 Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4
newbie
|
OP
newbie
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4 |
I was looking at that Marantz yesterday. The Sony's are too big for my cabinet, and that Marantz will just fit. It got some good reviews too. I'm a little nervous about a refubished though? Then again the price is great. I think I'll try it out. Thanks
|
|
|
Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,501
connoisseur
|
|
connoisseur
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,501 |
Although a little more money, I would suggest a Squeezebox. http://slimdevices.com/With lossless encoding of files, it is CD quality, and you can have an unlimited number of CDs at your fingers without actually touching the discs....I currently have close to 300 discs available to me.
|
|
|
Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 88
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 88 |
I second the Squeezebox nomination. If you have a home network this thing is just about the best toy to come down the pike in a long time. Very good D/A chips, Burr Brown 24 bit I believe and great sound. Supports all kinds of formats and works great. I use mine wired over gigabit ethernet, not wireless and have never had a problem. Over time I can see it replacing my CD player for most listening. However, and not to flame the MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc etc, at what ever bit rate, etc etc....sounds as good as CD argument.....BUT....I have done side by side blind listening tests and there is a difference. VERY slight, but it is there. I encode most of my music at either 320 or VBR 0 depending on the music and ripper. I can hear no difference between a 320 MP3 or FLAC, but both of those are better than AAC. Most people cannot tell the difference. But a good CD transport / player with a well Engineered CD played over a good system is still going to sound better. Albeit very slight. So for new music that I buy it still goes in the CD player. After I've heard it a while it gets ripped to the server and the CD gets stored away. BTW, the thing also coneects seemlesly with Pandora. www.pandora.com which is also very cool if you have broadband. Program music that you like. it's a 128k stream and it sounds very good for internet music. Not as good as CD yet but I bet that changes in a couple of years.
|
|
|
Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 3,270
connoisseur
|
|
connoisseur
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 3,270 |
Cmeb,
Sony has been building reliable CD changer mechansisms for decades. I'd second the comments of TomTuttle and JohnK. I've been very happy with the two 301-disc CD megachangers I've been using for 3 or 4 years now and there is absolutely no difference in sound quality from much more expensive boutique brands.
The Sony CX-355 is astonishingly inexpensive--about $149 at J&R. Plus they never repeat tracks on shuffle play and the cross-fade feature can be wildly entertaining.
Regards,
Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)
|
|
|
Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
|
|
shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044 |
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
|
|
|
Re: which cd changer for $300
|
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,501
connoisseur
|
|
connoisseur
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,501 |
Quote:
I second the Squeezebox nomination. If you have a home network this thing is just about the best toy to come down the pike in a long time. Very good D/A chips, Burr Brown 24 bit I believe and great sound. Supports all kinds of formats and works great. I use mine wired over gigabit ethernet, not wireless and have never had a problem. Over time I can see it replacing my CD player for most listening. However, and not to flame the MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc etc, at what ever bit rate, etc etc....sounds as good as CD argument.....BUT....I have done side by side blind listening tests and there is a difference. VERY slight, but it is there. I encode most of my music at either 320 or VBR 0 depending on the music and ripper. I can hear no difference between a 320 MP3 or FLAC, but both of those are better than AAC. Most people cannot tell the difference. But a good CD transport / player with a well Engineered CD played over a good system is still going to sound better. Albeit very slight. So for new music that I buy it still goes in the CD player. After I've heard it a while it gets ripped to the server and the CD gets stored away.
BTW, the thing also coneects seemlesly with Pandora. www.pandora.com which is also very cool if you have broadband. Program music that you like. it's a 128k stream and it sounds very good for internet music. Not as good as CD yet but I bet that changes in a couple of years.
I'll say that if you rip into a lossless format, and use the same DACs.....it will be even less than a slight difference. 
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics24,984
Posts442,691
Members15,643
| |
Most Online2,699
Aug 8th, 2024
|
|
|
0 members (),
595
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
