Wanted cd player

[Mr. Moscode]

We surely have seen worse notions come along!!

That's sort of a left handed compliment but good you stuck up for the OP.

 

[Snatchman]

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

Not sure, but it seems to stay out of the way sonically.

 

[Newmarket]

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 .

I get what you mean. It's sometimes simply more satisfying to load a disk and press play rather than clicking around on a laptop. Seems to much like being at work sometimes and playing music via Excel OTOH it can be frustrating keeping CDs in order and resolving any issues where the wrong disk ends up in the wrong cover...and covers that break so easily !
As for audio quality - well tbh standard 16 bit / 44.1kHz can produce phenomenal audio when properly engineered. Although I have "always" wished that the Fs was higher than 44.1kHz. imo much of the negative attitude toward CD is influenced by remastering originals for CD. I acknowledge that mastering for CD can be usefully different for technical reasons. But imo some of it was overdone esp early on with the tendency to make things over bright. Then throw in the "Loudness Wars"...And I'm led to believe that some remasters were made from the "Vinyl Master" rather than the original Multitrack or pre-Master original. That seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

[Newmarket]

Gang,
Using S/PDIF in Toslink, BNC/RCA or AES/EBU is always going to have errors. If not errors then Jitter.

Jitter - yes - data/cable/clock - can never say it's zero. But quantitatively it can vary from audible artefacts to negligible depending on implementation.
Errors - rare in transmission imo even when well exceeding the recommended max lengths and non-ideal impedance mismatch.
Although susceptibilty increases with Fs.

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.

All other things being equal a data transmission system with a "simple" clock is going to have a technical advantage over a system where the clock is embedded in the data by eg FM1. See also CD systems where the CD spinner is / was clocked from the DAC rather than the DAC being clocked from the data stream via (possibly nested) PLLs.

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.

Any reason to favour those formats over FLAC ?

Playback is with Audirvana really the best sounding app available.

Will search that.

Cheers.

 

[Newmarket]

That's sort of a left handed compliment but good you stuck up for the OP.

Well tbh it seems bizarre to question the validity of wanting balanced (whatever flavour) XLR outputs on any piece of kit. Particularly on a well established commercial format.
Technically the screen / signal 0V are combined and in any sort of complex system is likely to be connected to "Earth" at some point eg mixing desk / rack connection etc etc... Now in many instances it won't be a problem. But in some it will. And you don't want to be the person who has introduced the problem. Cue reaching for a "Humbuster" solution that will likely solve the problem at the expense of fidelity.

 

[ccaudle]

preferably professional with xlr outputs

Have you considered taking a consumer player which you like and converting to impedance balanced outputs?

 

[MicMaven]

Have you considered taking a consumer player which you like and converting to impedance balanced outputs?

I wondered that, too, but I gave that up after spending an afternoon researching what that can entail - shoot, even an inexpensive ART brand unbalanced-balanced adapter costs $80 and other brands easily up #300 to $500! Besides, I remember he wants a simple plug-n-play solution consistent with his existing pile of XLR based equipment and cables, and his expressly avowed aversion to adapters. Once again, telling him why he should not want what he wants seems misplaced. Are there no good CD players with SLR outs? Are the Tascam models I mentioned no good? James

 

[ccaudle]

I gave that up after spending an afternoon researching what that can entail

I don't follow. Component wise it is usually just another resistor and capacitor. The hardest part would be modifying the chassis to put an XLR connector in the sheet metal, but a TRS jack would probably be easier, or even a "pigtail" that hung out a few inches with an XLR cable plug on it. That would be a little ugly, but you could probably remove the phono connectors and put the pigtail cable through the existing hole without modifying the sheet metal (well, maybe a small mod to clamp the cable shield to the chassis so you have a proper shield connection).

Are there no good CD players with SLR outs?

Some, the HHB previously mentioned, or a Studer, but older pro models tend to be very rare these days. I just checked eBay and used Studer players seem to be asking $1500 to $2500.
Also the original poster already mentioned that he doesn't particularly like the sound of more modern players, so a "good" CD player with XLR out might not meet his request for something with the character of the old TDA D/A chips.

There have already been several recommendations to choose from, including a used Oppo DVD or Blu-Ray player which has XLR outputs, or use nearly any disc player as a transport and take the S/PDIF output to the DAC of your choice with XLR outputs.
But it sounds like there is no one around who is offering to sell something that he wants, hence tossing out different options to consider.

 

[MicMaven]

I don't follow. Component wise it is usually just another resistor and capacitor. The hardest part would be modifying the chassis to put an XLR connector in the sheet metal, but

I SURRENDER!

I (seriously) do not wish to appear obstreperous or argumentative, and certainly do not wish to be repetitive or redundant - yet, I believe the OP said he does not want to get his soldering iron hot making anything, and dislikes adapters, pigtails, and etc., so, I suppose that squelches any notion of home-brewed converters at any cost or complexity. But I surrender, and I won't belabor the point further - at least not without a substantial retainer.

But it sounds like there is no one around who is offering to sell something that he wants, hence tossing out different options to consider.

Right. As the OP has not commented on the specific Tascam models previously referenced, I wonder whether he has, as you suggest, something else in mind, or has abandoned the idea. I have.

