Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo How much difference does a good CD player make ??

Back again to the basest part of this. We've established any laser and transport can correctly read an audio CD and send on the digital bitstream to a receiver, so any component that reads a CD and sounds different (as so many have attested to) is doing some sort of signal processing.

Flat response throughout the sound path is valued. These players are coloured (something that would be shunned in a speaker!!), therefore, should any CD-P that doesn't accurately relate the data off a CD be shunned as well? Isn't that the whole point of a CD-P? Get the information to be processed to the component that is to process it? That would mean people are paying a premium for a coloured component.

Bren R.

Not me, I didn't pay a premium price for my Sony Changer. I don't know if it colors the sound or not, but it sounds better than my other DAC's for probably less than them too. You do have a point about speakers being shunned for coloring sound.

Bren;
If you are saying anything that colors the sound should be shunned...then why does close to 98% of the professional guitarist use Tube amps to play their instruments rather than the solid state amps?

Who says people are paying for coloured components. It maybe the premium components that can deliver this true sounds. The cheap companent just barely pass the minimum to convey that stream.
Have you actually given premium compnents a critical listen...and we are not talking the Sony's, Denon's , Rotels with the other mass market brands. I'm looking into the Krells, Mark Levinsons, Cary Audio type gear.

Personally, I wouldn't call NAD or Rotel mass market gear.

Actually I would. So yes it maybe a tad bit more expensive but not much more than the Sony or Yammy or Denon. I used to own NAD and Rotel. I sold my Rotel RSX1065 flagship receiver to the Pioneer 53TX because the 53TX seemingly sounded better than the RSX1065 at the same level. Actually the 53TX really sounded better with the Direct CD feature. The RSX1065 did not have that feature. The NAD was annoying because when driven hard that damn fan would go on...specially when running a 6.1 setup with all speakers in the 6ohm load that are inefficient...old KEF.

In reply to:

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If you are saying anything that colors the sound should be shunned...then why does close to 98% of the professional guitarist use Tube amps to play their instruments rather than the solid state amps?

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Ahh, but at what stage is the "tube" sound added with tube amp heads? Pre-mixing, pre-mastering... the sound of the guitar is shaped, mixed, mastered and put to disc. Once it's on the CD - you want the cleanest possible reproduction of what's on the CD. Thus, solid state electronics from there on. CDs aren't mixed "cold" so that a "warm" CD-P will bring them back up to room temperature - what's on the disc is what's meant to be heard.

Bren R.

I thought guitarists used tube amps because they clip relatively gently so you can overdrive the amp and use the clipping to turn a "twang" into a fat, rich sound (aka "the Marshall sound").

Tube amps are used more like effects pedals than like home electronics.

Bren: I get what your saying about when the tube is added.

But how the hell did we get into the point of "coloring" I never said any of my gear "coloured" the sound.

bridgeman yes I agree with you there. But my point was some people did not agree that we should color the sound. I say in some instance some of the musicians intentionally color the sounds such as when using a tube amp in live playing to twang into a fat rich sound.

Yes... "fat", "organic", "warm", "fuzzy"... call it "Harold" if you want, but that's the reason musicians play through tube amps. Bro's got an apartment full of SWR and Ampeg gear - all tube. I played guitar (back when I was guitarded) through a custom Johnson tube amp... musicians play through tubes to get that sound - if you plugged straight into a board and recorded in Pro Tools, it would sound lifeless and sterile.

But once the sound is captured... once you've got the sound you want, and the glass master is made and CDs are pressed from it, you don't want to add another layer of "Harold" at the listening stage - especially because tubes don't all sound alike, they deteriorate with age (they're glorified light bulbs, really), they sound different at different temperatures, humidity levels, barometric pressures, with different levels of estrogen in the room... all these factors. From CD to speaker, one or two things should shape the sound, the receiver and an EQ.

Bren R.