mariov
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best cd player under $200?
mrlowry
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The NAD would probably be a solid option. Marantz makes a nice affordable single disk as well.

jackfish
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Oppo DV-980H for $170. Plays CDs, HDCDs, SACDs and DVD-As. Also a great upconverting DVD player.

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp

http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/108mitr/index1.html

THR33P4C
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Take a look at this one. I got one as a demo for $200. The only downside is that it is a changer, but I have grown to like it...

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73851

Buddha
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Right here, man:

Philips Progressive Scan DVD Player w/ 1080i Upconversion, DVP3962/37

Only 42 dineros.

I have one. Shockingly good for the money.

smejias
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I heard this one is the shit. Also only forty bucks.

Buddha
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Quote:
I heard this one is the shit. Also only forty bucks.

Did John D. hook you up with that?

Man, think if vinyl worked this way.

For the cost of three LP's, you could get this far along the performance curve.

You outdid me by two bucks, man!

I haven't heard the Sony. Did they demo that for you at Sounds by Singer?

I do like the Phillips better than my PS1.

smejias
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Quote:
Did John D. hook you up with that?


Nah, a reader told me about it. I haven't heard it. But I got the feeling that the reader knew what he was talking about. I trusted him. Call me crazy.


Quote:
I do like the Phillips better than my PS1.


But you can't play Contra on it!

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But you can't play Contra on it!

Is that a salsa band, or a Clash album?

By the way, you bring up one of the true joys of Hi Fi - for that price, I'll grab the Sony and compare!

smejias
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Quote:
By the way, you bring up one of the true joys of Hi Fi - for that price, I'll grab the Sony and compare!

Awesome! I cannot wait to hear what you think.

Poor Audiophile
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Quote:
Take a look at this one. I got one as a demo for $200. The only downside is that it is a changer, but I have grown to like it...

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73851

Buddha
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Quote:

Quote:
Take a look at this one. I got one as a demo for $200. The only downside is that it is a changer, but I have grown to like it...

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73851

mariov
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thanks everyone for the excellent advice, i knew it wouldn't take the pros long. looks like the Sony is out of stock so i'm off to wally world for the philips!

Buddha
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Wait!

You can click on the "Locate dealers" section for the Sony and look for local availability.

In my area, Target, WalMart, and Best Buy were listed!

soundboy
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How about a brand-new Yamaha universal player with CD upsampling directly from Yamaha for $80.00 + shipping?

http://www.yamahashoponline.com/detail/YAM+DV-S5860SL

Buddha
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Eighty dollars?

Well, now you are just throwing money at the problem!

Good find! Have you had a chance to play with one?

It really is a bountiful hobby.

smejias
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Quote:
How about a brand-new Yamaha universal player with CD upsampling directly from Yamaha for $80.00 + shipping?

http://www.yamahashoponline.com/detail/YAM+DV-S5860SL

Whoa, now. At $80, you're approaching Oppo country!

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It's all in the Jitter rejection and the clocking. Even the lowly NE5532 and the far more lowly 4558 op-amps sound fine..IF..the jitter in the given CD player is low enough. Just my experience.

If one has high enough quality clocking in the final stages..the level of immunity to problems upstream - increases.

Down to the point that if...properly handled, even one of these could be the transport to a well clocked DAC in the $10-20K range..and no-one would be complaining. Once again, just my experience. This, on the build level. There will be designers that will disagree with me..specifically on the subject of jitter rejection, but a well designed DAC would take that all into account. However, I must state that my clocking systems are unique, and thus..we end up with an apples to oranges comparison to a degree (vs their experience with clocking)..and arguments ensue.

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Quote:
It's all in the Jitter rejection and the clocking. Even the lowly NE5532 and the far more lowly 4558 op-amps sound fine..IF..the jitter in the given CD player is low enough. Just my experience.

If one has high enough quality clocking in the final stages..the level of immunity to problems upstream - increases.

Down to the point that if...properly handled, even one of these could be the transport to a well clocked DAC in the $10-20K range..and no-one would be complaining. Once again, just my experience. This, on the build level. There will be designers that will disagree with me..specifically on the subject of jitter rejection, but a well designed DAC would take that all into account. However, I must state that my clocking systems are unique, and thus..we end up with an apples to oranges comparison to a degree (vs their experience with clocking)..and arguments ensue.

KBK, do you know Alex Paychev?

