old cd's sound bad

[musicoverall]

I keep wearing out my CD players and I find that with a first class DAC the quality of the player has no effect on sound (not everyone agrees with this). So I buy transports in the $150 range in order to avoid true junk. Wear 'em out throw them away. Not something I'd like to do with a $1K and up player (which probably uses the same mechanicals anyway).

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Totally agree. Since I got my new DAC, I've hooked up everything from a cheap Pioneer CDP to a very expensive transport only and haven't heard one iota of difference. The DAC is the Audio Note 3.1X and right now I'm using a Sony CDP as a transport. When it dies, I'm getting the cheapest player I can find with a coax digital out.

Incidentally, this DAC is the most amazing piece of gear I've ever bought. Not only do stellar recordings sound awesome but some poorly mastered CD's now sound listenable. I've never had both happen with any audio component before. I was firmly in the vinyl camp until this DAC came along.

[hermanv]

..................Incidentally, this DAC is the most amazing piece of gear I've ever bought. Not only do stellar recordings sound awesome but some poorly mastered CD's now sound listenable. I've never had both happen with any audio component before. I was firmly in the vinyl camp until this DAC came along.

I took my DAC when I first bought it to a friends house who was trying to get his Oracle turntable fixed (motor problems) . He was blown away, didn't know CDs could sound that good. He bought the same model. Its now 2 years later and the turntable still isn't fixed, says he'll do it someday but the urgency is gone.

As you might guess from my posts I am firmly in the external DAC camp. Mine has several inputs so I switch two CD players and my CDR through it and everything sounds the same. This reduced my tweaking and fiddle factor a lot - love it.

[daviethek]

Can I assume that the Woolfson DAC in my Cambridge 640 is adequate or would it pay to experiment with externals.

[hermanv]

I have never heard the DAC in any Cambridge player. Nor do I know anything about the rest of your system. The most common advice is; trust your ears.

These decisions are very difficult and it would seem that using a forum to make them is quite dangerous. You need to find a store you trust or make contact with other local audiophiles and listen to their stuff. Once you have some exposure you can then make a reasonable decision about what kind of monetary investment vs. sound quality tradeoff makes sense to you.

As I spend more years at this audiophile hobby I have learned an unfortunate lesson. You may not always get what you pay for but you never get what you don't pay for. Like many others in the hobby, I have replaced some parts of my equipment chain more than once, resulting in a considerably higher total outlay than it would have cost to buy very good equipment at the outset.

I am now spoiled enough that the only equipment I hear that sounds good to me is quite expensive. Not everyone agrees that the sound quality continuously improves with price but my experience leads me to believe that mostly it does. Truly good sounding systems can seem quite exorbitant compared to a $350 receiver. For me he difference is worth it, it might not be to you.

[daviethek]

I have never heard the DAC in any Cambridge player. Nor do I know anything about the rest of your system. The most common advice is; trust your ears.

These decisions are very difficult and it would seem that using a forum to make them is quite dangerous. You need to find a store you trust or make contact with other local audiophiles and listen to their stuff. Once you have some exposure you can then make a reasonable decision about what kind of monetary investment vs. sound quality tradeoff makes sense to you.

As I spend more years at this audiophile hobby I have learned an unfortunate lesson. You may not always get what you pay for but you never get what you don't pay for. Like many others in the hobby, I have replaced some parts of my equipment chain more than once, resulting in a considerably higher total outlay than it would have cost to buy very good equipment at the outset.

I am now spoiled enough that the only equipment I hear that sounds good to me is quite expensive. Not everyone agrees that the sound quality continuously improves with price but my experience leads me to believe that mostly it does. Truly good sounding systems can seem quite exorbitant compared to a $350 receiver. For me he difference is worth it, it might not be to you.

Thanks, this is the kind of good advice I generaly give my kids and yet I need to hear it myself sometimes. Not being perfiectly satisfied with Hi-fi gear for me is a curse. Maybe I need an extended period of non-critical listening to get re-calibrated.