away great performance from a quality piece of gear. My system: LSA/DK Signature int, Reimer Wind River GS, Modwright Sony,Acoutstic Zen cabling, Shunyata Hydra- various aftermarket PC's. Do you know of such a player?
foster_9
tvad
9,467 posts
 
FWIW, the top-of-the-line Ohm Walsh 5 loudspeakers can be adjusted along the lines of what Beheme suggests. They can also be adjusted for bass.

I owned a Behringer EQ, and I believe it is a good solution for some people. I was not engaged enough to learn the intricacies of the Behringer to make it worthwhile, but I think it's a powerful tool.
newbee
4,093 posts
 
Well, on the cheap you could do worse than the Raysonic 128 as a 2d unit. It really responds well to tube changes and turns in a very credible performance. I retired my old Cal Alpha/Delta without a tear.

I'm not as as fond of the use of an equalizer in this function. IMHO, you can shelve down the frequencies where the 'digital glare' occurs on 'bad' CD's but you don't change the fundamental glare - at least I can still hear it anyway. But using the right tube CDP (or an outboard buffer as suggested by Beheme) you can by selecting the right tubes soften the glare itself.

FWIW.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
But using the right tube CDP (or an outboard buffer as suggested by Beheme) you can by selecting the right tubes soften the glare itself.

FWIW.
Newbee (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)
OK, here's an idea I can't believe I didn't mention...and I've done it myself with excellent results.

Use a tube buffered Paradisea DAC, available on E-Bay for $525 delivered. Wow, talk about taming the digital nasties and producing warm, creamy and liquid music! Just run the Paradisea from the Modwright's Toslink or Coaxial digital outputs, and you have the best of both worlds!
herman
1,974 posts
 
OK, I think we need some clarification here. Do you seek a single player that can do everything (make everything sound good) or an additional player or another piece of hardware than can compensate for bad recordings?

If it is the former then you seek the impossible. How can one player color bad recordings and not color good recordings? I don’t care how much synergy there is you can’t find a player that can do both. You can find a player that compromises on both ends and make everything sound mediocre, but you can’t have everything in one box.

I suggest the following. Switch to computer based audio with a USB DAC. Rip all CDs to hard drives. Investigate equalizer software that can be applied to bad recordings and bypassed for good ones. Properly implemented computers make great transports so you can concentrate on the software and DAC.
vegasears
922 posts
 
Check out a previously owned Esoteric DV-50. It is within your price range. It has what Esoteric calls "Digital Filters". It has three settings. Using it has always reminded me of tube rolling. I seem to change settings more when I playing CD's from the 80's and early 90's. Another plus is having the ability to play SACD and DVD-A. I use mine in a music only system but I can listen to DVD-V concerts. It is a very versatile machine.

Good Luck
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