I have purchased this CD player brand new 18 years ago and it has rarely been used (that's another story). Now that my 1st ever HT system is completed with some nice Axiom speakers, my question is that does this CD player performs better than my Sony S300 BD DVD player? Just want to justify putting the CD player on the rack. Thanks.

Hi h317,

Luxman gear was very nicely designed; in fact, Axiom's chief electronics engineer designed amplifiers for Luxman back then.

The D/A converters these days are likely more linear, although even back in the early days of CD, low-level linearity errors were only measurable with test gear, as they tended to occur at residual noise levels 80 dB or more below reference level. Which is another way of saying I'd be surprised if you heard any difference at all between the Sony DVD player and your 18-year-old Luxman with music playback in a controlled comparison. To do that test, you'd need to connect both players, have duplicate CDs synched and running with volume levels identical, then switch between the two players and see if you can detect any difference.

Playing a disc in one player then moving it to the other doesn't count. Such comparisons are hopelessly uncontrolled.

Regards,

Thanks, Alan. I did not know that. For Axiom to make superior products, I am sure the Axiom team has some top talents within the industry.

I just thought that a CD players with vaccum tubes are too cool to get rid of. I will put the Luxman ce on the rack for sentimental reasons

Hey h317,

I don't think Alan realized that the 105u has a vacuum tube output stage.

I'm not sure if the age of the tubes will cause any adverse effects. Someone with more knowledge than I will chime in soon.....

The 105U came out in an era of harsh sounding cd's. It was Luxman's (Alpine)solution to that problem. The output tubes added warmth and gave cd's a more organic sound. I have had several Luxman players and they were all prone to read errors even though they used Sony lasers. Drawer mechanisms were problematic as well. Impossible to say which of yours sound better, but I am sure the Lux will be less fatiqueing and perhaps more musical. Just listen to both, the one you prefer will quickly become apparent.

Hi h317,

No, I didn't realize it was one of the players with vacuum tubes. Did that model have a little window at the front where you could see the glowing orange filaments in the tubes? I doubt that Tom would have designed those but Luxman may have said, "Design us a hybrid CD player with tubes. ."

All bets are off with vacuum tubes. They tend to add a nice wash of musically agreeable (to some ears) harmonic distortion, and they are not linear. The tubes' characteristics and their performance change as they age so you may very well hear differences between the Luxman and your DVD player.

Regards,

Yes, Alan, I could see the filments in the two tubes. I assume that, since the CD player has hardly been used, the tubes will be fine. As I don't think I can get much from selling it, I am going to put it on the rack to see if it can still deliver some magics. Thanks to all of you helping out.