Wanted cd player

[Newmarket]

Going off on a tangent, the 1970's CD is based on real time output, much like the old vinyl, which at the time was OK.
If low cost memory was available better error correction would have been possible. Transferring data output to storage today makes this possible.
DVD-A was not a hit, but is much better from my experience. Recording quality is a dominant factor in all formats.

Not really wanting to be the pedant here but...commercial CD players not available before 1982 ?

 

[Emmathom]

Not really wanting to be the pedant here but...commercial CD players not available before 1982 ?

I've bought the first "walkman CD" from Sony (D-5) in 1986 and there were just a few CD ref. (a hundrend ?) for sell in music stores...
Edit : it kept working until 2013 !!!

 

[Newmarket]

Yes but except cases as @nashkato's one (for wiring facilities between balanced devices) there's no improvement in sound in a balanced output on a "hifi" sound device (unless you run 1/2 mile modulation cable).
Good RCA plugs and good cables and you're done

It doesn't matter that it's a piece of hifi kit. Agree unlikely a problem in itself if cable run is short. But if CD player has a 3-wire earthed connection you compromise the whole concept of removing "Ground" from the audio signal path.

 

[Newmarket]

Extracting sound datas from CD (off-line with any computer's CD-DVD player for demat' stockage) avoids jitter and "live" reading errors. Then you got your music on SSD (2024) available at any time & best quality

Yes. But I take it the OP wants the ability to simply throw a CD into a player and hit play.

 

[Newmarket]

First time I've heard of the ES9018/28/38. I see it's on AliExpress but the descriptions by sellers are confusing. Where'd you get yours? Did you upgrade it?
Thanks

AliExpress descriptions often make for "interesting" reading and interpretation

 

[Emmathom]

AliExpress descriptions often make for "interesting" reading and interpretation

I HAVE the model that I adviced for years and it works perfectly... (plus a more serious ES9038 Pro board for my DIY DAC)
They're infos are translated from chinese to russian to greek to indonesian and then to your language (french or english or whatever)

 

[Emmathom]

It doesn't matter that it's a piece of hifi kit. Agree unlikely a problem in itself if cable run is short. But if CD player has a 3-wire earthed connection you compromise the whole concept of removing "Ground" from the audio signal path.

It's much rare to get a CD with a 3-wire earthed... Most of them are Class 2... but yes in that case you can loose common mode filtering

 

[Newmarket]

It's much rare to get a CD with a 3-wire earthed... Most of them are Class 2... but yes in that case you can loose common mode filtering

Yes. But I recall "pro CD" machines that IIRC were 3-wire and balanced out.
One interesting thing is that you run CD audio out of a standard desktop PC the screen will be Earth but not the case with a laptop. Overall TOSLink into a pro DAC may be the best option.

 

[Emmathom]

Overall TOSLink into a pro DAC may be the best option.

If you want "to play" your CD's like vinyls, yes. Otherwise you digitize them on a SSD and you're done (and you can do backup > because CD's can get damaged)
... and you can add plug-in(s) in your player ! I use Foobar and have added a FIR EQ to make the whole curve a bit "smiling" according to my speakers (a thing you can't do with a mechanical player + a DAC)

I do believe in all benefits from digitizing... (same for vinyls if you don't have a LP player anymore...)

 

[Snatchman]

I may have the HHB C800 recorder/player for sell. It has XLR output.

 

[Disco Volante]

Denon DCD 3300 here. Has XLR. Not the most elegant though. It's huge :-/.

 

[nashkato]

Yes. But I take it the OP wants the ability to simply throw a CD into a player and hit play.

yes , exactly . i know , i know ... not the ideal , best sounding ( for today's standards and ears ) possibility .
i'm aware of the options like dac , data import to ( oh so long living ) SSD's ( i had more broken ssd's than by fungi eaten cd's , in 1/10 of their lifetime ) etc ... and for 90% of my cd's i got double backup (internal and NAS)
(just gotta find it when you need it)

but for some reason i enjoy , similar to vinyl , the haptic and optical "thing" of a cd . i remember when and where i bought it in a certain time of my life .
you don't get that when scrolling through thousands and thousands of folders , subfolders of overdosed and by that more and more meaningless and through that worthless music .

if that was the case i would be better off to let an algorithm tell me what i want and/or like and get to know new things to sort through that evergrowing mass .