I'd be curious to see if you guys have compared notes. Assuming your business partners wouldn't kill you, trade secrets, yada yada yada...

soundboy
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Quote:

Good find! Have you had a chance to play with one?

I've not purchase one of these Yamaha players yet....although for $80.00, I'm really tempted. Btw, shipping is about $10.00 (I'm on the West Coast).

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KBK, do you know Alex Paychev?

Last I read Alex ran off with alot of folks money. Is he back in business?

RG

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Quote:

Quote:
KBK, do you know Alex Paychev?

Last I read Alex ran off with alot of folks money. Is he back in business?

RG

His forum is still up, but I think the jury is still out on what's up.

Some people are posting about receiving orders, others are plenty upset at never having received product.

I hope it all ends well, I like Alex and have heard his product line - mui bueno.

Buddha
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Well, this Sony is proving elusive.

Online, it's on back order, and Best Buy has the price jacked up to 46 bucks and it won't be back in stock until Monday.

Target and, ewwww, WalMart don't have it, either.

I saw the display unit at Best Buy, it's a little bugger that weighs more than you'd expect.

I can tell just by looking that it will sound exactly like every other CD player.

soundboy
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Quote:
Well, this Sony is proving elusive.

Online, it's on back order, and Best Buy has the price jacked up to 46 bucks and it won't be back in stock until Monday.

One thing about Sony DVD/CD players, especially the inexpensive ones, is that they've excellent drive quality. Totally silent and very quick, they tend to hold up very well. I purchased a Sony DVP-NS725V DVD/CD player for my mom years ago (about the time that whole Toshiba 3950/3960 DVD player fever was burning up the web) and it's still doing its job til this day. And my mom would have it spinning DVDs for hours on end each day.

berezina
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I have a denon DCD-1500 and it sounds amazing even with my pre-entry sound system. It's older, but I've seen it online for around $40

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Quote:
I heard this one is the shit. Also only forty bucks.

thanks for the info on this one.

i went and bought one to replace my dvd player when i heard circuit city was liquidating. nice to know i have a good cd player as well. love the size, too, it's small.

i wonder if it sounds better than my 15 year old rotel 955. i'll play around and see.

smejias
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Quote:

Quote:
I heard this one is the shit. Also only forty bucks.

thanks for the info on this one.

i went and bought one to replace my dvd player when i heard circuit city was liquidating. nice to know i have a good cd player as well. love the size, too, it's small.

i wonder if it sounds better than my 15 year old rotel 955. i'll play around and see.

Nice. Looking forward to your report.

enframed
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Quote:

Quote:

Quote:
I heard this one is the shit. Also only forty bucks.

thanks for the info on this one.

i went and bought one to replace my dvd player when i heard circuit city was liquidating. nice to know i have a good cd player as well. love the size, too, it's small.

i wonder if it sounds better than my 15 year old rotel 955. i'll play around and see.

Nice. Looking forward to your report.

based on a 30 minutes session this morning using can's soon over babaluma and the flaming lips' yoshimi battles the pink robots i can say that there are definitely differences.

i used track 2 ("one more robot") of the lips cd and track 1 ("dizzy-dizzy") from can. i'm pretty sure this can album is the last one they recorded live two-track.

the differences i could pick-up on were:

on the sony:

can - more crisp and detailed sound, and a deeper soundstage. the reverb and sound of the air in the room came through more clearly, almost as though you heard the room in which the track was recorded as much as you heard the instruments. does that make sense?

the flaming lips - during the first couple of minutes, as the song builds, there are voices, far in the background at times, that appear in various places. these voices were more audible on the sony. so again, more detail, and the soundstage sounded further in back of the speakers, as it did with can also.

the rotel sounded nice as usual, and nothing to sneeze about. the overall sound of the rotel has always been less bright, very much "soft" sound, that rarely leads to ear fatigue, unless the mastering is atrocious. it really is a nice sounding cd player.

i'll spend more time with them later and will be using the following recordings:

the jesus lizard - goat
the misfits - collection i
the stooges - fun house (not the remaster)

see how different some rock sounds. the latter of those two, on cd, are particularly fatiguing for my ears.

Buddha
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Killer update!

Thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to some play time, as well!

enframed
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so the difference between the 15 year-old rotel 955ax and the new sony dvp-sr200p/b hold up when listening to rock as well. with the sony the highs were higher and more crisp, there was more detail, and with rock, most noticeable were the upper register distortion on the guitar (non-harmonic overtones, if i recall). the soundstage appeared deeper and a little wider as well.

on the jesus lizard's "then comes dudley" mac mcneilly's drumming, the snare especially, sounds more violent, and on "mouthbreather" duane denison's guitar more cutting.

on the stooges "dirt" iggy's breath sounds more desperate, ron asheton's guitar and scott's drums are just a little more alive. alexander's bass is what stood out the most, it sounded like i was listening to someone playing bass in my house; like i could see/hear his bass amplifier/monitor vibrating away.

the more prominent reproduction of upper register guitar distortion was most prominent on the misfits "she" and "bullet," where it carried the rhythm a little more.

on all tracks the vocals were a bit more crisp as well though this was most noticeable on the stooges track, on which iggy's vocals are more dynamic.

all in all it sounds like a fine player, the sony, however, the rotel strikes me as being more listenable due to it's mellowness. i'm going to continue to use the rotel as my cd player, as the sony is my only dvd player. i would also be concerned about fatigue setting in during longer listening sessions, but i don't know about that since i've not done it.

of course, the drawbacks to using the sony as a cd player are: 1) the need to use the remote; you can't get from track to track on the unit itself, and 2) the display on the dvd player unit only shows the time, not the track number, so with unfamiliar recordings things might get confusing.

is the sound the sony produces worth $40? i'd say definitely.

Buddha
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Grabbed the Sony tonight in Vegas.

(36 bucks on mark down.)

Will compare it to my now 'vintage' Marantz CD-63SE this weekend.

Buddha
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One demo in...

Fresh out of the box, plugged in and played all in the same three minutes. Both this player and the Marantz CD 63SE into the same Krell integrated.

Played Karla Bonoff for the wife, "Somone to Lay Down Beside Me."

Wife was my blind listener.

First was the Sony. "Polite." "Karla seemed a little flat." Good low level detail, however. The decay on some notes lasted a good long time.

Second was the Marantz. Immediately, Katy said, "More alive." More frisson, yes.

So, so far, I conclude....time to listen more and report back!

Lamont Sanford
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I love my old Sony CDP-XE400. Another good <$200 CD player.

http://www.audioxpress.com/reviews/media/AX801GG.pdf

Monty
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My limited experience with cheap players is their lack of weight. Not chasis weight, but sonic weight. The 63SE has gobs of weight.

JoeE SP9
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I just had to try one of these inexpensive CD/DVD players. My modified CD-63SE works just fine. So, I'm not trying to replace it.
I picked up a Magnavox DP170MW8B for $40 Memorial day. It's upconverting (video) with HDMI and progressive scan. The sound, well I have a disk on continuous repeat. I'll give it a listen Monday night. Interestingly it has no optical out. Digital out is via an RCA.

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monty, buddha, and others w/ Marantz 63SE (or 67SE) -
I'd like to hear more of the comparisons you run. I have a Teac CD Recorder that overall is beating my Marantz. The Teac is a LITTLE bit more full, and transparent, and more spacious. As a player I don't think the Teac has any pretensions or reputation but it's sounding better than the Marantz - also sounding better than my 5 yr old Sony SACD/DVD player on CD's.

Lamont Sanford
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I have a fairly current TEAC receiver I use with my TV. TEAC is actually not bad for the price. They make a lot of junk we don't need like artificial antique radios but their stereo component line isn't bad. It's just cheap.

======================================================

A sample review from Amazon:

By Thomas A. Goodwin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I have read the reviews on this unit. All of them. Before I purchased this item. I must admit. There are some folks? you "Just cannot please". One reviewer? complained about "Hiss"....The total harmonic distorian of this unit. Is exactly LESS THAN; 0.03% at (1Hz) Hiss?....I think this reviewer may want to consider cleaning his tape heads? or perhaps demagnitizing them? A CD player cannot "Hiss" as it puts out pure sound. read by a laser beam. This is no "head contact". There is no needle on the disc? so "Hiss?"; I have to question this. The Teac CD-P1260 is made by "Sony" corporation. Both Teac and Sony. have an outstanding reputation of delivering customer satisfaction. In quality low priced units., and or components. When one considrs the "PRICE"; of this unit? It's hard to find fault. Of course anyone can find fault with anything if they look hard enough.
I almost did not purchase this unit based upon this;.... "Hiss", review. