beginner wants CD SACD player help!

O

Old Bob

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:hey:
some of you may recognize my dumb questions from the amp section!

OK, I upgraded my speakers to bowers and wilkins CM6 S2

I got a triode TRX 88PP tube, integrated amp.

OK, my goal is to get ONE, GOOD CD player, or SACD/CD player. not a separate DAC device.

I want to get a good one and keep for a long time

I do not care who the maker is, whether it is tube or solid state, just that it is sturdy and really good. should I be sure to get a SACD player?
should I get good cables to connect the CD to the integrated amp?

would love any ideas and suggestions! thanks so much guys!

bob
 
Bob,

I take it that you have a collection of CD's that you like and want to keep using. Have you thought about pulling and copying High Rez audio off the internet or ripping your CD's into nice tidy files? I think this is where audio is heading long term and if that's the case many of the disc players will probably go away. Just a thought!

Mack
 
thank you! I am reading a very detailed book about high end audio, and will learn about that. my young friend did exactly that. bob
 
I agree with Mack...just a longer learning curve.


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thanks Anatta! I have heard lots of good things about Marantz
 
The OPPO 105 is worth looking at as an affordable option. Not being sure of your budget for this purchase. It plays all formats and also allows an input to the DAC from a computer. Thereby allowing you to get started on the road to Computer Audio. The sound is quite good, especially for it's price. Modwright offers upgrades for this that receives many glowing reviews. Of course there are better players but in this price/feature range I think it is a very good option.
 
THANK YOU Jadedavid! i am considering the op 105. so then, you send it to modwright, and they make it better? interesting.
best,

bob
 
Bob, what's your budget ? While the Reference Marantz is superb there $1100 player is very good as well and also plays SACD's
 
Bob, you can send a unit to Modwright for the upgrades and or you can buy a fully modded unit direct from them. One of the reasons for suggesting the OPPO besides its good sonics is the ability to plug a computer into it and utilize the DAC of the OPPO. It is a Sabre 32 bit, so it is a decent one. This would give you an opportunity to also delve into Computer audio without having to buy both a CD player and a seperate DAC. Later if you wished to upgrade the unit you could or, once more experienced with Computer/music servers, you could just leave it as a CD player and purchase an new upgraded DAC. This allows a little more flexibility. I am not sure if any other CD players also allow you to access the DAC section individually. Of course the Marantz units are very good along with some of the Sony units and many others. Much will have to do with your budget and perhaps future plans. . Many flavors and choices out there.
 
Regarding the Modwright OPPO, be sure you have room in your rack, the tubes stick out of the top and teh external power supply takes up some room. I sold mine for that reason. Other than that, it sounded really nice.
 
I just bought a new SACD/CD player. I wanted one that was dedicated to just music, no video. I figure the dvd/blu-ray sections have to cost something.

I want a disk player also, besides digital because I know I can rip CD's but SACD can only be played in the spinner.

Oh, I bought a Marantz SA8005.
 
I originally bought an Oppo BDP-95 to play cd/SACD as well as a video player. I then used it to stream Netflix as well, a very versatile player. I later upgraded the DAC with a TEAC UD-503 and then to a Calyx Femto DAC, using the Oppo as a transport. Then I bought a Bryston BDP-2 music server and ripped almost all of my cd's to FLAC files stored on an external hard drive. Just recently I installed Roon software to handle the files and Tidal for streaming FLAC music. I no longer need a transport for my cd's.

The Oppo gets very little use now, except as a SACD and Bluray/DVD player. I even bought an Android tv box for movies so the Oppo gets even less use. So you can see for me digital has evolved from a stand alone player to a more computer based/internet one. It was definitely more complicated to set up but I think it is worth it.
 
I do use the computer/music server as my main source of music. At this point I am only hosting my downloaded albums, both PCM and DSD. All of the download purchases I have up converted to DSD, therefore the only thing my DAC decodes is DSD64, DSD128, and DSD256.

I have found that I do enjoy spinning Redbooks occasionally now that I purchased the Marantz. It does a particularly good job with them. Of course the SA-CDs sound excellent, which really is the primary reason I wanted a good spinner. I had a hard time justifying going as high as the SA8005 even, but honestly, I am hoping it will be the last spinner I will need, certainly for a good long while!!!
 
Albert/Randy,

Both your comments are very informative to those of us that are either new or just coming back to audio. The changes in two decades have been huge and what you post as general knowledge comments for most helps others to figure out the audio puzzle.

Mack
 
Thank you and honestly I just went through this myself. I was heavily into audio many many years ago but with career, raising family, etc., I got out of it. Last fall I jumped back in and it has been a learning curve. At least I do not feel as lost as I was back then :)... It is a fun ride in which i have made more than a few mistakes. I chalk it up to learning... :)
 
Yes, thanks as well.:) I resisted going to a digital music server based system for quite a while. I even looked at an Ayon model 5 cd player to upgrade from my Oppo BDP-95 and Stax Quattro II players but decided to go the music server route instead as that definitely seems to be the way things are headed. I still listen to lp's as well so I am still into analog.
 
I'd look at an OPPO-103 or 105. It's soon to become public knowledge that they can be used to extract the DSD content from SACDs for computer storage.

It's already being done if you can understand Russian. :D
 
Are you referring to going through HDMI2? Hmmm.... I would think your computer would need a HDMI input and software that could take this signal and save the DSD portion.... I also believe that Sony would have a ton to say about this since they have been VERY steadfast in not allowing the DSD signal to be output from SA-CD disks.

The only method of "ripping" DSD off SA-CD that I have heard of is the original PS3, without ever being updated. Any firmware updates or any non-first generation PS3 cannot. And then a specific modification (I have no knowledge of what this mod is) would allow this. This is the exact system being used by the services that say "send us your SA-CD and we will create DSD files for you...."
 
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