CD player - should I go for audiophile grade? or a 10K is good enough?

[raaj74]

I am on the verge of procuring Denon DRA 800H along with a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i. But I am still unsure about the source of music. CD it will be, I know - but what should be the specs?
I want to know whether -

1. Any decent CD player with a digital out will do the job for me? I will go for 24/192 capability of course
2. Does it require branded higher level Marantz or the likes to get a good reproduction?

If I am only getting a digial signal from the CD player, why the quality of the CD player be so much important, as I will in anyways amplify it through the IA?

Please guide me. I already have a 5K costing Philips DVD player with co-axial out!

 

[superczar]

Why not just rip your CDs and use a good DAC?
Far cheaper and easier than searching for a high end CDP I suppose

 

[Miany]

I am on the verge of procuring Denon DRA 800H along with a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i. But I am still unsure about the source of music. CD it will be, I know - but what should be the specs?
I want to know whether -

1. Any decent CD player with a digital out will do the job for me? I will go for 24/192 capability of course
2. Does it require branded higher level Marantz or the likes to get a good reproduction?

If I am only getting a digial signal from the CD player, why the quality of the CD player be so much important, as I will in anyways amplify it through the IA?

Please guide me. I already have a 5K costing Philips DVD player with co-axial out!

If you are not using the Analogue section of the CD player, no point in getting a dedicated CD player. Get a decent transport like a Audiolab 6000 CDT or Cambridge audio CXC. You can always use the digital out of any CD player as well. However, you can almost be certain that a pretty decent 2 channel CD player will any day sound better than your Denon AVR.

The quality of CD transport is important for the below mentioned points.

- Accurate reading of the binary information along with good error correction.
- Timing of the data output to the DAC. If this is not proper, this can be cause jitter.

You can google for more information on these.

If you are on a tight budget, Try your Philips DVD player as a CD transport first. Later, if possible, borrow a CDT and see if you are able to make out any difference in the setup. If YES, then you can invest in a good CD transport.

Also, normally CD transport wont up-sample the audio CD data to higher bit rate.. it will be 16 bit 44.1KHz... However, if the DAC implementation in Denon does support up-sampling, you can try that out and see if that is making any difference in the sound.

 

[hemya]

It depends on how often and for how long are you going to use it. If it is only for nostalgia then use your DVD player or get one under 10K. I have over 200 CDs but I have held onto them for nostalgia and maybe the hope that someday I have a big enough dedicated stereo room where I can enjoy them. For the time being I use my Sharp Aquos BD Player. The DRA-800H has HEOS built in and it is pretty convenient and plays TIDAL too.

If bulk of your listening is still on CD then go for something like a Marantz CD6006 or similar or even higher.

 

[raaj74]

If you are not using the Analogue section of the CD player, no point in getting a dedicated CD player. Get a decent transport like a Audiolab 6000 CDT or Cambridge audio CXC. You can always use the digital out of any CD player as well. However, you can almost be certain that a pretty decent 2 channel CD player will any day sound better than your Denon AVR.

Do you mean the Denon is a wrong choice?

 

[raaj74]

It depends on how often and for how long are you going to use it. If it is only for nostalgia then use your DVD player or get one under 10K. I have over 200 CDs but I have held onto them for nostalgia and maybe the hope that someday I have a big enough dedicated stereo room where I can enjoy them. For the time being I use my Sharp Aquos BD Player. The DRA-800H has HEOS built in and it is pretty convenient and plays TIDAL too.

If bulk of your listening is still on CD then go for something like a Marantz CD6006 or similar or even higher.

I was thinking that way. Quite a big chunk will be coming out of FLAC rips as well I guess. In that case, CDP becomes secondary

 

[raaj74]

Why not just rip your CDs and use a good DAC?
Far cheaper and easier than searching for a high end CDP I suppose

Exactly. What if I use the DAC of the Denon 800H?

 

[Miany]

Do you mean the Denon is a wrong choice?

Not at all! It was generic comment regarding AVR DAC Vs CD Player for stereo listening, purely based on my experience. YMMV. Nothing aganist Denon. In fact, my first CD player was a Denon entry level one. Loved that absolutely...

