Budget cd players

My two cents:

I have noticed camps in every budget level in audio. The reason are many but some of them could be:

1. Listener preferences /Expectations.

2. What works in your own setup ( For eg: a source equipment which extends quite low can cause boom with a badly damped amplifier combined with a loudspeaker which is too big for a room-Hence the listener may label the source as "boomy"). The same player will sound extended and clean with the correct setup. There are too many variations here to list.

3. Voicing differences

The listener need to check it out himself and see what works for him/her.

With budget players, I find that I like the Marantz for Female/male vocals, the older Nads for dynamics. CA is more like an all rounder walking thin line bertween the other two. I did not like the 540c. The 640c which is with a friend of mine sounds quite decent.
I used to have the Marantz cd 67ose / modded by TS Lim and I quite liked it. Hence have a preference for Marantz.
 
Prem:

I am little weary of Chinese products that don't advertise their company details and background. This product, on delivery, seems to have the wrong tubes, and changing tubes seem to improve performance. (YAQIN SD-32A Tube CD/HDCD Player - diyAudio). I am not sure I can take the risk of buying something and then experimenting with it.

Secondly, I don't buy anything on the Net unless it is from the manufacturer directly. I am yet a brick and mortar guy. I travelled over 300 miles in the US to pick up a pair of bookshelves !!

Cheers

Hi Venkatji, In electronics, generally in HIFI, Japanese, American,and Western
European countries make things but in different flavour and taste.There are vast difference in audio sound quality among European made things itself.
Swedish(primare)-German(grundig)-Great Britain(MF)-Italy(audio analog)-all are having their own spice in it, all are good. Am asking you, for us, to listen our own music(carnatic classic, hindustani classic,indian film 60's classic,)and
yes jazz,world music.,western classic, which one is unique and enhansing elctronic region among the above said?
regards
 
Am asking you, for us, to listen our own music(carnatic classic, hindustani classic,indian film 60's classic,)and yes jazz,world music.,western classic, which one is unique and enhansing elctronic region among the above said? regards

Sunder please read my post no 15 above. I listen a lot to Indian numbers including Carnatic and Hindustani. Actually, as I have explained elsewhere I use artists such as OS Arun, Unnikrishnan and others to audition as I know these people's voice very intimately. I always take efforts to listen to some tabla and other instruments alive without any electronics and use that experience to audition equipment.

In my mind a Western Classical is important. That is the only genre of music that uses a huge variety of instruments that play from as low as 30Hz (a Cello) to as high as 10,000 Hz. In addition, with such as large number of instruments, it becomes difficult to identify the song signature as well as instruments unless you are very knowledgable with the particular number. And, no genre of music can ever provide the kind of huuuuge sound stage that a western calssical can provide.

In Indian music, I have only heard Pt. Jasraj's Raaga Symphony coming anyhwere close.

Hindustani and Carnatic numbers use very few instruments. What is important here is for the electronics to handle the low of drums and the highs of something like a violin properly. Everything else fits into the mids. Unless you use extremely poor quality electronics and badly configured speakers, mids should not be delivered badly.

Cheers
 
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Dinyaar:

I am curious about something. The CA 640 and 540 were praised to heaven by a number of magazines. I did hear the 640 sometime ago with the matching 640 amplifier connected to a pair of Quad 11L bookshelves. I felt the system sounded extremely good.

Did you even consider looking at the CA CD players for your friend's requirement? If not any particular reason?

The reason I am asking is that I am looking for a CD Player (budget, of course) that will become part of my system over the next few months. My other components will include a high end HTPC and an external DAC. My music tastes are quite diverse - soft rock, western classical, Hindustani, Carnatic, instrumentals, and of course film songs. The only genre I may keep away from is hard rock.

I am considering the CA, Marantz, and Emotiva ERC-1.

I am travelling to Dubai in January, and that will be a good opportunity to pick up a unit. I have written to Emotiva for pricing for delivery in Dubai. At US$400 it is very attractive.

Cheers

Venkatji, please act now, the company's festival offer is there! the price is
$319/ instead of $399/. The company claims that Emotiva ERC-1 as Reference model!. It is said that as we going to purchase audio products,
we should go for the audition,then we should decide. But on the basis of the technology and components which are used in the product, can we come to
the decision that we shall buy the product? without going for the audition?
believing in hearing is good, isnt it?
 
Dinyaar:

I am curious about something. The CA 640 and 540 were praised to heaven by a number of magazines. I did hear the 640 sometime ago with the matching 640 amplifier connected to a pair of Quad 11L bookshelves. I felt the system sounded extremely good.

Did you even consider looking at the CA CD players for your friend's requirement? If not any particular reason?

