What makes a Cd player a Great cd player

Ddan6815, thanks for revealing your bias early in the thread. While you initially appeared to be asking an open ended question, your last post reveals that you aren't as open to possibilities as your original posts suggests.

Your latest post also indicates that you didn't accept the point I made....that of not knowing what you don't know until you've heard a truly great CD player. To me, the history you mention with a Marantz CD player and one additional un-named CD player do not seem thorough enough to have experienced the possibilities. Or, maybe my viewpoint is unfair because you've listened to a dozen top CD players and didn't mention doing so.

If the overall point you are trying to make is that the differences among CD players can be subtle, then I agree. However, each person's definition of the word subtle varies considerably in this pasttime. One man's subtle difference can be another man's "jaw dropping", Ah-ha! moment.

A couple of major differences between a good CPD and great CDP are the DACs used and the quality of the output section. It is hard to make a poorly recorded CD sound good but there is a major difference on quality mastered CDs. And now there are new processes out that continue to improve CDs such as the blu-spec CDs made by Sony.

I agree Tvad. Hearing is believing.

Power chords make a big difference on CDPs also. Find a Virtual Dynamics Master powerchord and it will make a believer out of you.

This thread has become pretty funny.

It reminds me of when I had six fellow computer programmers and engineers come over because they wanted to hear my system.

Five were saying "Oh my Lord!" while one said that he couldn't hear a difference. We all looked at him because we figured that one of three things might have been going on in his mind.

1. He really couldn't hear the difference that everyone else heard.

2. He wasn't going to admit that there was a difference because he wasn't about to allocate any extra money to his HT/Stereo/Video Game system and that was his way of justifying it to himself.

3. He was not admitting that anything sounded better because he's preached forever that there's no difference in any stereo components.

Like TVAD said, if you don't want to believe that that a higher quality:

1. transport reduces translation errors
2. DAC decodes the 16 bit encoded data better
3. power supply reduces the noise floor and provides more dynamics
4. there a bunch more etc's

If you don't want or can't believe that these things make the kind of difference that gives it more value TO YOU, don't worry or think twice about it. Stick with your $1000.00 CD Player.

I don't understand why you asked us WHY when it seems that you really don't accept any REASONS WHY that your fellow Audiogoners are offering.

We don't care and are actually happy if you like your $1000.00 CD Player.

Chuck

06-01-10: Ddan6815

Back when I owned my Marantz cdp, I thought it had a more warmer sound than my current cd player,which I found to be very detailed, and open, but lacked the more laid back sound of the Marantz. However when I switched speakers, and went to my Apogees, the smoothness that was lacking appeared. I think any extra money spent should go towards speakers and quality mastered cds. my two cents

So it seems that you prefer an transparent source and warmer speakers, nothing wrong with this. If it works for you that's all that matters. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat. That's why they make so many flavors.

To me, what makes a cd player great is being able to listen to all of my cd's (not just audiophile recordings) without grinding my teeth. I tend to like them a little smoother, since many cd's, especially earlier ones, are pretty harsh. Analog is still what I listen to when I want great music, so a great CDP to me is just the least irritating one.

Cheers,
John

WOW....I keep forgetting where I'm at. I simply ASKED a question, because I am open minded,and wanted other opinions about a cdp in the 2 to 3k range. I also only shared MY personal experience, which is NOT much, being the reason I ASKED in the first place. I was hoping someone would enlighten me, considering I never purchased a cdp over $500. was that to say I wont, NO, I would if i could get what I would justify as worth the purchase . Now, let me ask the question again, and see if I can get the answer, I was looking for. I love the sound of Vinyl over cds,. If I was to spend 2 to 3k on a cd player, will it even come close to the sound of Vinyl, or will I get the realism that I get from vinyl. And by the way my current cdp, is a Emotiva ERC1, AMP NAD2600, SPEAKERS APOGEE CENTAURUS, SONY 601ES 6 DISC CHANGER , EMOTIVA USP1 PREAMP AND A KENWOOD KD 5077 TT....ALL BUDGET PRICED GEAR