CD Player/Changer Recommendation?
dudeman
Posts: 3,069
Do you still listen to CDs at home? Do you like your current CD player or changer? If so, what is it?
I'm looking at options for another system and need to choose a CD player.
I'm looking at options for another system and need to choose a CD player.
If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done. - EV
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Any positive experience with a good CD changer? I have an Onkyo now and it's good, but it's getting old. Time to start looking before it craps out.
With as many live, multi-disc albums as I have, a changer works for me.
Yamaha, Onkyo, Teac and Integra are the only new models that I can find.
This is the one I have in my current setup as well. I share your same thoughts.
It definitely looks like CD is a dead format for many people but I still like them. Something about having a physical, tangible collection that took many years and a lot of money to curate. They can sound damn good too.
My CD player is in the same category as my turntable: they each only play one format of physical media but they do that one thing very well.
I'm on the lookout for CD players and changers now just to keep as spares, as it looks like manufacturers are likely to stop production of new models.
I'm thinking about getting really serious with my sound system now.
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2020- Nashville, TN
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2024- Baltimore
One really nice thing about outboard DACs is the flexibility to use them with different sources and most of them afford settings and adjustments that aren't typically found on CD players and the like.
The benefit is that a good, separate DAC is likely to be of higher quality, both in sound and build, than a DAC that is chosen as part of another component.
Often, DACs afford more control options as well. Many allow the user independent control of gain and volume. Some include headphone amps, too.
I don't know if this helps or makes sense. I'm having trouble communicating today.
Standalone DACs just do the last part, but they typically do it with higher bit depth and sample rate capabilities than standard, consumer grade CD players.
There are exceptions, of course.
Some people like to have the ability to choose their own DAC for the increased sound quality and flexibility they can afford.
Personally, I don't own one and don't plan on it any time soon. The DAC in my CD player does a great job and that is the only way I currently play digital music.
If you're interested, there is a wealth of free information over on audiokarma.org, too.
So far, it's pretty badass. Integra is the high-end, premium division of Onkyo. (If Onkyo = Totota, Integra = Lexus.) The thing I liked most about my old Onkyo it replaced is that it sounded warm, full and rich. (Some CD players have a clean, sterility that I am not particularly fond of.) The Integra has that same warm quality but it also presents a lot more detail than the Onkyo. It reads discs that I have had trouble with on other players. For example, my copy of the "Once" soundtrack wouldn't play on my previous CD players, the above-mentioned Onkyo and a Denon from the late '80's. This CDC-3.4 reads and plays it with no trouble at all.
Build quality is excellent, user interface is intuitive and it cues and loads discs at least twice as fast as the Onkyo. It has coaxial and optical digital outputs that can be used simultaneously with the analog outputs. The onboard DAC is a Wolfson 24/196. Performance-wise, it compares very well to the single-disc Onkyo C-7030.
Overall, I'm very impressed. There really isn't a lot of information out there about this model. The specs I found online were way wrong compared to the specs in the manual and there are only a handful of reviews that I found.
I know this is one of the last machines of a dying breed but it's a really good example of the CD changer format.
The reviewers said the AKM is every bit as good as the Wolfson but I don't think Onkyo did a good job of communicating the change. They specified Wolfson in their ad copy for years. Now, nothing.
Must be the newest production runs that changed. I'm interested to hear one first hand.
Is there a difference besides the color?
This new Integra changer is rocking my world. It has played everything I've thrown at it and it sounds fantastic.