How important is CD source?

[Jnorth1178]

Here is my system:
Amplifier Anthem MCA 20
Preamp Primaluna prologue three
CD Rotel RXD 1072
Speakers: B&W 805s

My question: I recently acquired the Primaluna and it improved my sound 100%. The Rotel is their entry model. Would I improve my sound even more by going to a more sophisticated CD player? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions. JNorth1178

[wkhanna]

oooh! Nice pre!

You may want to take a look at a Benchmark DAC.

Also, good reviews on Shanling CDP's.

JMHO

[ShadowZA]

My opinion is that indeed you would. The reasons for this are that a better quality cd player should incorporate better overall electronics (DAC's, etc) resulting in more detailed & pure sound, less/no jitter interferences, etc. Note that just as a good cd recording should really be shown to sound phenominal on a quality cd player, a less than perfect recording should also be shown up to be such.

A quality cd player tends to put into sound an exact replica of that which is contained on the cd itself.

Of course, with a quality cd player, one would also want the digital to analogue conversion to be done by the player itself (in order to minimise processing interference) and link to the pre-amp using the analogue out.

Hope this helps.


An idea: If possible, take your cd player to a hi-store specialising in high-end stuff and try to compare your player (using your familiar music) to some reference quality players (Meridian 808 or even the G08; Mark Levinson No 390S; Marantz SA-11 S1, etc).

On second thoughts ... don't do this if you are prone to upgrade-itis :P

Good luck, though.

[GregLett]

Here is my system:
Amplifier Anthem MCA 20
Preamp Primaluna prologue three
CD Rotel RXD 1072
Speakers: B&W 805s

My question: I recently acquired the Primaluna and it improved my sound 100%. The Rotel is their entry model. Would I improve my sound even more by going to a more sophisticated CD player? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions. JNorth1178

when I added the Prologue three to my setup.
RCD 1072 + Prologue + 1080. I noticed that the Bass got a little soft.
The detail was there, but I felt i lost some body to the music.
At firs I blamed the pre, but then I heard a different CD player in the system
and I knew then it was the player. I think you'll hear just how good the prima luna is if you try a different cd player. I currently use a Jolida with mine.

So yes changing the player to the next level player will improve your sound.

[Jnorth1178]

CD player

Thanks a lot fellows. That really helped me get a better look at the matter. I guess i had always thouht a CD is a CD. Its' job is to spin a Disk and it doesn[t take a $1000 unit to do that. Wrong. As I have learned on several occasions -- there is more thsn meets the eye in sound production. JNorth1178

[Briz vegas]

:agree:

Not to say that the 1072 is not a good player.
1. I have never heard one
2. It has a good rep
3. I have heard of a guy who preferred his 1072 over players 4 times the price (although I suspect other factors may have disguised the differences)

A have a friend who loves his new PLP3 pre. I think tubes in a pre seem to work well with B&W. A good revealing pre will show the differences between sources nicely.

Question now is how much to spend, and do you go for a DAC or CD player.

Meridian GO8 is pricey but sounds good with the 805. I went looking for something cheaper but ended up spending almost as much.

Jnorth, Don't forget to post your experiences with the various options out there.