Suggestions for CD player that can be used as DAC as well

[shyamv]

I am yet to receive the player.. its in transit...Anyway, i have used SA8005 before. Its pretty decent for the money and build quality is superb too.
The other CD players that i have used are an entry level Denon, Creek Audio 50 CD and NAD Masters M5. To be honest, i dont exactly remember how each one of these sounded, for a comparison.

I really enjoyed the smooth sound from Creek Audio 50 and if i remember correctly, NAD was more organic. Creeks build quality is comparatively poor. I remember the optical output port cover getting damaged easily. Also, when used as a CDT with my Yggy, the "bad source" indicator was always on, suggesting pretty high jitter in the incoming digital stream from the player. Never had that issue with NAD and SA8005.

I will post my listening impressions once i have get SA8005 in my current setup.

Thanks. I have had bad experience with Creek Audio CD50 player as well. It broke down 4 times in the 3 years I had. It had a nice 'analogue-like' sound and a host of features. A pity that it was so poorly built that I had to get rid of it in 3 years.

 

[guls]

You can try to get an OPPO BDP-105 which is a good DAC and a pretty good CD player as well. I used to have a Sony SCD-XA5400ES and an Oppo BDP-105. At least for me the Sony was not much superior to the Oppo.

Also there is Yamaha CD-S2100 or CD-S3000.

 

[Miany]

You can try to get an OPPO BDP-105 which is a good DAC and a pretty good CD player as well. I used to have a Sony SCD-XA5400ES and an Oppo BDP-105. At least for me the Sony was not much superior to the Oppo.

Also there is Yamaha CD-S2100 or CD-S3000.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have got myself a marantz SA 8005 for the time being. Primarily using that as a transport to Yggy.

 

[shyamv]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have got myself a marantz SA 8005 for the time being. Primarily using that as a transport to Yggy.

A question. I am trying to determine how SA8005 as a DAC compares against a $500-1000 standalone DAC. How would you rate if against other entry/mid-price standalone DACs?

 

[Miany]

A question. I am trying to determine how SA8005 as a DAC compares against a $500-1000 standalone DAC. How would you rate if against other entry/mid-price standalone DACs?

If you are not exposed to the likes of Yggdrasil or other DAC in that price range, you can easily live with SA8005. From a VFM perspective, its a great product. As far as i remember, it is at par or slightly better than Creek 50 i had. Again, i could be wrong here since these 2 were in very different setups.

Though it is not fair to compare SA8005 to Yggy, since i had the chance, i did that. Note that in this case, rest of the equipment were the same.

- Yggy is more balanced and resolving than SA8005. No surprise here!
- SA8005 seemed to have the vocals stand out a bit, but in case of Yggy it was more blended in the sound-stage.
- Yggy offered a slightly wider sound-stage with better imaging.
- SACD performance of SA8005 is really good. Very musical and enjoyable presentation. Some tracks came really close to Yggy doing PCM in terms of sound-stage and imaging. But no point in comparing this, since the source format itself is very different involving different mastering techniques.

Overall, i would say SA8005 is a great product for the money; especially for the price that it is retailing these days! IMHO, it can easily compete with DACs under $1000 category.

Hope this helps!!

 

[shyamv]

If you are not exposed to the likes of Yggdrasil or other DAC in that price range, you can easily live with SA8005. From a VFM perspective, its a great product. As far as i remember, it is at par or slightly better than Creek 50 i had. Again, i could be wrong here since these 2 were in very different setups.

Though it is not fair to compare SA8005 to Yggy, since i had the chance, i did that. Note that in this case, rest of the equipment were the same.

- Yggy is more balanced and resolving than SA8005. No surprise here!
- SA8005 seemed to have the vocals stand out a bit, but in case of Yggy it was more blended in the sound-stage.
- Yggy offered a slightly wider sound-stage with better imaging.
- SACD performance of SA8005 is really good. Very musical and enjoyable presentation. Some tracks came really close to Yggy doing PCM in terms of sound-stage and imaging. But no point in comparing this, since the source format itself is very different involving different mastering techniques.

Overall, i would say SA8005 is a great product for the money; especially for the price that it is retailing these days! IMHO, it can easily compete with DACs under $1000 category.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks. This is what I was looking for.

 

[shyamv]

If you are not exposed to the likes of Yggdrasil or other DAC in that price range, you can easily live with SA8005. From a VFM perspective, its a great product. As far as i remember, it is at par or slightly better than Creek 50 i had. Again, i could be wrong here since these 2 were in very different setups.

Though it is not fair to compare SA8005 to Yggy, since i had the chance, i did that. Note that in this case, rest of the equipment were the same.

- Yggy is more balanced and resolving than SA8005. No surprise here!
- SA8005 seemed to have the vocals stand out a bit, but in case of Yggy it was more blended in the sound-stage.
- Yggy offered a slightly wider sound-stage with better imaging.
- SACD performance of SA8005 is really good. Very musical and enjoyable presentation. Some tracks came really close to Yggy doing PCM in terms of sound-stage and imaging. But no point in comparing this, since the source format itself is very different involving different mastering techniques.

Overall, i would say SA8005 is a great product for the money; especially for the price that it is retailing these days! IMHO, it can easily compete with DACs under $1000 category.

Hope this helps!!

Got a SA8005 today. It's really a solid player and great value for money. Makes me miss my Naim Nait CD5 XS a little less. DAC is quite nice too..very sweet-sounding, fatigue-free though not that very resolving. Time to open my boxes of CDs ! Thanks for your inputs @Miany.

 

[Sean de Silva]

Got a SA8005 today. It's really a solid player and great value for money. Makes me miss my Naim Nait CD5 XS a little less. DAC is quite nice too..very sweet-sounding, fatigue-free though not that very resolving. Time to open my boxes of CDs ! Thanks for your inputs @Miany.

Congrats on a fabulous purchase! Give it some time..that Marantz sound will grow on you

 

[RRR]

And give it good cables too... The Marantz will reward you

 

[shyamv]

And give it good cables too... The Marantz will reward you

I am using an inexpensive pair of Wireworld Luna interconnects that I purchased a few years back for a different setup. It's quite neutral and seems to be working well in this setup. Will try with old pairs of Audioquest and Chord interconnects this weekend.

 

[RRR]

The Wireworld, Audioquest and Chord interconnects should be good enough for now.
Cheers

 

[Miany]

Got a SA8005 today. It's really a solid player and great value for money. Makes me miss my Naim Nait CD5 XS a little less. DAC is quite nice too..very sweet-sounding, fatigue-free though not that very resolving. Time to open my boxes of CDs ! Thanks for your inputs @Miany.

Great!! Yes.. its a nice player for the money...mine has opened up a lot more now in terms of sound and it is indeed a good-sounding player... Enjoy! I am primarily using that as a DAC along with occasional CD/SACD playback.

 

[Miany]

Congrats on a fabulous purchase! Give it some time..that Marantz sound will grow on you

Yes.. The sound is really good after a fair amount of burn-in...

 

[Miany]

I am using an inexpensive pair of Wireworld Luna interconnects that I purchased a few years back for a different setup. It's quite neutral and seems to be working well in this setup. Will try with old pairs of Audioquest and Chord interconnects this weekend.

I am using QED reference One RCA interconnects and its sounding great!

 

[shyamv]

Yes.. The sound is really good after a fair amount of burn-in...

Yes. Running it in continuously since last 48 hours. Hope the sound settles in by the weekend!