 

[raaj74]

Not at all! It was generic comment regarding AVR DAC Vs CD Player for stereo listening, purely based on my experience. YMMV. Nothing aganist Denon. In fact, my first CD player was a Denon entry level one. Loved that absolutely...

I think 800H is not a full fledged AVR 'cuz it supports only 2 channel audio - and that's why I selected it!

 

[RRR]

If the rest of your system is not high end, then you don't need a costly Cd player unless you want to splurge.
If you're going to play a lot of cds definitely go for a cd player. You can then choose to use the cd player by itself or use the digital out into the Denon.

 

[MaSh]

I am on the verge of procuring Denon DRA 800H along with a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i. But I am still unsure about the source of music. CD it will be, I know - but what should be the specs?
I want to know whether -

1. Any decent CD player with a digital out will do the job for me? I will go for 24/192 capability of course
2. Does it require branded higher level Marantz or the likes to get a good reproduction?

If I am only getting a digial signal from the CD player, why the quality of the CD player be so much important, as I will in anyways amplify it through the IA?

Please guide me. I already have a 5K costing Philips DVD player with co-axial out!

You don't need a cd player as such. Use your dvd player >> Digital out >> Denon.

MaSh

 

[apbinu]

I think 800H is not a full fledged AVR 'cuz it supports only 2 channel audio - and that's why I selected it!

What is the use case - reason for narrowing down to 800H?

 

[superczar]

Exactly. What if I use the DAC of the Denon 800H?

I don't kknow the specifics of this model but I do see it has toslink in and supports Heos

If I were you, I would either connect an optical out from the device used for playback (presumably a PC with optical out)
or easier still, network share the folder that contains the rips and use HEOS for playback

Alternatively, as @MaSh pointed out, your existing DVD player -> optical -> Denon
Some folks say that low end players have very high jitter - i can't hear said jitter but you may

PS: I see you want 24/192 playback . CDs top out at 16/44.1. Personally i think that's good enough but others may feel otherwise - surely a debatable point.
Either way, don't go upsampling those CD rips - you stand nothing to gain by doing that as upsampling audio from its original form is outright pointless - That's a non-debatable point

 

[raaj74]

You don't need a cd player as such. Use your dvd player >> Digital out >> Denon.

MaSh

Absolutely my thought - Thumbs up!

 

[raaj74]

What is the use case - reason for narrowing down to 800H?

100W / ch at 8 ohms, not a home cinema surround, very capable network abilities and a bunch of inputs including USB - sums up my selection!

 

[Miany]

I think 800H is not a full fledged AVR 'cuz it supports only 2 channel audio - and that's why I selected it!

Oh.. yes.. its a stereo receiver.. my bad.. i was talking about AVR only... Please ignore my comment then!!

 

[jls001]

1. Any decent CD player with a digital out will do the job for me? I will go for 24/192 capability of course

If you're spinning audio CDs the digital output from coax or optical will be 16 bit 44.1 kHz.

 

[apbinu]

100W / ch at 8 ohms, not a home cinema surround, very capable network abilities and a bunch of inputs including USB - sums up my selection!

So why not go for Yamaha R-N602 (43k) this has all the required capabilities which your looking for, except HDMI inputs which Denon 800H has but i don't see the need for it in stereo setup.

Additionally you have leftover money (if you go for R-N602) which you can utilize to buy Marantz CD5005 (21k), this way IMHO your not compromising.

Cheers,

 

[raaj74]

So why not go for Yamaha R-N602 (43k) this has all the required capabilities which your looking for, except HDMI inputs which Denon 800H has but i don't see the need for it in stereo setup.

Additionally you have leftover money (if you go for R-N602) which you can utilize to buy Marantz CD5005 (21k), this way IMHO your not compromising.

Cheers,

I heard that the sound does not match good benchmarks. And moreover, it is 80w/ch max. Is it a better amp you think?

 

[raaj74]

If you're spinning audio CDs the digital output from coax or optical will be 16 bit 44.1 kHz.

Agreed