New CD Player?

[Dharris]

I have owned a Rotel 930AX for some time now. Is it worth upgrading it? Have the midfi players improved in the last few years?

Thanks guys,
Don

[JohnMichael]

I recently replaced a Sony ES cd player that was about 9 years old. It cost me about $300 and I replaced it with a Marantz CD5001 for $300. The Marantz is far superior in every way. Yes there have been incredible improvements in cd players.

[NickWH]

Absolutely. In the last couple of years, midfi CDP's have improved considerably. Better transports, better power supplies, better DACs. The Cambridge Audio Azur units (especially v2) are a good example.

[superpanavision70mm]

Do you only want a new player that does CD's or are other formats up for consideration as well? SACD? HDCD? I know that Denon and Marantz are both making really good players that are moderately priced. I like the fact that the Denon players are well made, usually heavy duty with the design, and have been known to play CD's and HDCD's well.

[daviethek]

Do you only want a new player that does CD's or are other formats up for consideration as well? SACD? HDCD? I know that Denon and Marantz are both making really good players that are moderately priced. I like the fact that the Denon players are well made, usually heavy duty with the design, and have been known to play CD's and HDCD's well.

Which Denons are you referring to?. If you are talking about the DCM 270 and 380, IMO every model of Cambridge Audio player would sound more refined. The Denon have good build quality platter CD changers but their sound quality is not quite up to the CA mid-fi players. The Denon DCM 380 has HDCD encoding and it sound OK but unless that format comprises the majority of your discs then you are not making the most of the majority of your CD's unless you get a good player. I am really cuirous to hear the Marantz 5001. JM thinks bargain players have improved dramatically. That's good news for all.

[musicman1999]

I added an Arcam cd-73t to my system and am very happy with it.Sounds great,well made but came be somewhat dependent on other gear in the chain.

bill

[BillyB]

I recently replaced an older Rotel CDP with an Arcam 73T and the difference in my system was incredible.I have Rotel components and B&W 703's and the Arcam has been a nice finishing touch to the system.I hear that in the last 2 to 3 years there have been big improvements in CDP technology and it supposedly even trickles down to the inexpensive players in a lesser form. The Arcam at $700 is generally regarded as one of the best players under a $1000 and so far it's been a great choice for me.This stuff is very subjective so I tried to base my choice on professional reviews and my own demo. The 73T can be upgraded at any time to an upsampling player with hardware changes through Arcam which was a huge selling point for me. Most people seemed to be very happy with the stock player but if you're not at least there is a practical solution.I think this a testament to Arcams engineering dept. and if Arcam was sold on line they would get much more press. You can't get their products at big online discounts and while I wish you could I think companies that choose this policy are generally more concerned with selling a high quality product versus simply how many units they can move.

[IRAWB]

I second the Arcam - also try the Rega Apollo. Really excellent player.