Hows the sound quality of red book cds in Blu Ray players?

I remember a while ago I tried listening to music with a Sony DVD player and connected it to a Nad amplifier and it sounded very cold and sharp, is the case similar with Blu Ray players ?

I don't have any personal experience with a BluRay player, but based on what I've read here and elsewhere, CD playback fidelity isn't a BluRay player's strongest point. My Toshiba HD player flat out stinks at CD playback, if that's of any help.

There will be nothing special about a Blu-ray player playing a CD. The quality of playback will depend on the individual player and how good the analog output section is. Just because it's a BR player doesn't mean anything special to CD playback. If you use the digital output there should be negligible difference because your receiver will always be doing the decoding.

For decent budget CD playback you might want to look at something like a Marantz 5001 or an affordable NAD. If you have a player already you aren't satisfied with you could also look at outboard DAC's. However, I have not found many affordable outboard DAC's, if on a budget the prior stand alone players are probably a better bet.

Gotta say I'm behind the times on this - what exactly is the point of Blue Ray? How is the picture quality or technology better than a DVD player.

I have a new Sony Flatscreen LCD and was looking to by an upscaling DVD player but the regular 3 year old player at 480 is quite impressive to me - how much better can it get. Is Hally Berry going to be three dimensional now? Yeah I was living under a rock for 2 years - well in Korea which is kinda the same thing.

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Originally Posted by RGA

Gotta say I'm behind the times on this - what exactly is the point of Blue Ray? How is the picture quality or technology better than a DVD player.

I have a new Sony Flatscreen LCD and was looking to by an upscaling DVD player but the regular 3 year old player at 480 is quite impressive to me - how much better can it get. Is Hally Berry going to be three dimensional now? Yeah I was living under a rock for 2 years - well in Korea which is kinda the same thing.

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Whattup RGA,

Actually, from a video standpoint, "yes", it is that much better. Still dependent on source material the BLU-RAYs that I have seen have largely bettered their SDVD bretheren by a longshot.
On the audio side BLU-RAYs are nothing special with the exception of the few hi-res outings that have been releaseed. Concert vids are outstanding especially when put through a receiver with good DACs.I have both the Dave Mathews and NIN outinga and the results are rather breathtaking.
From a two-channel standpoint it is the same old story--generally the machines don't provide anything noteworthy in their own right. Many find them thin and tinny, not unlike the first generation of cd's. When the signal is transmitted digitally one is at the mercy of the outboard decoder as stated.

My perception is that folks don't really buy BR for audio 2-channel audio anyway.

Blu-ray audio on a BR disc will sound better than SD even via digital according to Dolby. And if you use the analog outs or PCM compatible the Uncompressed PCM is lossless and outstanding. DD+ isn't quite as good but still a big step from SD. The new Dolby Tru HD and DTS-MA are also lossless after being uncompressed. They are said to be exactly as the movie master. Back to digital out, to be compatible with HT gear you already may own Dolby and DTS included the "core" DD and DTS which will decode through regular DD and DTS decoders in your current gear, the core is said to be some better than the sound on SD.