If a player (CD/DVD/BDP) has an digital out does it still matter if is audiophile grade?

[ubitoo]

Get a feeling by reading threads here that FMs "prefer" expensive audiophile grade
dedicated CD players and frown upon consumer brands DVD/BDP players
like Philips, Sony etc.

But if these consumer grade players have a digital out (SPDIF/Coax) for audio
then does it matter if it is audiophile grade or not as far sound quality is concerned?

If yes, then what specifics cause the difference. Looking for more in-depth answers
(even if they are technical) as against abstract replies like "Better Circuitry".

Note: The question is for audio only.

 

[tuff]

@ubitoo I do agree up to a point. But the trick is to listen to both in the same system and make a judgement call. Sadly CD players are becoming a rarity and hence becoming more and more expensive. CD players tend to have much less circuits than a BluRay player as it is only designed for audio.
For a DVD/BDP player you have to hook up a monitor/TV which perhaps is not a desirable thing if you only want to listen to a CD.

 

[spirovious]

Transport/source player is important.Two brands bdp with spdf out surely sound different with same rest of the chain.
I tried comparing Toshiba and Pioneer bdp spdf out and pioneer did output clean and warm sound.Toshiba was harsh on other hand.
It matters models to modem

 

[reignofchaos]

Look at the images below. It is the same digital signal being output by two different devices. Does one look cleaner than the other?

Hopefully this answers your question. Digital signals undergo distortion the same way as analog signals. Beyond a point of added jitter, recovery of the signal and the embedded clock becomes harder. The same occurs when you use a cheap 2000 rupee dvd player as your SPDIF out vs a 100k CD player.







Reference: http://www.crazy-audio.com/tag/oscilloscope/

 

[haisaikat]

The final output (and the amount of difference) will depend on the whole chain. However in addition to what others have said I like add that there is nothing different phenomenon in the world called digital, it's just another version of analogue which is intelligently transmitted to mirte efficiently detect and correct errors in transmission. What makes a good CDP good are
1. A good power supply that gives clean stable power
2. A better and more steady cd spinning mechanism that is sturdy in reading CD more accurately on the first attempt
3. Better error correction when a read error occurs including better extrapolation if required
4. Better input and output circuits, by design and by quality of components ( yes same specs of components have different quality standards present in market)
5. Better quality of connectors

If you think whether these will matter, take your available CDP to a av Shop and listen with yours once and the. With the most costly one once and if you feel a difference noticeable you decide accordingly, buy which ever one is sounding closest and cheapest balanced to the most expensive one.

 

[krell]

Look at the images below. It is the same digital signal being output by two different devices. Does one look cleaner than the other?

Hopefully this answers your question. Digital signals undergo distortion the same way as analog signals. Beyond a point of added jitter, recovery of the signal and the embedded clock becomes harder. The same occurs when you use a cheap 2000 rupee dvd player as your SPDIF out vs a 100k CD player.



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Reference: http://www.crazy-audio.com/tag/oscilloscope/

thanks for giving a nice example