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I currently own midrange solid-state system, but plan to soon upgrade piece by piece, starting with a CD player. While I might be adding a pre-amp, I want a player that will give good results now with my Harman Kardon AV receiver via RCA inputs.My budget at the moment is $2000 max, but $1500 or less would be even better. I'd also like something with upsampling, to give some of those mediocre discs some extra life, if possible. SACD would be a bonus, but isn't necessary.
Follow Ups:
The biggest problem is there are many choices available, but no opportunity for me to audition any of them. I live a long, long ways from any hi-fi shops, and will likely hear whatever player I get for the first time once it's bought and installed.Another big problem is the lack of stores willing to sell by mail-order. Apparently most of the best manufacturers require stores to sell only to walk-in customers, so anything I buy is likely to be used. I don't mind buying used, in fact it seems many highly regarded players can be found this way at a substantial discount (thank you, you audiophiles with upgraditis!). But again, I wouldn't be able to actually hear any of them before hand, and I fear I'll end up with one that I find to be just so-so.
You should start your upgrades speakers first. This way you can get amps and source that works best for your speakers which are the most important part of the system.
Why do you want to spend $2000 on a cd player if your using a mid range reciever?? This doesnt make much sense your wasting your money. Just go with one of the lower priced players like a NAD or Cambridge audio, spend the rest on mmore cds! With a reciever your not going to hear the potential of a high end cd player.
> With a reciever your not going to hear the potential of a high end cd player.Depends upon which receiver. For instance, and Arcam HT receiver tends to be very good with music (better than with movies, actually) - enough that you can tell the difference between a NAD C541i, a Naim CD5x, Cary 303/300, Rega Jupiter and a Arcam CD33.
You could argue that you are leaving *some* performance on the table possibly, but I contend that the speaker will make more difference than the preamp/amp choice.
Nice thing about these days is there are no absolutes!
> Why do you want to spend $2000 on a cd player if your using a mid range reciever?? This doesnt make much sense your wasting your money.I would agree *if* the person will never upgrade their receiver. Getting an excellent source will allow the person to get really good gains if he or she ever upgrades the receiver.
The new player would only be used with the mid-range receiver temporarily. As I originally wrote, I intend to upgrade piece by piece. A better amp/pre-amp set-up will be looked into once I have more funds saved up.
Check out the Ah! Tjoeb 4000/upsampled. It has a built in volume control and its out put voltage is selsctable beween .7, 1.25., 2.5 and 5volts so it can work with a variety of amps without a pre-amp. The tube buffer also helps it sound very good without the use of a preamp, in fact with this player theres no reason to relly use a preamp if you dont need to, unless your against the idea of a digital volume control. Ive found that if you set it the lowest two outputs and use the volume control in the higher part of its range it sounds very good. You can get the top of the line model for about $1200 with upsampler, and all the options, I would also spend another $100 on a pair of NOS Seimens 7308's for the best sound.
What CD player under $2000 sounds good with a mid-level receiver would be a better question to ask - because you *are* using a preamp (i.e., though built into the receiver).If you wanted a CD player to use without a preamp, in the price range, I'd suggest a used Wadia 830 as an excellent option.
Straight into an amp the Wadia is an excellent solution. You can even get it with digital inputs and use the Wadia as a *preamp* (i.e., can switch between digital inputs and handle volume, all on the Wadia).
Would this still be a good option for you? Would depend on your upgrade plans - unless you plan a significant change to the rest of the system, then I'd guess you wouldn't get out of the Wadia what its capable of and so it wouldn't be the most rewarding investment.
In your current situation, you're really just looking for a good CD player, and in the context of your current system, I don't believe you need to spend so much.
If you want to spend the money, you could buy something like a Philips 963 DVD/CD/SACD player and a Benchmark DAC - you'd have the option of using the Benchmark volume to trial pre-ampless systems, experiment with the Benchmark on your computer, if you go the music-server route so many are trying these days etc.
You could go for an excellent universal player like the Denon 3910 - plays the lot, and sounds very good, ...and has extremely good video ; around $1K new on Ebay.
Or go for an older high end CD player,...Sonic Frontiers SFCD1? Sony XA7ES? Sony 777ES SACD Player? (excellent machine, but very slow to ready a disc, typical of the early SACD players) Naim CD3.5 or CD5? (CDX is really good, ...but even the others are already beyond the currrent system.
Actually, the Naim might not be a bad idea because they have a musicality that doesn't depend on resolution or super-hi bandwidth or a lot of the *audiophile* qualities that might not make it through the HK.
Looking at new and used/classic players, there are likely dozens and dozens of machines that would be excellent, that wouldn't be the weak link...,.
Hmmm...
Opera Audio Consonance 2.0 (SACD) or 2.2 (redbook only). Has tubed output via RCA with volume control. 2.2 lists at your limit, should be obtainable for less. High end sound without breaking the bank, 24/192 upsampling using the highly regarded Crystal chip. They love this player in Europe and it is catching on stateside as well.Not sure I understand your post though... if going into a receiver, well, it does have a 'preamp' in it, right? Are you trying to bypass the preamp? Did not know that was possible.
I basically wanted to make it clear I wasn't yet using high-end separates, just a decent midrange receiver.
ok no prob. I have gone that route too, a while ago. I think it is wise of you to stretch to your budget re the cdp right away (assuming that IS your ultimate budget). I went in small increments and wasted some money along the way, not to mention lots of time.I am confident you understand that once you get a cdp of this caliber then you will be itching to upgrade your amp. I guess this is where the "no preamp" part becomes more relevant.
btw HK receivers are pretty decent for their price and market segment. I have owned a couple of those too.
Good luck.
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