Blu ray or a high end Cd player

[keremz]

I was shopping for a mid to high end Cd player and I was suggested a blu ray player instead of a CD player....

could a blu ray player a good enough to replace a mid or high end cd player

I was shopping for a NAD 542, cambridge 540 or 640 C.....

any suggestions????? one of the above or a blu ray????????

[02audionoob]

Surely a mid to high end CD player is going to play CDs better than a Blu-ray player.

[Mr Peabody]

The Elite are supposed to have the stuff for decent music playback but I agree that for just CD playback a stand alone player in the same price will probably be better. There is an Elite player around the same price as the CDP you were looking at, a sound off would be interesting.

Only if you need or want a Blu-ray player, think about this. You could get a Blu-ray player with a good transport, which Pioneer's Elite gear are known for, then add a DAC for CD playback. This would give you the best of both worlds. Manufacturers are starting to offer more budget DAC's now as well. I'm not pushing the Pioneer it's just that the BD-P05 is cheaper than the Marantz and Denon. Pioneer's DVD players gained a good rep as working well for CD transports, so if I was going the route I suggested the BD-P05 would be at the top of my list.

NOW, all I said is assuming you were talking about using analog outputs. If you were using a digital connection in which your receiver will decode the signal then by all means get yourself a Blu-ray player. Because allowing the decoding to be done in the receiver you most likely won't hear any difference at all, between anything playing back the CD.

[Kevio]

Mr. Peabody's last paragraph is crucial. What do you plan to wire this player to?

[keremz]

will be hooking it up to a tube amp....vincent TAC 34

[GMichael]

Do most BR players play SACD's like the PS3 does?

[blackraven]

If you want a BRP then get one and buy a DAC. Cambridge Audio makes a DAC for $399. Or buy a higher end DAC like the Van Alstine Insight, PS Audio Digilink III (there are a few for sale on www.audiogon.com) and the Benchmark DAC-1.

If you want a Universal player, consider waiting for the Oppo Blue ray that is coming out in the spring. It will play BR, DVD,CD and SACD.

For a stand alone CDP, consider the Music Hall 25.2 cdp. Its an excellent player with very good transparency and detail.

[Mr Peabody]

Why in the world would anyone suggest to some one getting a Blu-ray player for music playback if they weren't going to use it for video. I think you need to shop some where else.

What is the rest of your system? What is your budget? There's a lot of good ways to go for CD playback.

[blackraven]

Mr. P, it sounds like he is wanting both a BRP and a CDP. But I agree, he should go for a CDP for music and a BRP for video.

[Kevio]

Why in the world would anyone suggest to some one getting a Blu-ray player for music playback if they weren't going to use it for video. I think you need to shop some where else.

It is likely that a new BluRay player has better sound than consumer grade CD players. It's getting hard to buy a stand-alone CD player. The ones still available don't have the most recent generation of audio components.

[keremz]

Ok guysBRP is out the door as a CD palyer )) thanx for all the input

now I've to decide between Cambridge Audio 640C or Marantz 5003 or NAD 542 or Pioneer PD-D6-J cd/sacd player...any ideas

I think Pioneer is a good choice amongst them as it has SACD capability

[Woochifer]

Do most BR players play SACD's like the PS3 does?

The first and second generation PS3s were the only Blu-ray players that could play SACDs. (The PS3s starting with the 40GB model no longer include SACD playback) Some upcoming models like the highly anticipated Oppo player will include SACD playback.