In market for a new CD player or Transport and DAC - would like some opinion/suggestions

A

AnonHiFi

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May 31, 2018
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Hi All,

Forgive me for not saying a formal hello in the introduction thread, but I won't be participating much arounf here in the various areas. (Just sort of in and out on occasion).


I’m in market for either a CD player or Transport DAC combo for a home system. (Not interested in portable or desktop computer systems).
I currently have a Marantz CD5003…I think, could be a 5004, I think they are on number 5005 now or something. I don’t know it changes every 6 months. It is a good player and I am keeping it for another system.
That said, I want to see if I can get something a bit nicer for the current system I am working on, if possible. (I may find the Marantz a small challenge to beat, but I want to explore options). I’m not telling what other gear I have as it is irrelevant.
While I love my vinyl records and prefer them, I do have around 900 CDs, which is mostly comprised of stuff not available on vinyl and the rare “just better produced” than what is available on vinyl….rare, but it happens.

Anyway, my budget is up to a max of around $1000 (give or take). I can’t use top-loaders because it is going into a shelf rack, so I need either a drawer load (preferable) or a slot load. I can handle any ports (unbalanced, balanced, coax, toslink).

So what can I do for a CD player or Transport/Dac combo within my budget? (Transport and DAC do not have to be the same brand).
I am not concerned with SACD ability, nor am I concerned about MQA, DSD or what have you. I don’t use Tidal or NAS and such, so no concerns there either. (I do use Spotify for background and research).
Of course, I realize I will get 99% opinion, but that is the point. It can give ideas or help me narrow the field.


Thank you
 
Submit your contact info at the Oppo site in the event they decide to do a final production run on their UDP-205. You might get lucky. Oppo price prior to withdrawal was $1299. They're now going for up to $3000 on the black market. In the specified price range, a single box solution is the way to go.
 
Yamaha CD-S700 $799

Onkyo C-7030 transport $199 + Schiit Gungnir DAC $849
 
GSOphile said:
Submit your contact info at the Oppo site in the event they decide to do a final production run on their UDP-205. You might get lucky. Oppo price prior to withdrawal was $1299. They're now going for up to $3000 on the black market. In the specified price range, a single box solution is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have been thinking about Oppo and I did submit my info to them about a month ago. $1300 is pushing the envelope, but if it was the ultimate machine, I'd pull a muscle making the stretch to get one. I was looking at the 203, but it is a totally different sonic animal, the 205 is better. However, if they do decide to do a final run, I'm sure it will be at black market prices because of its scheduled obscurity. Upon further thinking it makes less sense to get the Oppo strictly for CD playback. Multi-taskers usually don't hold up well. If I did get one I would use for more than CD of course. Then there is the lack of warranty and service to consider.
So I concluded that the Oppo is a mixed bag, though still appealing.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions so far. I do have the Rotel RCD 1572 on the list and the Yamaha CD-S700.
I had not considered the Onkyo because I have had poor performance from their CD players in past. I'll look into the one listed though and the Schiit dac of course.

My question is in the suggestions so far, what makes any of them a step up from the Marantz? I'm not challenging anything, all fine suggestions to look into, but I did ask originally about getting something a bit better than my Marantz 5003. So I am just wondering in what ways any of these suggestions thus far are a step up. Is it the transport? The dac implementation? The build?
It is that info that seems to be elusive.
 
AnonHiFi said:
My question is in the suggestions so far, what makes any of them a step up from the Marantz? I'm not challenging anything, all fine suggestions to look into, but I did ask originally about getting something a bit better than my Marantz 5003. So I am just wondering in what ways any of these suggestions thus far are a step up. Is it the transport? The dac implementation? The build?
It is that info that seems to be elusive.
Click to expand...

the Marantz is no longer being produced I believe, regardless I've owned the Rotel in a second system of mine for many years, performs flawlessly every time with the super fast load time.
 
Mikado463 said:
the Marantz is no longer being produced I believe, regardless I've owned the Rotel in a second system of mine for many years, performs flawlessly every time with the super fast load time.
Click to expand...

The Marantz is still being produced indeed, it is just called the CD5005 now, which just means my 5003 is two years old.
I do like the looks and all of the Rotel, not to mention the reputation. I just don't have any details on what makes it different (outside of looks) and an upgrade from the Marantz, if it is, out of curiosity.
That is the info I am seeking on all the machines on my list: Which are upgrades and why?
 
AnonHiFi said:
Yes, I have been thinking about Oppo and I did submit my info to them about a month ago. $1300 is pushing the envelope, but if it was the ultimate machine, I'd pull a muscle making the stretch to get one. I was looking at the 203, but it is a totally different sonic animal, the 205 is better. However, if they do decide to do a final run, I'm sure it will be at black market prices because of its scheduled obscurity. Upon further thinking it makes less sense to get the Oppo strictly for CD playback. Multi-taskers usually don't hold up well. If I did get one I would use for more than CD of course. Then there is the lack of warranty and service to consider.
So I concluded that the Oppo is a mixed bag, though still appealing.
Click to expand...

Prior to buying my Esoteric, I had a UDP-205 in my system for a few days playing CDs. Excellent player. Heavy duty construction with build quality equal to or better than players costing 2-3 times the 205's MRSP (e.g., other premium players are using the Oppo 20x transport). If I'm not mistaken, Oppo has said they will honor existing warranty commitments.
 