 

[nashkato]

hhb c800 might be an option , but yeah , you're far away
denon dcd 3300 : not quite what i'm looking for .
thanks for offering

 

[Snatchman]

hhb c800 might be an option , but yeah , you're far away
denon dcd 3300 : not quite what i'm looking for .
thanks for offering

This may not be what you want but in another situation, I ran the unbalanced outs of a CD player into an Ebtech line level shifter and it sounded great.

 

[nashkato]

Ebtech line level shifter

+4dbu in , -10dbV out ?
passiv
is this just some 1:4 voltage dividers in a case ?

 

[Mr. Moscode]

Some of the stuff mentioned made me curious. The Topping D90 III Sabre seems to be getting good reviews. Some say very detailed, some say lacking invlovement or soul. About $800. I don't know what's in it. May be a repackaged china board.

 

[Wavelength]

Gang,
Using S/PDIF in Toslink, BNC/RCA or AES/EBU is always going to have errors. If not errors then Jitter. The ESS parts simply upsample to the system clock which averages the jitter over a larger spectrum which results in lower numbers. It's still not as good as a good interface with I2S.
The XMOS stuff is a bit iffy at best. Remember this is an IO processor and does not have canned I2S. It's a programmed I2S and therefore the I2S jitter is actually pretty high. I was using these day 1 when Ali designed the damn things back in 2000. He sold the company and owns a Bed and Breakfast in the UK. I still have the source to the original stuff and have designed probably 20 or so products with all their processors.

~~~
It is best to rip CD's to a hard drive using error correction (a MUST) and save those off in AIFF or WAVB on an SSD. I have a 16TB array in front of me 1/2 full with 800 High Res and probably 1700 Red Book CD. I also have probably 600 DSD but that's another can of worms. I have a bunch of master files as well. I back these all up every ounce in awhile on a rotating disk array and two other NAS servers. Everything local is Thunderbolt. Playback is with Audirvana really the best sounding app available.

I design for a number of High End Audio companies and do guitar amps and pedals. I work heavily with ESS and know pretty much everyone there. They make good stuff. AKM does a good job as well, but their parts don't fit most of my work. We built here in Cincinnati and shipped over 125K products with ESS last year.

 

[MicMaven]

looking for a good sounding cd player , preferably professional with xlr outputs.

My suggestion - TASCAM CD-400U CD/SD/USB Player with Bluetooth® receiver and FM/AM tuner. Not cheap, but it fits the bill. OR, maybe the TASCAM BD-MP1MKII, BD-MP4K or BD-MP1 Pro Grade Blu-Ray players with SD and USB playback. Otherwise, I suspect a carefully constructed web search string should turn up a CD player with XLR outputs.

FRIENDLY OBJECTION - Your "Orneriness" -

The OP wants a CD Player with XLR connections. No matter how foolish this choice may be, the question admits a single answer - i.e., the name of a CD player with XLR outputs. Information about ANY OTHER device, method, or process is IRRELEVANT and OFF TOPIC. Besides, it is sorta almost kinda off the trail to ignore the OP'S question and beat him up for how silly ya think he is for wanting one in the first place! Who are we to judge? We surely have seen worse notions come along!!

Just My take. (and all in good fun) - James

 

[scott2000]

looking for a good sounding cd player , preferably professional with xlr outputs.
used older players with tda1540/41 da converters and liked the sound .
more modern hifi or dj players felt a little too "crisp/sharp"
also used denon dn 950/961, liked those a lot , but now they're beyond repair .
recommendations for new available units are welcome , too

The OP wants a CD Player with XLR connections. No matter how foolish this choice may be, the question admits a single answer - i.e., the name of a CD player with XLR outputs. Information about ANY OTHER device, method, or process is IRRELEVANT and OFF TOPIC.

I think it's fair to hear some other stuff.

 

[MicMaven]

I think it's fair to hear some other stuff.

Well ... um .... OK. --- James