Dead quiet CDP

[92135011]

Hi everyone,
anyone can recommend a dead quiet CD player?
I dont want to hear the disk drive spinning type quiet.
Of course, no flutter or other noise...well minimized of course.

[DMK]

Hi everyone,
anyone can recommend a dead quiet CD player?
I dont want to hear the disk drive spinning type quiet.
Of course, no flutter or other noise...well minimized of course.

Check out www.audiogon.com for a used Sony XA20-ES. The drawer is as quiet as I've ever heard and there is no disk drive spinning noise. The only non-musical sound I hear is the distortion on the CD itself.

[92135011]

Thanks for the reply.
Too bad none on sale at audiogon...although someone is selling their manual for this model. Never understood those.
Does this particular model have digital outs?

[RGA]

Don't buy a used cd player - CD players have an on average life expectancy of 7 years according to consumer reports - moving parts = breakdowns.

Go to a shop and play a disc in some machines and listen to see if it makes noise while playing. Simple. My Cambridge CD6 is quiet and has a slow quiet droor.

Arcam might have some good ones too.

[92135011]

I dont need any fancy ones though since im thinking of getting an external DAC later on anyways. Just as long as the transport section is good then its fine.

Any cheap ones you guys can recommend?

[DMK]

[QUOTE=RGA]Don't buy a used cd player - CD players have an on average life expectancy of 7 years according to consumer reports - moving parts = breakdowns.

/QUOTE]

And turntables can last forever! Another reason to loathe the digital beast!

My Sony is closing in on 10 years old but I did have to put $100 worth of repairs into it.

To answer the original poster, the Sony has a toslink digital out. I'm not going to get into the debate about which type of out sounds better but I do prefer a coax out because the connectors on toslink are kinda cheesy. But I do run the out into a CD recorder but that's more out of habit than anything else since my latest CD recorder is a two drawer - internal copying capability.

[92135011]

Yeah...I use TT too but the thing is that you cant get a lotta new stuff on vinyl. Or you could get it for considerably more. Most of the stuff on vinyl is not really my time period so its harder for me to find material. Although I have been pretty lucky to have people lend me stuff to try out. Hence I need both CDP and TT.

Names I can think of that have decently priced CDPs are NAD, cambridge audio, sony, pioneer....cant think of any more for now. Any of these got a name for reliability and quiet?

[DMK]

Yeah...I use TT too but the thing is that you cant get a lotta new stuff on vinyl. Or you could get it for considerably more. Most of the stuff on vinyl is not really my time period so its harder for me to find material. Although I have been pretty lucky to have people lend me stuff to try out. Hence I need both CDP and TT.

Names I can think of that have decently priced CDPs are NAD, cambridge audio, sony, pioneer....cant think of any more for now. Any of these got a name for reliability and quiet?

Yeah, the availability of recent titles is pretty limited on vinyl. No question you need a CDP these days.

I forgot to mention - you can look for a used Sony XA1-ES which is a cheaper version of the one I own - half the price new. I also own an NAD and it struggles to read a lot of CD's so I can't recommend it. No experience with Cambridge but RGA below seems to like his and I've found his advice to be excellent most of the time.

[musicguy04]

Yeah, the availability of recent titles is pretty limited on vinyl. No question you need a CDP these days.

I forgot to mention - you can look for a used Sony XA1-ES which is a cheaper version of the one I own - half the price new. I also own an NAD and it struggles to read a lot of CD's so I can't recommend it. No experience with Cambridge but RGA below seems to like his and I've found his advice to be excellent most of the time.

What do you mean by the NAD struggles to read a lot of CD's? What exactly was the problem and how did you solve it? How are Cambridge Audio and Arcams with this?

[DMK]

What do you mean by the NAD struggles to read a lot of CD's? What exactly was the problem and how did you solve it? How are Cambridge Audio and Arcams with this?

A. It won't play certain CD's or it skips or sticks on them.
B. Lousy transport section, a common NAD problem or at least it used to be. I solved it by not playing those certain CD's on the NAD. The NAD is in my basement system and the Sony I mentioned is my reference.
C. I've not heard of any particular problems with Cambridge or Arcam but I've not used them myself. Check the reviews on this site for the models you're interested in.

[Jetsons]

Used Pioneer PD65 with the stable platter mechanism which can only be found in $$$ Wadia players. Not only is it dead quiet, but the PD65 plays every disc I've thrown at it perfectly. It is a very reliable player with excellent build quality. Remove the cover and the entire unit is lined and shielded with copper.

My system had gone through quite a few changes over the past 5 years but the PD65 has remained. Great machine!

As mentioned above, the older Sony ES players are also excellent transports.

Jet