Dedicated CD Player

MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum

Help Support MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

harmony

Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Location
naperville, illinois
Has anyone compared Cambridge Audio Azur 851c to Mcintosh MDP500? If so, which is justifiable for sound and performance. Mcintosh is around $6500 vs CA 851c is $2000, just wondering if $6500 for a dedicated CD player is worth it? In other words, does the price $6500 justify the sound quality OR is CA851c is comparable.

Your thoughts??

Suresh
 
I would recommend an Oppo BDP-95 or, better yet, the BDP-105 (DSD capability plus better DLNA rendering for computer audio), possibly adding a higher-end DAC for the ultimate performance.
 
As per previous comments, why on earth would you buy a CD player these days?
+1

Soooo many advantages to a server, and for way-o-way less than $6,500.
 
Yep, I'd have to agree with all above. I recently sold my Esoteric player that was originally more than the Macintosh in favor of a dedicated server set up and high quality DAC. I'll probably pick up one of the Oppo's at some point for legacy discs, but the majority (actually ALL until my TT comes out of storage) of my listening is off the server. I only spin discs when I rip them.
 
Yep, I'd have to agree with all above. I recently sold my Esoteric player that was originally more than the Macintosh in favor of a dedicated server set up and high quality DAC. I'll probably pick up one of the Oppo's at some point for legacy discs, but the majority (actually ALL until my TT comes out of storage) of my listening is off the server. I only spin discs when I rip them.
Tim, did you ever plug your music server into the digital in of the Esoteric (I'm assuming it had one) just for comparison?
 
Tim, did you ever plug your music server into the digital in of the Esoteric (I'm assuming it had one) just for comparison?

Actually Bernard, my Esoteric was the last Universal (CD/SACD/DVD-A/DVD-V) player Esoteric made that DID NOT include a digital input. Current CD/SACD players do include it, but no longer include any video capability.

I have run my Mac Mini through my old Dodson Audio DAC, my previous AudioLab M-DAC and now my AURALiC Vega DAC, and to my ears the Vega beats every other digital setup I've had in my system, including the Esoteric (via it's balanced analog outputs).
 
I can't see spending any money on a CD player. I have begun ripping all of my CDs to HD in my laptop (backing up to an external weekly). So CDs can now be stored in a closet. Played back through JRiver MC19 I find they sound better than the CDs played back directly. Why? I have a thought that the computer/DAC combo is better at minimizing jitter than the player/DAC combo, so better sound. YMMV
 
I had spent many, many, many hours saving my CDs onto a hard drive. My hard drive had a melt down and I was upset. But I thought it was okay because I had backed everything up on my Mac Book Pro's hard drive - or so I thought. When I accessed my hard drive on the Mac Book Pro, I couldn't find the files. Unfortunately another member of my house hold had accessed my Mac Book's music files and had saved them onto another hard drive, in the process converting them to MP3(!).

So buy a really nice CD player ($6500 is way too much money) and enjoy your CDs.
 
I had spent many, many, many hours saving my CDs onto a hard drive. My hard drive had a melt down and I was upset. But I thought it was okay because I had backed everything up on my Mac Book Pro's hard drive - or so I thought. When I accessed my hard drive on the Mac Book Pro, I couldn't find the files. Unfortunately another member of my house hold had accessed my Mac Book's music files and had saved them onto another hard drive, in the process converting them to MP3(!).

So buy a really nice CD player ($6500 is way too much money) and enjoy your CDs.

Friggin' Macs :)

Seriously though - anyone with a digital collection needs to ensure there are at least two backups, one of which is offsite and offline.
 
I had spent many, many, many hours saving my CDs onto a hard drive. My hard drive had a melt down and I was upset. But I thought it was okay because I had backed everything up on my Mac Book Pro's hard drive - or so I thought. When I accessed my hard drive on the Mac Book Pro, I couldn't find the files. Unfortunately another member of my house hold had accessed my Mac Book's music files and had saved them onto another hard drive, in the process converting them to MP3(!).

So buy a really nice CD player ($6500 is way too much money) and enjoy your CDs.


Thanks Edwin, I agree $6500 is way too much for a CD/SACD player, I am thinking of buying Cambridge Audio 851c, it has great reviews. It appears standalone dedicated CD player is better than universal player for playing CDs.

Suresh
 
Friggin' Macs :)

Seriously though - anyone with a digital collection needs to ensure there are at least two backups, one of which is offsite and offline.

Damn right. I backup the music to a separate drive and separately backup the entire HD to another separate drive so I have two backups of the music and a backup + a system image at all times. Both are only connected while the backup is running, typically at work except in the summer.
 
I agree, no CD player, get a music server. My server and DAC was far better sounding then my Esoteric CDP. So I sold the CDP.
 
I know I'm late to the party but I second everyones sentiments for a music server. I'm a bit of a hobbiest so I decided to build mine instead. I'd recommend going the ITX route. Hard drives are soo cheap right now. I've got 4 2TB in RAID10 with a single 2.5 TB local backup (and an offsite backup service also). My Sonos Connect hits that machine pretty easily, and every bit of software I'm running on it completely free.

10559685_10101844740672076_208272095688450993_n.jpg
 
I'll be the dinasour and be damned proud of it.

I love my Cary and when it is time to replace, it will either be a unit made by Playback Designs or the DCS Puccini with clock, both of which cost alot more (retail) than $6,500. :p
 
I'd go with the Oppo 105 before the Cambridge. I bet it sounds as good, if not better and is cheaper to boot. Then you have the flexibility to play DSD, FLAC, or WAV files from a thumb drive, CDs, DVDs, DVD-As, Blu-rays, etc. from a disk or from a storage device dedicated server or computer. You can control it via an iPod, iPad or iPhone with a free app, so you don't even have to hook it up to a monitor! If you get the Darby edition, you even get great video. It's really a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.
 
I'll be the dinasour and be damned proud of it.

I love my Cary and when it is time to replace, it will either be a unit made by Playback Designs or the DCS Puccini with clock, both of which cost alot more (retail) than $6,500. :p

Oh, hell, we know you're a dinosaur! LOL
 

Latest posts

Back
Top