Kevin C Brown

Best DVD player for video and CD audio... (no DVD-A/SACD)

I was thinking about this the other day. I have had a universal player in my system for almost 18 months. Yet I only have 4 SACDs and 1 DVD-A.

I still have hope for the high res formats, but let's just say I want to step back in time for a progressive player that has killer video, and killer audio for DVD and CD. Used or new. What would recommendations be? I'd cap the denaro at $1000. No chroma bug, and a good layer change.

Randomly, I always remembered the Cal Audio Labs players getting rave reviews in WSR for example.

Maybe an older Sony ES machine? Denon 9000, 3800? (I'm admittedly not so familiar with their older stuff.) Marantz?

I know Rotel has a really good rep for CD players.

Secrets is a start, but must have really good CD quality too.

Just curious!

If it's not worth waiting until the last minute to do, then it's not worth doing.

KevinVision 7.1 ...

John Kotches

Meridian 596 or an Arcam might be worth considering as an addition to your list.

Cheers,

Surround Music Enthusiast / Curmudgeon in Training
Opinions are my own, not representative of the publication I write for.

John Garcia

The older interlaced Sonys had great audio, but compared to today's video, they don't stack up. I think it's a tall order. I'd consider Arcam too, but for their better DVD player, you are going to end up with DVD-A.

I actually was not all that impressed with either of the last two top Marantz DVD players the 8400? and I forget the other model (and I'm a Marantz fan ). I compared them both back to back and preferred the sound of the less expensive player, and video didn't look any better than my 2200.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

LanceJ

Kevin: I have also read many reviews saying how good Arcam's dvd players are at playing CDs (& no, I'm not contributing this advice here just because Arcam is involved with dvd-audio. Because even if all the surround formats survive, I still believe the huge majority of music will only be available in Compact Disc form & which is why I bought my own CD-only player a couple of years ago).

And I also used to read good things about the CAL players but I think they went out of business a couple years ago, so if they need service, or especially parts, well.........

But what about just buying two separate players? Then you wouldn't have to worry about (potential) problems with the video cicuitry introducing nasty EMI into the audio circuits......or any other possible compromises a manufacturer might have to make with a dvd + CD player.

And I've found many dvd players are quite frustrating to use as far as CD playback is concerned: slow loading times, slow track-skip/track-scanning times, no programability/random/delete track/time mode functions (and if it does, many times to use it you have to pull up an on-screen menu--bleh). And most times the front panel display shows very little information for CD playback and almost never do they have some sort of track calendar, something I personally find very useful (since I'm more of a visually-oriented person).

But if you just put the CD in the tray, push play and that's it, please ignore the above paragraph.

LJ

imported_Brian L

Kevin, are you still ruuning the Lexicon pre/pro? Surely those DACs are not too shabby. Would a sub $1000 player have better DACs?

As for video, I absolutely love the Denon 1600, but the layer change is piss poor. Although on many discs, they seem to have the change in a place that just does not call attention to itself. Then again, with Monster's Inc, the change is not a pretty thing.

BGL

John Garcia

I have a separate player for CDs and DVDs. I don't mind how my Denon 2200 sounds for CDs (fast player, track-track access is great), because my Marantz' DACs are better, but my CD's DACs also sounds better with redbook. For what you are asking, I'm guesing the price tag is not going to be very low, so I'd say it would likely be worth your while to just look at something like the Denon 2900, whether you use SACD/DVD-A or not.

I agree with Lance, I like having the track listing on the front panel.

I really liked the Arcam CD-73 I was auditioning speakers and integrateds with. Great sound, well built, but the remote left a bit to be desired. The guy at the shop sort of said something similar to what my thoughts already were, and what Lance is saying as well: Get a great CD player for redbook, and look for a DVD with the level of video you are looking for, that is acceptable for hi-res audio as well.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

Kevin C Brown

Arcam, will have to get educated on them. Cool.

Brian: yes. So it'd mostly be for the transport.

I'm probably still going to wait for one of the 5900/5910/3910, but I was amazed that if I *didn't* want to keep DVD-A/SACD in my system, I didn't really know what to fall back to.

If it's not worth waiting until the last minute to do, then it's not worth doing.

KevinVision 7.1 ...

Ricky T

Kevin,

I know someone selling a Sony XA777es SACD player for about 1200...this would be a great music playback machine. There are plenty of good, very thin/rack-space friendly DVD video players under 200 (Panasonic XP30, Liteon DVD-2001, more models always coming as video/scaling technology changes).

Your MC8 should have decent dacs, but whether it will maximize your 2 channel performance (with a highend player) is another story.

I kind of like this 2 channel path: Proceed transport > Proceed AVP2 > Proceed Amp5 (L&R channels) > Main Speakers

Kevin C Brown

Yeah... I've thought about some of the older Sony ES CD players... Do the dual player thing with one of the Panasonic DVD players....

If it's not worth waiting until the last minute to do, then it's not worth doing.

KevinVision 7.1 ...