Is an expensive high-end CD player really worth the money, considering that even cheap Philips DVD players costing < 3k INR have a 24bit D/A converter? Sure, other high-end players might have better S/N ratios, but considering that a CD is a digital music source unlike a tape deck or an LP player, there should be no source noise to begin with. The only thing I think that should affect the quality of sound reproduction should be the quality of the D/A converter and the sampling rate, and both metrics are the same in the Philips DVD player and in, for example, Oppo DV-980H and Primare DVD26 (specifications given below)!
Plus, the S/N ratio of a CD recording is about 90db, which matches the S/N ratio of the DAC of the average players (unless the noise introduced by the DAC is external noise) and is not significantly worse than 100/110db of high-end players (or is it?). According to the Nyquist criteria, we need at least 40KHz sampling rate to reproduce the analog source accurately. Considering that CDs are recorded with a sampling rate of 44.1KHz and even the basic payers given below are converting the digital source back into analog at way above this: 192KHz @24bits (oversampling to give a smoother response, I guess), this should be more than sufficient for accurate music reproduction.. at least on paper.
My hypothesis is that either the cheaper players are lying or being over-optimistic in their specifications; or that different players (including the high-end players) are coloring the source music in different ways, possibly because of the way they have implemented their circuitry and filtering or even as a deliberate feature. It is also interesting that Marantz CD5003 and Primare CD21 CD players are using pulse modulation and not oversampling in their DAC implementation, but all the high-end DVD players like Oppo DV-980H and Primare DVD26 are using the same oversampling DAC as found in Philips.
Back to the original question, is it really worth spending on an expensive CD player? I can understand spending good money on a good analog source system such as a Nakamichi tape deck or a good LP player, but a CD player?? Please note that I'm posting this only to expand my knowledge, and don't pretend to be an expert at anything. So, please don't take any offense on anything I have said as it is not meant to be so in the slightest bit. In fact, my undertanding may be wrong as well, which is why I am seeking the guidance and inputs of this forum.
A trickier question is that even if we accept that a good high-end CD player may be better than a Philips DVD player, is it significantly better enough to be worth so much more? What if the extra money was spent on a better speaker or amp for example (say, pre-power vs integrated or floorstander vs bookshelf)?
PHILIPS DVD PLAYER DVP3146 (Rs. 2549)
D/A converter : 24 bit, 192 kHz
Frequency response : 30-20000 Hz
Signal to noise ratio : 90
Distortion and Noise (1kHz) : 65 dB
Crosstalk (1kHz) : 70 dB
Dynamic Range (1kHz) : 80 dB
Sound System : Dolby Digital
Marantz CD5003
Single Disc CD Player
Format: 16-Bit Linear PCM, MP3, WMA,
Sampling Frequency: CD:44.1kHz, MP3/WMA:32,44.1,48kHz
Dynamic Range: 100dB
Frequency Response: 2Hz - 20kHz
THD: 0.002%
S/N Ratio: 110dB
Oppo DV-980H
General Specification
Frequency: 20Hz - 20kHz (1dB)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >100dB
Total Harmonic Distortion: < 0.01%
24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Primare DVD26
Video Performance Features: 108 MHz 12 bit
Videodac: Pixelworks video processor
Audio Performance Features: 192 kHz / 24 bit Audio Dac
Audio Outputs: 1 RCA (L & R)
Downmixed
THD + Noise: 0,009 % at 1 kHz
Dynamic Range: 100 dB
Signal-to-noise Ratio: 100 dB
Channel Separation: 100 dB
Primare CD21
D/A Converter: 2 x PCM1738
Output Impedance: 100 Ohm
Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (+0 / 0.2 dB)
Signal-to-noise Ratio: 105 dB
Harmonic Distortion: < 0.01 % (20 Hz - 20 kHz)
. Most of my music was MP3 but nowadays I stock up on CD's like crazy!