The reason I am asking is that I am looking for a CD Player (budget, of course) that will become part of my system over the next few months. My other components will include a high end HTPC and an external DAC. My music tastes are quite diverse - soft rock, western classical, Hindustani, Carnatic, instrumentals, and of course film songs. The only genre I may keep away from is hard rock.

I am considering the CA, Marantz, and Emotiva ERC-1.

I am travelling to Dubai in January, and that will be a good opportunity to pick up a unit. I have written to Emotiva for pricing for delivery in Dubai. At US$400 it is very attractive.

Cheers

Venkatji, Emotiva ERC-1 is slot loading model. This type of loading is good for cd's surface? Cyrus has one model having slot loading & it is said that's problematic. Cyrus claims: that is the most advanced loading system.
Any advantages in this loading system than in the conventional tray? Will
Emotiva ERC-1 be good as a stand alone transport as we use an external DAC? Can we have the specification for the out put impedance at the analog
outputs? Lower impedance will be good, isnt it? I have read the spec. of
Mark Levinson's one of the cdp. The out put impedance is 15 ohms.
Regards,
sunder.
 
Venkatji, Emotiva ERC-1 is slot loading model. This type of loading is good for cd's surface? Cyrus has one model having slot loading & it is said that's problematic. Cyrus claims: that is the most advanced loading system...

What a coincidence! I was reading up on the very same and found this:

"So I started researching slot loaders and all I found were the old style which used rubber rollers to load and eject the CD. Now if you have ever had a CD scratched by one of these, then you will understand why this wouldn't work either. Then I came across a new design which is what is currently used. The loader mechanism itself has a partial tray internally with magnetic clamps on it. When you insert the CD, the mechanism recognizes it is there and the magnetic clamps come down to hold the CD onto the internal tray. The tray motors back into position, the drive motors up into the CD and the magnetic clamps release. This is a unique system not currently being used by any other company that I am aware of and best of all, it can't scratch the CD and is solid."​

Rest of the review here: Emotiva ERC-1 CD Player Review-AVRev.com
 
What a coincidence! I was reading up on the very same and found this:

"So I started researching slot loaders and all I found were the old style which used rubber rollers to load and eject the CD. Now if you have ever had a CD scratched by one of these, then you will understand why this wouldn't work either. Then I came across a new design which is what is currently used. The loader mechanism itself has a partial tray internally with magnetic clamps on it. When you insert the CD, the mechanism recognizes it is there and the magnetic clamps come down to hold the CD onto the internal tray. The tray motors back into position, the drive motors up into the CD and the magnetic clamps release. This is a unique system not currently being used by any other company that I am aware of and best of all, it can't scratch the CD and is solid."​

Rest of the review here: Emotiva ERC-1 CD Player Review-AVRev.com

thanks particleman, I understand the tray mechanism, since I have got the
expensive,limited edition EMI classics,so that I am afraid of the slot loading!
regards.
 
Dinyaar:

I am curious about something. The CA 640 and 540 were praised to heaven by a number of magazines. I did hear the 640 sometime ago with the matching 640 amplifier connected to a pair of Quad 11L bookshelves. I felt the system sounded extremely good.

Did you even consider looking at the CA CD players for your friend's requirement? If not any particular reason?

The reason I am asking is that I am looking for a CD Player (budget, of course) that will become part of my system over the next few months. My other components will include a high end HTPC and an external DAC. My music tastes are quite diverse - soft rock, western classical, Hindustani, Carnatic, instrumentals, and of course film songs. The only genre I may keep away from is hard rock.

I am considering the CA, Marantz, and Emotiva ERC-1.

I am travelling to Dubai in January, and that will be a good opportunity to pick up a unit. I have written to Emotiva for pricing for delivery in Dubai. At US$400 it is very attractive.

Cheers

Venkatji, Companies like Marantz sell their Reference models as very costly
as 5 times more than Emotiva ERC-1(Reference). Are they selling to that
price, because of the quality components? or because of the brand value?
Is there any norms to companies to call their products as 'Reference'.
Do Audiophiles recognise the products as 'Reference' on which basis?
quality of the sound? or quality of the components & built? or the high price?
Can we call a BEST performing & low budget electronic as a 'Reference
or 'Flagship' product ?
 
It is said that as we going to purchase audio products,
we should go for the audition,then we should decide. But on the basis of the technology and components which are used in the product, can we come to
the decision that we shall buy the product? without going for the audition?
believing in hearing is good, isnt it?

Essentially yes, you must audition a product before buying it. But I have purchased both my Oppo 983 and my Onkyo 875 without any audition and I am happy with both. I go through the reviews very carefully and based on the words, one can understand if the reviewer is honest or not. BUT, there is a risk.

