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Thread: CD Technology

  1. #1
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    CD Technology

    Thanks for the info, the best fix for my Luxman and Snells would be a CD. Again, what
    is being done to CD players to improve their sound? 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

  2. #2
    Shostakovich fan Feanor's Avatar
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    Forget those specs

    Quote Originally Posted by bobbybob1
    Thanks for the info, the best fix for my Luxman and Snells would be a CD. Again, what
    is being done to CD players to improve their sound? 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
    They don't mean much, although CDPs do have better specs today. The real advances are in the DAC technology used today which might or might not translate into better S/N.

    My first CDP was a Yamaha around '83-'84, CD-2 model as I recall, it was sharp as glass shards. My next player in '91 was a Technics SL-PS70 high-end model with 1 bit/MASH technology; it sounded a lot better. However when I bought my Sony SD-CE775 for its SACD capacity in '03, I realized that the Technic's sound was grainy and less resolved by comparison to the Sony's CD sound.

    (Today, for CD, I mostly play by way of a modified Assemblage DAC 1.5 which provides even more resolution and transparency plus HDCD decoding. It's a bit bright, though. I'm tempted to try something else; one that appeals for a reasonable price is this ... http://www.pacificvalve.us/MusilandMD10.html
    BTW, my old Technics make a very good transport: its very sturdily build and well damped.)
    Last edited by Feanor; 04-21-2007 at 06:33 AM.

  3. #3
    BooBs are elitist jerks shokhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bobbybob1
    Thanks for the info, the best fix for my Luxman and Snells would be a CD. Again, what
    is being done to CD players to improve their sound? 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
    Depends. Are we talking about your dig connection or an analog connection?
    Look & Listen

  4. #4
    Forum Regular Rock&Roll Ninja's Avatar
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    The Dynamic range of a CD player is largely irrelevant. Modern POP has a DR of less than 3Db anyway (a few infamous Cds have, literally, zero DR). Some Symphonic can get into the 30Db range... all well within any CDPs capabilities.

  5. #5
    Forum Regular hermanv's Avatar
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    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.
    Herman;

    My stuff:
    Olive Musica/transport and server
    Mark Levinson No.360S D to A
    Passive pre (homemade; Shallco, Vishay, Cardas wire/connectors)
    Cardas Golden Presence IC
    Pass Labs X250
    Martin Logan ReQuests.

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