I owned a Marantz SA8005. It was/is fantastic. Sold to a club member and he is loving it. I picked up an Oppo for a "special purpose" since I rarely if ever spin disks any more. The Marantz was a better pure music player in my view, also can be used as a solid DAC. They sell for $1199.
 
Randy Myers said:
I owned a Marantz SA8005. It was/is fantastic. Sold to a club member and he is loving it. I picked up an Oppo for a "special purpose" since I rarely if ever spin disks any more. The Marantz was a better pure music player in my view, also can be used as a solid DAC. They sell for $1199.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have the SA8005 on the list too, but not sure I would use it to its full potential as I have no SACDs and won't be getting any and I don't buy music files or anything except vinyl records and CDs (and CD buying is waning severely these days). The Marantz is no slouch, that's for sure, but it doesn't have balanced ports, then again I'm not sure I'd notice the benefit of balanced unless I was noticing interference or noise from the player.
 
Ah yes, I wish I had the scratch for an Esoteric, if nothing else it is a beautiful looking machine.
 
ModWright's two favorite players to custom modify are the Oppo UDP-205 and the Marantz 8005, which, IMO, says a lot about the quality of these two machines.
 
If you like your 5003 seems logical just to move up the Marantz line. My impression is Marantz pretty much dominates that under $1k player market.

I like the Schiit suggestion. That combo would be more neutral than your 5003 yet remain musical. If you haven't yet, read about their bit technology. The Schiit DAC's perform beyond their price range.
 
One thing that I would add... you say you have no interest in SACD. I would highly encourage you to try one.... but be warned, there is no turning back... when you go down the DSD rabbit hole... so much to the point that it has led me to buying a DAC that specializes in DSD, purchasing HQPlayer and upsampling all of my music to DSD512.

It all started from getting a couple SACDs... yea they are that good compared to their CD versions.
 
Mr Peabody said:
If you like your 5003 seems logical just to move up the Marantz line. My impression is Marantz pretty much dominates that under $1k player market.

I like the Schiit suggestion. That combo would be more neutral than your 5003 yet remain musical. If you haven't yet, read about their bit technology. The Schiit DAC's perform beyond their price range.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, although, I do like the build of the 5003 and all, I was hoping for something different than just moving up the Marantz line, not that there is anything wrong with that (especially considering Modwright's position on Marantz....I would never have anything modded though, but that is irrelevant).

Now I am thinking if I have to stay in Marantz (although I am strongly considering Rotel and Yamaha as well) I wonder if I decide down the road to get a seperate DAC, I need to figure out if there would be a way to bypass the DAC in the player. Not saying that would happen, just thinking out loud.
 
Randy Myers said:
One thing that I would add... you say you have no interest in SACD. I would highly encourage you to try one.... but be warned, there is no turning back... when you go down the DSD rabbit hole... so much to the point that it has led me to buying a DAC that specializes in DSD, purchasing HQPlayer and upsampling all of my music to DSD512.

It all started from getting a couple SACDs... yea they are that good compared to their CD versions.
Click to expand...

Well, I have no doubt they are fantastic, no question there, its just that there is nothing on SACD I want. Most dacs today handle DSD, it is almost standard, even on a couple of sub $1k dacs. If I end up with a player that handles SACD, no worries, I just don't think I will ever use that ability unless they come out with an SACD I want, but I don't see that happening sadly. I do see a couple of Rush SACDs out there, but only one can I afford and it is not my first choice in the Rush discography, but then I am a big fan anyway. The problem is that the rest of the discography is not on SACD. I have other favorites, but they all sound best on vinyl....I digress.
 
Hi, these days it's difficult to find a player where you can't bypass the internal DAC. When reading features you should see terms like; optical out, toslink out, coaxial out, etc. In other words to bypass th internal DAC just use one of the digital outputs on the back into the external DAC.

AnonHiFi said:
That makes sense, although, I do like the build of the 5003 and all, I was hoping for something different than just moving up the Marantz line, not that there is anything wrong with that (especially considering Modwright's position on Marantz....I would never have anything modded though, but that is irrelevant).

Now I am thinking if I have to stay in Marantz (although I am strongly considering Rotel and Yamaha as well) I wonder if I decide down the road to get a seperate DAC, I need to figure out if there would be a way to bypass the DAC in the player. Not saying that would happen, just thinking out loud.
Click to expand...
 
I have had several Audio Club Buddies, who are huge vinyl fans, say without reservation, that my digital setup will compete with any of their turntables, without the hassle. But that is neither here nor there.

There is a huge selection of SACDs (and their digital download partners, DSD) available. I cannot find every single album I used to love and cherish, but a surprising amount. Check out Acoustic Sounds, or even Mobile Fidelity.

The bottom line, SACD/DSDs are out there.... you may not see them in your local store, but they certainly are easy enough to find.

I can find virtually anything I want in other high resolution digital downloads, HD Tracks, Acoustic Sounds, etc., so there is a huge selection of virtually any kind of music you prefer in high res downloads and many of which are available in DSD.

Bottom line, your playback preference is what matters. If you prefer vinyl that is fine, but please don't say it is because what is available in high res and DSD is limited. I believe even my CD rips sound as good if not better when played through HQPlayer, upsampled and converted through my T+A. If you prefer vinyl it is because you prefer vinyl, not because it sounds better or that music can not be found in digital formats...
 
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