Venkatji, Emotiva ERC-1 is slot loading model. This type of loading is good for cd's surface? Any advantages in this loading system than in the conventional tray? Will Emotiva ERC-1 be good as a stand alone transport as we use an external DAC? Can we have the specification for the out put impedance at the analog outputs? Lower impedance will be good, isnt it? I have read the spec. of Mark Levinson's one of the cdp. The out put impedance is 15 ohms.

I have been using my 'precious' CDs in my car's Pioneer HU and that has a slot mechanism. I have had no trouble for the last three years. And as Particleman has mentioned, the Emotiva uses a magnetic mechanism that does not touch the CD surface at all.

Regarding the impedance, I am afraid I have no idea of what Emotiva does. here are the specs as I see in their site.

  • Output voltage: 1V rms (7V peak)
  • Channel separation: =95dB - ref. 1kHz
  • Frequency response: 20Hz~20kHz (+/- 0.1dB)
  • S/N: =100dB (A weighted)
  • THD: =0.01% 0dB 1KHz)
  • Playback formats: Redbook CD, HDCD, MP3
  • Digital Output Filter: 24-Bit, 384 times oversampling (Analog Devices 1955)
  • Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
  • Analog output filter frequency: 80 kHz (-3dB)
  • Amplitude output linearity: 0.2dB
  • Phase linearity: 30
  • Power consumption: = 25W
  • Output connection types: digital coaxial, digital optical toslink, unbalanced RCA, balanced XLR

Today I had the opportunity to listen to MadbullRam's DACMagic connected to my Oppo 983 and through a NAD 350 and my own Onkyo 875. MBR has spent the last few days using the DAC at home with his Marantz CD63 on the one hand, and his Sony PS2 through the DAC. His feeling was the PS2/DAC was a clear winner.

Since I plan to convert all my audio to FLAC, a DAC will make more sense to me in the long run. Though I heard the DAC1 at Audire before, today I had the opportunity to play the same song through the DAC and directly from the player. There is no denying the DAC expands the sound stage, clears the separation between frequencies better, and enhances both the upper and lower frequencies. In addition, it also enhances the gain a bit reducing the strain on the amp. Even within the mids, I could hear the sound of plucking of a guitar with more more clarity through the DAC.

Irrespective of whether I get a CD Player or not, I am certainly going to get a DAC.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Essentially yes, you must audition a product before buying it. But I have purchased both my Oppo 983 and my Onkyo 875 without any audition and I am happy with both. I go through the reviews very carefully and based on the words, one can understand if the reviewer is honest or not. BUT, there is a risk.



I have been using my 'precious' CDs in my car's Pioneer HU and that has a slot mechanism. I have had no trouble for the last three years. And as Particleman has mentioned, the Emotiva uses a magnetic mechanism that does not touch the CD surface at all.

Regarding the impedance, I am afraid I have no idea of what Emotiva does. here are the specs as I see in their site.

  • Output voltage: 1V rms (7V peak)
  • Channel separation: =95dB - ref. 1kHz
  • Frequency response: 20Hz~20kHz (+/- 0.1dB)
  • S/N: =100dB (A weighted)
  • THD: =0.01% 0dB 1KHz)
  • Playback formats: Redbook CD, HDCD, MP3
  • Digital Output Filter: 24-Bit, 384 times oversampling (Analog Devices 1955)
  • Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
  • Analog output filter frequency: 80 kHz (-3dB)
  • Amplitude output linearity: 0.2dB
  • Phase linearity: 30
  • Power consumption: = 25W
  • Output connection types: digital coaxial, digital optical toslink, unbalanced RCA, balanced XLR

Today I had the opportunity to listen to MadbullRam's DACMagic connected to my Oppo 983 and through a NAD 350 and my own Onkyo 875. MBR has spent the last few days using the DAC at home with his Marantz CD63 on the one hand, and his Sony PS3 through the DAC. His feeling was the PS3/DAC was a clear winner.

Since I plan to convert all my audio to FLAC, a DAC will make more sense to me in the long run. Though I heard the DAC1 at Audire before, today I had the opportunity to play the same song through the DAC and directly from the player. There is no denying the DAC expands the sound stage, clears the separation between frequencies better, and enhances both the upper and lower frequencies. In addition, it also enhances the gain a bit reducing the strain on the amp. Even within the mids, I could hear the sound of plucking of a guitar with more more clarity through the DAC.

Irrespective of whether I get a CD Player or not, I am certainly going to get a DAC.

Cheers

Reviews on the Taiwanese Mhdt lab's DAC 'Havana' ($854+shipping)is super.They
have 2 more models:paradisea3 & Constantine+. Why dont you try that ?
But that people recommend to replace the (rare variety)tube Bendix 6385 for
the exemplary sound.It also has USB input. We may trust Taiwanese's job than Chinese?
regards.
 
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Reviews on the Taiwanese Mhdt lab's DAC 'Havana' ($854+shipping)is super.We may trust Taiwanese's job than Chinese?

