Advice on picking DVD/CD with great sound (1 Viewer)

[Greg Kerber]

Looking for help on purchasing a new DVD player. However I use my system as much for music (both CD and DVD) as I do for movies so I need one that has excellent audio while of couse not foresaking video quality.
I do not want to break the bank but will pay for quality and although my wife would love a multi disc set up, it is not a necessity if this reduces choices or multiplies cost.
Also do most new DVD's display your photos on disks?
Thanks for any guidance.

 

[PaulDA]

Will you be using the analogue output of the player for CDs (I presume you will be using the digital output for movies)? If yes, then top of my list below 400$ is the Cambridge Audio 540D. I bought it to be my dedicated CD player (it beat out other similarly priced CD only players). Others to consider for high quality analogue CD output (300-600$ range) are the NAD players, the Denons (2200/2900/2910), the Marantz DV6400/6500 and the Yamaha S1500 (there may be others but in this price range, those are your best bets for good CD analogue output--they vary in video quality, you'll have to decide). Below that price range, analogue CD output becomes less well implemented, in general. If you can go above 600$, then the Arcam players are the ones to beat in this arena.

If you plan to use the digital output for CDs (unless you plan to spend a LOT of $$$, at least 1000$ or more), though opinions vary on this issue, I think anything from the major brands would be good, as your receiver would be the determining factor for audio quality. That allows you a wider budget and model choice. If I were planning on the digital CD output, I'd focus on the best PQ and build quality my budget would allow.