Suggestion for Audio CD Player

Well, if you connecting a good CD player (from companies such as NAD, CA, Rotel etc) it will be a crime to use the Digital out unless you have an amplifier that has state of the art DAC and amplification.

If you are looking at connecting a CDP through digital out to a good AVR, yes, a DVD player can do the same job.

Will it be same? I am not sure. Look at this way. A CD Player is fine tuned to play just two channel music. It has electronics that are focussed on this job. A DVD Player on the other hand has the following disadvantages:

1. The laser has to read a DVD in addition to a CD where the data is more tightly compressed. This may not be an issue, but there will be compromises.
2. A DVD Player's primary job is to play video. Most manufacturers, other than the very high end, give more importance to the video and DSP, than to two channel music.
3. A DVD player has to execute a large number of tasks. Companies such as Pioneer. Samsung, Philips etc., focus more on video DSP, and making the player as universal as possible. It is only companies such as NAD, CA, Denon (high end) etc that make DVD players that are also good music players. Even Oppo has started only recently. Before 2007, their DVD players were horrible for music playing.

Do CDPs play MP3? Yes some do, not all.

Is a CDP better than a DVD for music? At similar price range, yes they are.

Will a DVD player also serve as a good music player? Yes they will depending upon the brand. Some of the ones I can think of are NAD, CA, Denon, Oppo, etc.

I am biting my nails !!!!!

Cheers

Hey venkat.....this was the reason I was suggesting the CA DVD89 to Muthusami.....it's 10k....just slightly over his budget.....plays both CDs and DVDs quite well (although of course not as well as dedicated CDPs)....any views on this model? reviews seem to be good both for video and CD audio...

Well. I am sure Muthuswami is reading this thread. What I understood was that he was happy with what he has, and is not looking for an upgrade immediately.

Yes, the CA DVD 89 is supposed to be very good, but I have not auditioned it. So someone who is using it or has auditioned it has to comment.

Cheers

Yes Venkat. I am reading this thread continuously and making note of all suggestions given by the forum friends. I am not going to upgrade immediately but once the funds are ready (planning to stretch a little), will definitely buy a CD player or CA DVD 89 soon.

Thanks.

Hi,
I have been reading this thread and following it.
I am also in the same boat as Muthu.
Looking for a good audio CD player.
I could see a low end audio CD player (makes Maratnz,CA, NAD) coming apprx 15k-20k. And DENON at 13K or so.

Can anyone tell me, if i can get DENON or CA (please specify models) that also plays MP3?
I checked with CA distributor in bangalore (today) and his quote - CA 540C 18,000 and CA 340C 15,000. 540C is beyond my budget.

Iam looking for standalone CD player (if it plays MP3 that's good too).
My setup : Phillips DVP3100 (DVD player) hooked on to Akai TV (and i play CD, DVD)
Starting to build up the HT. So if i buy the CD player (as per your suggestion and my audition), should i also need to buy speakers separately along with AV receiver at this stage (because my budget is only for CD player as of now), to play it? Or can i use this CD player and hook on to the current setup (connecting to my Akai TV as of now).
If its novice question, do excuse! Iam only starting to build up my HT.

The 340C comes for 14k. It's a good budget option. Denon's bottom-end CD players are not anywhere as good as those from CA, NAD and Marantz. So look at these three brands if you want budget CDPs.

Why do you want the CDP to play MP3s? Why don't you just connect your iPod to your amplifier or AVR?

It would be essential for you to buy a good amplifier and speakers to realise the benefit of a CD player of the type we are discussing. Without that it is pointless. If you can only upgrade one portion of your chain, then upgrade the speakers. next, upgrade the source, and then upgrade the amplifier or receiver. If you have none in place, then you would need to get all three for there to be any point to the exercise.

If you are going to play your CDs through your TV, please don't even think of wasting money on a player like this. The difference will be inaudible and/or irrelevant.

Right now if you have a philips DVD player, and are on a tight budget, then just buy a budget amp like the Cambridge Audio 340A (14k) or the NAD C315BEE (16k) and a pair of wharfedale diamond 9.1s (11k) or Polk Monitor 20s (less than 10k). that would be about 25k outlay, and would improve your sound much much more than investing 15k on a dedicated CDP and then playing it through your TV.

You mention you want to assemble a HT. In that case then go for a cheap receiver like the Onkyo TX-SR304 which is 16k, and pick up a pair of speakers as outlined above. Then add to the setup slowly.

psychotropic, Muthu, and others - CA has released a new budget player called CD 5. It plays MP3, and CA is calling it the ultimate budget player.

We should find the price in India, and its availability. If it is any good, we should all work together to make sure it is available in India.

Cambridge Audio

Cheers

While I personally haven't heard the CD5, I think the Cambridge 640C is a steal at ~20K. See if you can't stretch and get it, it's vastly superior to anything in the budget category. Some people can't tell the difference between this player and the 740C, which is doubly as expensive and features 24-bit/384 KHz upsampling.

There's no point looking for mp3 compatibility in a CDP, the whole point of mp3 is the convenience (jukebox/ playlists) which is best achieved hooking up a comp or ipod to your amp. Believe me, you'll tire of burning CDs pretty soon..

I checked the link,they havent stated DAC details.Other CA azur uses Cirus
DACs.

Hey, as far as I understand, the CD 5 is not a new model. It's been available for some time. Similarly Cambridge has amps cheaper than the Azur range, such as the A1 and the A5, which are comparably cheaper than the 340A which is the bottom of the Azur range. (GBP prices for reference, the A1 is 69, the A5 is 119 and the 340A is 169).

These are evidently of a lower step in terms of quality and construction. Even though the A5 has 60 W per channel as opposed to 40 on the 340A. It would be worthwhile to listen to them, and to have even cheaper options available in India. Even these will surely exceed the consumer level equipment available from the Sonys and the Samsungs of the world.

Taking the rates at which these Cambridge Devices seem to convert in India (which is excellent), the CD 5 and the A5 should be about Rs 10k each, if someone bothers to import them. The A1 (25W per channel) should be about Rs. 6k. But CA themselves don't seem to keen on marketing these in India, and may not offer the excellent rates they seem to be offering on the Azur range, to the distributors and importers.