Happy trails to you Mr. C. - great stuff as always. I (seriously) wish I knew a tenth of what you know about these things! Shoot, I am once again out-gunned, and I don't even have a day job to keep !! James

 

[ccaudle]

I believe the OP said he does not want to get his soldering iron hot making anything

Yeah, you're right. This place is probably the wrong place for him to hang out if he wants people to make suggestions about buying stuff without modifying it.
Those Tascam suggestions are probably the best bet for buying something new.

 

[nashkato]

slow your horses gents and gentlewomen ...
i got limited daytime and cannot respond to every post once it's written .
MicMaven said:
I believe the OP said he does not want to get his soldering iron hot making anything
( alrighty ... no quote of a quote )

I never said that , and actually remembered a gerhard haas project : turning a PS1 into a tube-CD player
i may just do that .

thx for the tascam suggestion , i'll look into it .

i could write a whole page with thoughts that came up during this thread but i'll only say this : i should have posted this in the brewery as was my first thought .

 

[Wavelength]

Jitter - yes - data/cable/clock - can never say it's zero. But quantitatively it can vary from audible artefacts to negligible depending on implementation.
Errors - rare in transmission imo even when well exceeding the recommended max lengths and non-ideal impedance mismatch.
Although susceptibilty increases with Fs.


All other things being equal a data transmission system with a "simple" clock is going to have a technical advantage over a system where the clock is embedded in the data by eg FM1. See also CD systems where the CD spinner is / was clocked from the DAC rather than the DAC being clocked from the data stream via (possibly nested) PLLs.


Any reason to favour those formats over FLAC ?


Will search that.

Cheers.

I have made a few CD/DAC combinations where the DAC sends the master clock. Still the problem with drive controller S/PDIF output with flow control still presents a problem. Remember S/PDIF takes care of flow control as well and varies the master clock and signal.

Ok I make crazy stuff. In 2003 I created some of the first asynchronous USB DACS. I helped design dacs for Ayre Acoustics, MBL, Berkley and others. I fully designed all the AudioQuest dacs which are built here in Cincinnati. I work with all the streaming companies and some of the record companies and all the application companies. I was talking to John Atkinson (Editor of Stereophile) about resolution and why different apps sounded different. We would do these blind tests with a MacBook Pro and boot into macOS and Windows 10 and we would do J River, Roon, BitPerfect, Audirvana and others. The first thing we noticed with more than 90% was that people always liked flat files (AIFF/WAVB i prefer the B because it embeds the meta data) over ALAC/FLAC. So I am talking to John and he said can you test this. So I did this:

MacBook Pro<==USB==>USB Analyzer<===>USB DAC---> Prism dScope III Audio Analyzer both audio and I2S.

The USB Analyzer was both a Tek USB Compliance and data with error checking and also a Beagle protocol analyzer.

I could take known files and see they were bit perfect through out and no noticable change in the FFT output. It was a frustrating 3 weeks. I got a macOS update that sent one of my device drivers in a tail spin. I bought iStat Monitor and installed it found the problem in 10 minutes deleted it rebooted. Started testing ALAC files again. Funny Audirvana 0.3% cpu usuage, sounds great. Run Roon... what 38.3% CPU usuage, iTunes 53%. That's interesting... tested same song with AIFF Audirava 0.3% (it reads entire song into memory before playback so same usage), Roon 27.4%, iTubes 36%. Got me to thinking maybe it's not the I2S feed, maybe it's overall system power usage. It was the mains react to the amount of CPU usage, it goes into the USB cables the power line it bleeds into everything. This lead me into full isolation and now all my products have isolation at the USB level. Plus changes in the power supply and now the use of custom output transformers in my tube dacs.

Sure this is crazy but if you want the best every detail counts.

Thanks,
Gordon

 

[vintageampfixer]

a million years ago, I used to install products a bit like this to allow consumer grade CD players and or DAT recorders to interface with mixers in local radio studios. I can't now remember who sold the exact ones ... but they were definitely active rather than just being two transformers in a box (the current Sonifex product seems to be passive). This one pictured is active and still available from Canford.

 

[MidnightArrakis]

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

[looking for a good sounding cd player, preferably professional with xlr outputs] -- How about this one???





KEY FEATURES:

Professional 1U rackmount media player for seamless 19" rack integration
Versatile playback options including CD, CD-R, MP3, and USB storage devices
Bright, easy-to-read display for on-the-fly track information and navigation
Convenient IR remote control for wireless operation of key functions
Comprehensive connectivity with XLR and 1/4-inch mic inputs, RCA and >> Balanced XLR outputs <<

https://www.adorama.com/gecdmp1500....BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&utm_source=inc-google-shop-p

/

 

[scott2000]

The sound of a MFSL cd or good Diament cd master playing from an old TDA dac output can really be something........

 

[nashkato]

bought this for quite cheap.
works well
but i don't really like how it sounds .
it's very bright , crispy
others may like the detail
also , though it's produced for more or less professional use , it's build quality is a consumer product with rack ears.
gonna let it go soon again
(100 and it's yours )

 

[ruairioflaherty]

Have you considered trying it with an external DAC?

Topping for example make extraordinary DACs for very affordable prices. I use a $900 Topping for Mastering over my $10k Prism. They have $150 and $200 models that are effectively as good.