Does anyone out there NOT hear a difference in CD

Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio thought highly enough of the PD-65 as a transport to offer mods on it (click on Component Mods>Transport Mods for details).

Empirical Audio does not offer PD-65 mods any longer, but that doesn't negate the fact that it's a good basic transport. Add a nice $1000 (or less) DAC. You'll be ahead of the Cambridge.

You can always use the new DAC with your next, better transport.

Incremental upgrades. Improves sound. Saves bucks.

Mostly good responses.

I agree on the system's resolution part which suggests that a system with higher resolution will yield a bigger difference in sound with respect to better CDPs. When I had a fairly low-end system, I couldn't seem to hear audible differences between entry-level sources. To my ears, the Arcam Alpha 8 and Marantz CD-63kISig that I had at that time all sounded the same. Just when my system progressed further to some mid-end stuff, I replaced the Arcam with a Sony XA7ES and heard an audible improvement, a sound that was much focused and refined. I could hear more details in the recording, and the bass was of higher quality. That was the point when I believed that a better CDP would give a better sound. After a few years later I picked up the Krell KPS-30i. Again, I heard a difference but this time it was not as significant compared to the jump in sonics between the lowly Arcam and the Sony. This just proves that difference in sound between players can sometimes be fairly unpredictable as it varies from noticeable to almost negligible.

The poster of this thread has some great gears, and I think he'll benefit with a better CDP. I'm not too familiar with the Pioneer Elite PD-65, but I think it's a fairly low-budget player -I may be wrong. I think the real question that should be asked is how much improvement he can expect if he were to upgrade his Pioneer to the Cambridge Audio 840C, or something else for that matter. Unfortunately, no one can answer that for him except the listener himself.

Good luck.

Interesting discussion. I can only offer my own experience. I love music but I also love playing with audio equipment. For the latter reason, I have swapped a few CD player or Transport/Dac combo in the past. Every piece of my system costs between $500-1000 (nothing much by Audiogon standard). I moved from good old NAD to Acurus ACD-11 to adding an external Aragon DAC (D2A2), and multiple moderate tweaks (Upsamplers, anti-jitter device, power cords, etc). None of the "upgrade" gave me much satisfaction--I tried hard to convince myself that the "subtle" changes are what upgrade means. Until I got a used EAD T1000/Dsp1000 Series III combo. Immediately, I noticed music coming out of my system. To be honest, I was shocked as I really had no expectation other than the need to buy more equipment (pathetic, I know). So much details, blacker background, etc. All the stereophile lingos began to make sense. Currently, the rest of my system consists of Aragon 18K preamp, Mcintosh MC122 amp, and Magnepan SMGc (the maggies have been in my system since day 1; the preamp and amp have been swapped in and out a few times). May be I am lucky but I think I have found my synergism (for now). I guess this is a long version of saying Yes, CD player makes a difference but it does depend on system matching. When it really works, it will not be subtle (kinda of like having found your soul mate after all these years of dating).

"The digital era is just beginning to give birth to itself." There's a mental image fer ya.

replacing my Pioneer Elite PD-65 with a Cambridge Audio 840c

These players use different chipsets (generation & technology wise) so the sonic rendition will be different. How perceptible the differences depends on the rest of the system AND the kind of music you listen to.