CD player to make my B&W 802D's sing?

[ED K]

Looking to increase the quality of my music with the addition of a high quality CD player.
I have been looking at the Arcam FMJ DVD27A and the Ayre AX-7e. Not sure what you folks have found with these two units.
I currently have B&W802Ds
Mcintosh MX135 pre/pro
Bryston 7B SST monoblocks
Suggestions for a CD player that would make my 802Ds sing would be great.

[Aussie Geoff]

Hi,

As this has had 2 days and no reply (and is boarderline on topic for B&W) - I have renamed it to make it more meaningful (usually helps!) and copied it to the "Audio Hideout" as well - where you should get some more replies

Geoff

[rav934]

I purchased the Musical Fidelity A5 CD player and A5 integrated amp to drive my new B&W 804s. I was shocked to hear how clear the A5 reproduced music. Even my wife was amazed and how female voices sounded and imaged in the soundfield.

[jim777]

Why not give the new McIntosh MCD201 a listen? And it would match your MX135

It is supposed to be much better than the older MCD205.

[RNKC]

I have a Pioneer Elite DVD player that I use as my primary player. I recently bought a (cheap) LG DVD player which I use as a world player. I've also tried a higher end Musical Fidelity CD player (sorry - can't recall which model) and my Dad's PS Audio CD transport.

In all cases I found only subtle changes to the sound. What did make a bigger difference though we changing the processor (D/A converter). On that front I've tried my Dad's PS Audio D/A, a Mark Levinson #38, a Bryston SP1, a Proceed AVP and a Proceed AVP2.

Changing the transport, like I said, made little difference. The Musical Fidelity was he best CD player that I had hooked up, but the sound was certainly not $3000 (Canadian) better than what I had with the Pioneer Elite. I'm currently usin ga Proceed AVP but I'd love to, umm ... "borrow" Dad's AVP2 or stumble into a pile of cash and get a Mark Levinson #40. I am considering also going to Krell.

[tboooe]

I love my Carey 303/300 cdp. It has great balance. Music sounds rich and vibrant with this cdp. It has upsampling as well as tube output. I like to change between tube and ss output depending on the mood I am in and music I am listening to.

I also support the Musical Fidelity recommendation. I find MF to make very musical components. One of the main reasons why I did not get an MF cdp is their lack of balanced input and outputs on all of their equipment. Which is a shame since I would like to try out their preamps.

[Andorian]

hi,

You could try to listen to the Classe''s new Cdp/DVD-300.
I 've heard it with all classe gear, and 802D,
lots of details, not to mention the"" extremely high boy-toy factors"" like dvd lcd screen,
better than Classe cdp-100.

greetings, Andor.

[neil w]

naim audio cds555 ( if youve got £15000 )

regards neil

[goffriller]

Now that I have the 802ds, and super duper Spectral electronics, and the Clearaudio Ambien table, my weak link is my cd player: I have a EAD series 3 D to A converter and transport.
HOw much do I have to spend to beat this?
With my current set up and Strad cartridge, my records sound way better than cds.
Goffriller

[stewfoo]

I agree with Andorian about the visual apeal of the CDP-300...I am running the ssp-300 and 3200. I would love to add the cdp-300. The price is simply prohibitive at this point. Isn't that what home equity lines are for? I am just afraid that I will have no wife after that....

Tboooe, I agree with the Cary choice. I was demoing it at my Indy dealer and it was fun toying with the tube output and the upsampling rates... it is great. My dealer said it is his favorite as well

[ChrisssB]

Tboooe has a a very good cd player!!! here in Greece it got GREAT reviews. They also wrote that having tube and ss output plus different upsampling rates makes it easy to have the sound right according to your cd (depending if it's older, music gender, recording technics etc...)

[JimTW]

Hey guys,

What about a high end CD/SACD/DVD-Audio/DVD player that will make
the 802s sing? Got recommendations?

Thanks!!!

[Stockinv]

Hey guys,

What about a high end CD/SACD/DVD-Audio/DVD player that will make
the 802s sing? Got recommendations?

Thanks!!!

I have an Integra dps10.5. It is almost identical to the Onkyo SP-1000. Either one is an unbeatable combination for CD and DVD.

[abqnmusa]

I am using the Rotel RCD-1072 with the Rotel RB-1090 amp and B&W 802 S3's.

The Rotel RCD-1072 makes the music sound wonderful. It would do the same for your 802D's.

The 1090 amp also helped quite a bit.

[jim777]

I think that 802D's deserve better than the RCD-1072, even if it is unbeatable quality for it's price. It would be a week point. Soon when my dealer gets the new McIntosh MCD201, I will compare it to the RCD-1072 and report my findings... It costs 4-5x more and uses the newest DACs so it should do better on all except maybe HDCD albums. I'm considering it for my system and I "only" have 703's (and a MA6500 integrated amp that is better than Rotel seperates IMHO).

And as I said before, the MCD201 would match the guys MX135 pre/pro.

[ED K]

One of my options is to keep the CD player I have now and get a very good DAC (maybe the Mcintoch one) since I feel the trasport on my CD player is of high quality.
Any thoughts?

[jim777]

The Mac DAC costs something like 8000$ so their single-box CD player is cheaper. Their DAC can take many inputs and is supposed to be their best sound possible, so it still might be what you are looking for. The MCD201 is 3300$ and plays stereo SACD too.

[sikoniko]

I have a Onkyo SP1000, but I opted to get a Jolida JD-100 for my CD. It is an amazing CD player for the price. I read VERY strong reviews on the Marantz SA-11S1 CD/SACD player though.

[kurtholz]

so many choices, i recently went with an Arcam DV29, i am extremely happy with it, plus it has HDMI, and a whole host of settings any tweaker can appreciate

good luck

Kurt

[chuck1801]

I recently upgraded to the Ayre C-5xe after listening to a lot of players. This one gets the most out of my 802Ds.

[JimTW]

What do ya'll think of the following 3 pieces?
Which one would be good enough to match a HT
system based on the 802Ds as the front mains?

Denon DVD-5910
Marantz DV9600
Integra DPS-10.5