Quote Originally Posted by skeptic
Well this weekend, my Denon DCD1520 finally gave up the ghost. Expensive 15 years ago at $750 list, $600 retail, it is antiquated technology. The so called high end transport was worn out from countless thousands of hours of use, some discs that played on newer machines would not play properly or at all on that player, and for some reason, the interior seemed prone to collecting dust which required more periodic cleaning than other machines. Its replacement, JVC Z431 a 13 year old machine which has not had much use, maybe a few hundred hours at most. Once again time to re-equalize for the insignificant difference in frequency response. And what would that be? A 1 db cut at 8 Khz. Some people would say that this barely audible difference which was easily compensated for would in an A/B comparison indicate that one player "blew the other away." But which one blew the other away would depend on what speakers you were listening to and what you expectations were. Once the D/A converters are accurate, further imporvement in non linear distortion is totally inaudible and frankly probably only measurable with test equipment able to detect the lowest levels of distortion.

At an Electrical equipment trade show, I once asked a sales rep for a high end meter manufacturer what made his $120 digital multimeter better than Radio Shack's $70 model. I expected to hear about greater accuracy, ability to be used over a wider temperature range, better electronics, etc. Much to my astonishment, he said that the only real difference was that case his was in was sturdier and would probably survive being dropped on a concrete floor out in the field where the Radio Shack unit would not. As for performance, he said they would be exactly the same. Why? They use the same internal components.

The same is probably true with CD players. Today, a cd player for a computer costs $5. Don't look for something to last 15 years. This is now a throwaway item. My suggestion is to not waste your money with an expensive player. Save your money for something else. The inexpensive models have reached the limit of what this component can do.
The same is most assuredly NOT true with CD players. Even a cheap $5 computer CD transport will sound MUCH better using a quality soundcard like my Creative Audigy compared to a generic brand, or integrated soundcard. The same is true with modern CD players. The top manufacturers use quality internal components, and you can hear the difference, even if they are all using the same generic transport, which they don't!

If you got 15 years out of a quality component that was $600 originally then I think you did pretty darn good. Denon STILL makes some great quality mid level priced CD players. Why would you advise other to buy cheap throwaway crap now?

I will agree that entry level players have gotten pretty good in the last few years. I myself have a midlevel JVC DVD player that plays CD's pretty damn well also. That being said, midlevel CD players ($400-$1000) are now as good as most of the absolute BEST players from a few years ago, and are for most systems, are all that you will ever need. These midlevel players are NOT a throwaway item, just as your Denon wasn't, and in most cases will last just as long. For me I like to buy things of quality that will last, even if they cost a bit more.