Sunder, there is no end to this chase. I am happy with what I can access easily with servicing in India. I am always concerned with DIY and modding as, one; I don't have the expertise, and two; I don't have the tools. I can always go to a professional engineer, but I have never met one till now who has a passion for music. Frankly, the music I heard with DACMagic, Oppo 983 and Audire speakers is the 'ultimate' for me. No more chasing. I will be auditioning the Beresford DAC, and will choose between the two. I believe Kamal is trying to convince Viren to make a tube based DAC. If that happens and I have a confirmed date, that is something worth waiting for and trying out. At the price range Benchmark DAC1, the DACMagic and Beresford, I believe, represent the best in the world. I am not going to chase any Taiwanese or Chinese products.

Cheers
 
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I believe Kamal is trying to convince Viren to make a tube based DAC. If that happens and I have a confirmed date, that is something worth waiting for and trying out. At the price range Benchmark DAC1, the DACMagic and Beresford, I believe, represent the best in the world. I am not going to chase any Taiwanese or Chinese products.
Cheers

umm beg to differ..
The DAC1 is an OK DAC for the price. Easily bested by many other DACs in that price range. Likewise for the DACmagic, though the DACmagic probably gives a bit more value for the money with option to go balanced. Haven't heard the beresford so won't comment.

And regarding a tube DAC by Viren..I surely hope he doesn't go that route.
Btw, is Viren on this forum. I would love to give him my wish list for a DAC. ;)
 
umm beg to differ..
The DAC1 is an OK DAC for the price. Easily bested by many other DACs in that price range. Likewise for the DACmagic, though the DACmagic probably gives a bit more value for the money with option to go balanced. Haven't heard the beresford so won't comment.

And regarding a tube DAC by Viren..I surely hope he doesn't go that route.
Btw, is Viren on this forum. I would love to give him my wish list for a DAC. ;)

http://www.hifivision.com/reviews/1477-lyrita-audio-n-delhi.html

http://www.hifivision.com/members/viren-bakhshi.html
 
Finally bought the NAD C515BEE cdp to go with my int.

How long do you have to play it until the sound reproduction is improved and refined?
 
Hi,

I asked for a quote from Emotiva and they have replied in quick time and stated the following:
ERC-1 $319.00
Freight $117.44FedEx economy
Total $436.44

I was wondering what the customs duty for this product will be. Do you think this will still be value for money
 
If you can avoid customs, you will be getting a real good player for about 20K. I think it is worth it, certainly. They have done some crazy things including redesigning the loading mechanism and giving isolated power supplies to the transport, the electronics, and the audio circuitry. All for 20K?

Cheers
 
Finally bought the NAD C515BEE cdp to go with my int.

How long do you have to play it until the sound reproduction is improved and refined?

Hi Ravin
Congrats on the purchase.
I would say the player will play to potential after a few hours of play.
There WILL be contrasting opinions on this but I am of the opinion that in almost all gear about 20 hrs of play is enough to expect par performance.
I somehow fail to understand how a manufacturer (example ESOTERIC) can expect the buyer to play the unit for 300 to 500 hours to extract full performance.
This Break In is different from warm up naturally.

Nirav sorry for the delay in the reply as I am caught up in a family wedding.
What I want in a cdp is to sound 'least digital". Detail, timing, resolution, seperation .......................... yes but not at the expense of musicality. I dont want to say I want an 'analog' sounding player as thats a reviewers lingo.
I like the Esoteric X 05 a lot. Famed transport & good sound. I want a one box solution that fits in my allocated budget. SACD preferable. Emphasis on build (external & internal) and reliability.
Suggest me options as I may have missed a few.
Accuphase is always an option for obvious reasons.

Venkat I am never offended so no worry! The marantz was a QUICK BUY as it had to be gifted on the 18th. Maybe if I had planned a bit earlier I could have explored all options. BTW i did not even know WHF had rated it highly BUT THAT HAS NO RELEVANCE IN MY CHOICE.
Rgds
 
If you can avoid customs, you will be getting a real good player for about 20K. I think it is worth it, certainly. They have done some crazy things including redesigning the loading mechanism and giving isolated power supplies to the transport, the electronics, and the audio circuitry. All for 20K?

Cheers

Hi as the company will be shipping through Fedex, I expect to pay customs on the same. Btw any idea what the customs duty for this sort of product

Thanks
 
Hi Dinyaar


The Esoteric is very good and extremely reliable. I have had the Esoteric gear now for more than 5 years. Absolutely no problem. I have heard the X05. If your budget permits go up to the X03. Its really really nice.

Other options you could look at are

AMR 777 cd player $3900
Ayon 2 cd player

The only problem is I do not know where you can hear them in Mumbai. Unlike Esoteric these do not have SACD capabilities.
 
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