Comparing 7 CD Players, Warning!! Long post

I finally got everything built and hooked up and spent some time listening this weekend. The second post has the rest of the pictures.

First what I listened to them with.
The power goes through a APC H-15 voltage regulator\conditioner. A Mac C-39 preamp, going to a Rane AC-22 electronic crossover and then to a Mac MC-275 tube amp for the highs and a Mac MC-2205 SS amp for the lows. The speakers are Altec Lansing Valencias.

The players are the following in order of date of manufacture. Roksan Kandy MKII 2005-6, McIntosh MCD-205 2003, Denon DCD-1650AR 1999, Denon DCD-2560 1990, Sony 707 ESD 1989, Denon DCD-3300 1987 and lastly a Yamaha CD-1 1985.

Everything is connected via homemade interconnects using Canare Star Quad cable and Canare F-10 connectors. The players all have the same length IC's and the 5 on the rack run through a Russound source switch so they are equal in that respect. The MCD-205 & Denon 1650AR both are direct to the preamp. I switched them around and couldn't hear any advatange over the direct hookup VS going through the switch.

I used 7 CDR's of Mark Knopfler's Screenplaying. As it has a wide variety of music on it. I set the outputs as close as possible with a SPL meter and sat down and listened.

Now for the disclaimers, The sound probably varies more so with the older players as age and use take their toll. Also I'm well over 60 so my hearing isn't what it once was. Also this is not a brand A VS brand B comparison. So there will be no model X wiping the floor with model Y. Just differences I hear or perceive I hear.

The first thing I noticed was the highs are more pronounced on the older players. Which is not to say the newer machines roll of the highs but rather they do not stand out from the rest of the music like I hear from the older players.

I would not have a problem listening to any one of these machines if it was the only one I had. The better bass came from the MCD-205 and the Sony 707, followed closely by the Denon 1650AR & Denon 2560.

Soundstage, imaging and detail are far more dependent on the quality of the recording rather than the machine.

These players are not all TOTL models but they aren't entry level either so the build quality is good on all of them.

One thing I had wished for but didn't happen was to have others here to isten and make notes of what they heard. If you know someone who is of the opinion that only new SOTA DAC's can sound good, send them my way.

I think that idea that older players can't possibly sound as good as newer units is pure hogwash. Especially when the transport on some of these weighs more than the whole Oppo or Toshiba offering of the month.

I'm a lousy photographer as you will see. You can get the general idea of what is what from them though.

The rest of the story. The Denon DCD-3300 and the Yamaha CD-1


The Yamaha CD-1 and the Denon DCD-2560 under it.


Here is the setup with the CD players in the rack on the left.


Hope you enjoyed the thread. I'm not very adept at writing reviews as you can tell.

Mike

i'm curious Mike. when i had your Mac pre and cdp, i thought the MCD-205 was one of the better stand-alone cdp's i'de ever heard. i would have thought that it would stand out from the rest of the players in this comparison.

great pics and setup btw.

It is better Scott. It's just that it's not an absolute runaway. I believe when you get several good CD players together the differences are incremental, not huge like some folks think.

Of those I listed the worst sounding is the Denon DCD-3300 which is actually the most expensive Denon I have. It suffers from tired caps or something. It sounds good but not as good as the rest of them.

However my testing is obviously flawed since I couldn't have all the machines hooked up the same way. It was just something to do with all those dinosaur players I have sitting there.

The surprise of the bunch was the 2560. It sounds better to me than several more expensive players I have. Again, the differences are not large. Just there to me.

The retail on these players was from 750.00-2500.00 when new. I think in that range the sound isn't all that different\better. Where I notice the biggest difference is going from a 750.00 down to the 100-500 range.

There again this is just my opinion.

Great pix and awesome setup. Tanx for sharing.
Can you be a little more specific about the Roksan? A friend of mine wants to buy a cdp and a Roksan like yours is in his list.

Clint, this is my impression so it with a grain of salt. It sounds good and is well laid out. It also sounds sort of flat to me. It doesn't seem to draw me into the music like the others do. To me it sounds like what it is, a CD player. The others can draw me right into the music.

To others I'm sure it sounds great. So that's just my take on it.

Nice write-up.

I've been toying with four DACs and finding subtle differences betwixt them, but also liking all four.

And also finding that synergy has become a lot more important with my mixing of gear as of late- either reinforcing strengths or inadequacies.

I enjoyed your comparo, which, in my opinion, is a very positive review of all pieces involved- which it should be, as they are all excellent pieces.

Congrats on a fine collection!

Thank you very much.

HEAR HEAR!! i too am a member of the of the vintage CDP faithful! those are some beautiful CDPs! my first high-end CDP was a 1986 DENON DCD-1500 with the optionally sold rosewood panels that i still, and always will have, with DENON-standard gold-ringed isolators screwed into the center of each of the four recessions of the moulded stub feet, where the half-recesessed thick pads were attached. i have also replaced the stock power line with a heafty, multi-shielded grounded power cable with a ferrite bead slipped on directly inside the chassis. that was my first, but i now have in it's place a PIONEER PD-91 (1988) that is far better in every way! easy as can be to service, and PIONEER has kept the pick up assembly in production to this day! your DCD-3300 and CDP-707ES are total lookers, hard for me to resist, but i have found the CDP i wish to stick by as long as i can keep it going!!

Great write-up! Sometimes I wonder the same thing. I've always been very happy with my old Magnavox's but I'm starting to think something high-end. IMO the better bass response of the Sony and MAC CDP's are due to the robust transformers inside. IIRC, the 707 has one each for the digital and analog signal paths.