There seems to be a lot of level headed thinking in this forum, so I'd like to pose a question. Im thinking of buying a CD player to compliment my new M80's. The consumer brands tend to be disapearing in favor of dvd/cd/mp3 players. I guess this is alright. But what I'd like is a single disc player, not a changer. The prices seem to go from about $29 for the sale paper stuff to several thousand dollars.
Now here's my question. How much difference can there be in the sound?
Obviously, with speakers, there are so many variables and it is generally true that you can expect to get what you pay for.
But with digital music, the optical reader is reading +'s and -'s. There isn't room for the physical effect that used to occur with tonearms, drive systems and cartridges in the old record albums.
So when I read descriptions like "slamming bass, greater detail, greater depth of soundstage, etc, I wonder, how can this be?
The digital information is all there, how can one deliver "slamming bass" that another cannot?
I'm wondering if this is in the same category as speaker cables, one of which I was reading after on Ebay today. It claimed, "extended bass", "tubelike" response, "detailed highs" etc. I use a tube amp for my guitar. If I could purchase a speaker wire that produced tube response, I would go for it!
I'm ready to be educated. I was curious about an NAD CD player that runs about $500. It is well spoken of. But then someone compared an expensive player (cant remember which one) to a $50 Toshiba!
Thanks for any responses, especially from those who have personal experience comparing the expensive models with the cheaper ones.
Dan
