 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
69.111.214.231
In Reply to: RE: 25 years of CD player progress posted by Crazy Dave on July 23, 2012 at 09:49:53
Is that the player which was made from the earliest Philips 14 bit toploader with near-zero features and certainly NO remote?
If so, even my un-modified player stayed 'good' until at least the original '1bit' stuff mercifully went away. If this is the Mission player from the FD-1000, I'd say it probably aquitted itself very well until after the 1-bit 'craze'.
I'd just be curious, you know......and I'd LOVE to find a laser head for it. It'd be a near-perfect player in an all-vintage mid-80s system.....
I'm down to a single DAC.....I use a DacMagic+ for all DAC duties. A reasonable implementation of Wolfson chips. The multiple inputs, including a BlueTooth APT-x dongle and balanced outs made my choice fairly easy. Best possible sound for $$? probably not. Good value? For me, yes.
However, all my CD / DVD players on into the future will be 'commodity' players.
Too much is never enough
Follow Ups:
Yes, your mission player used the same TD-1540 chipset as my Magnevox. I don't know about post processing, though, or how that plays into ultimate sound.
I DO know that the philips / magnevox player was quite the item. The lid, for example is double walled for sound / vibration control. The whole thing is fairly heavy/dense and very well made.
Too much is never enough
Even though it is small, it is a very heavy, solid unit. The DAD-7000 was a Philips CD104 that Mission added some filtering and a remote control. I bought my particular unit from a thrift store for next to nothing with a no-working loading trey. I wish a Mission amp and speakers came with it, but they didn't! When I pulled it apart, the belt was broken, but a trip to the hardware store for an O-ring, a lot of dismantling and reassembly and everything worked fine. As far as transports go, the great reputation of these transports is well deserved. They are very well made and do the job well.
I threw the Mission in my vintage system, where if fit in very well and enjoyed it for a while. However, after the euphoria of one of my first hands on repairs of a CD player faded, I started comparing it to other CD players that I had on hand. I compared it with a Denon DCD-1500II, Denon DCD-810, Sony CDP-X222ES and Sony 507ES. In every case the newer (but vintage) players mopped the floor with the Mission. I was disappointed. I actually wanted the Mission to win, but my ears said no.
My System is posted if you are curious. It is all vintage, but for CD players, newer is better, IMO! However, the vintage stuff is built a lot better. I am currently testing a Marantz DV6600, and it looks like it will replace my NAD CD player.
Dave
Dave
I know the early CD players had problems...but the Magnevox / Philips were generally at the head of the class.
The first Sony players shared a single DAC in a time-share arrangement between channels. I guess this produced some awful results.
The first players I saw were either the top loader I bought or a kind of front loader where the 'tray' tipped forward and the disk dropped down into the machine.
Your player? Near the start of the tray open/close system in common use today.
But, don't forget later still came the 1-bit players. In a 3-way blind test of 2 of the 1-bit vs a Philips system 16 bit, the listeners could not only tell the difference but preferred the philips player to either of the others. This was to a statistically valid degree.
So, I'd say you've probably got a pretty good early player which took a while to be bettered. I have no idea of the model #s you quote, but do recognize the ES in the Sony models as representing their better efforts.
My impression is that the first players were OK, than went uphill somewhat before a downhill blip during the 1-bit era followed by rapid improvements. I know I must have 'sold' people on CD when they first came out, simply by tossing them a Cassette I recorded off my player onto a regular dolby cassette for the home. The quality was so far ahead of ANY commercial cassette that people 4 or 5 of my friends bought CDs within 6 months of my demo.
I'll also freely admit that once I had my CD player, I pretty much tuned out and my 2nd player was a CA 840c.....about 25 years after my first!
Too much is never enough
I have the first Magnavox top-loader. I either bought it or got it for free. I was curious as to what it sounded like. It was dreadful (IMO)! It did sound OK through a tube Lafayette receiver and some Warfedale W60 speakers of a similar eara. (I should start a museum!) A lot of people thought the 1-bit was a step back. I think my Radio Shack CD-3400 portable was a 1-bit. It sounded good to me at the time, but I did not think it was SOTA.
In defense of the Mission, it would probably sound a lot better if I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors. I might give that a try some day!
Dave
Edits: 07/24/12
I sure could use that laser! My Magnevox needs only that to work again.......
For fun, you should look up the ORIGINAL Stereophile review of the FD-1000. If I remember correctly, that player was an eyebrow raiser and perhaps gave 'em hope for 'a digital future'. 14 bit, and all....
Yes, it is generally agreed that the 1-bit stuff was a step back. Lots of experimentation going on in the early days of CD as they were still trying to find the best or in some cases simply the easiest path. The first Sony players not only had a SINGLE DAC 'timeshared' between channels but some kind of plug on the back which nobody ever figure out what to do with. Want Dreadful? There's your player.
Also, I think it was MADRIGAL that had the modified FD-1000 'Magnevox' toploader. It was a 2-box solution and had extensive powersupply mods.
My brother had the W70e 'end table' Wharfedales. Sweet for the era and were fine with his than-cool Sansui receiver. He also had a Benjamin Miracord TT and some Koss Pro4aa headphones!
The Link? Some comment from Stereophile about the Madrigal mod'd player and the original FD-1000
Enjoy::
Too much is never enough
I remember the Sony. I took one in trade for a $300 Yamaha that blew it away on A/B comparison. The difference was not subtle. At the time, I remember I got into an argument with someone who said that we could not have heard the difference. I guess if you are deaf...
Another salesman sold the Sony to someone. Poor guy! It was dreadful! It did look nice though! I have a few Magnavox players, but I may need to pirate myself. Now that I have a good sounding Marantz DV6600 Universal player, I plan to get them running to see what they sound like. I may even try Lampizaiton! I like to work on stuff (cars, motorcycles, stereo equipment, computers, my house, etc.).
Dave
Post a Followup:
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2013, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ Take5 ]
