Quote Originally Posted by bobbybob1
My old 1986 Technics says Dynamic Range is 96 DB and S/N ratio is more than 102 DB. Are these the numbers I have to pay attention to and are larger numbers better? Thanks for all the help
Almost certainly an exageration (lie). The mathematical performance limit for a Redbook CD is 96 dB of dynamic range. 20 times the log of 2 raised to the 16th power; 20log(2^16). ( 16 bits, 2 states per bit, 10 to convert Bells to deci Bells and 2 times because it's a voltage ratio )

I have rarely seen an analog measurements of a CD player that exceeded 90dB and that tends to be for equipment running in the thousands of dollars. A typical affordable mass market player will acheive probably about 75dB of dynamic range. 96 dB is a little more than ten times better. For a 96dB dynamic range the least significant bit causes an output level change of 30 microvolts at the RCA jack. Most equipment has a noise floor running in the millivolts at that point.

Besides dynamic range doesn't begin to tell the whole story about how something sounds. Learn to use your ears not spec. sheets when making a purchasing decision for anything that costs more than a couple of hundred bucks.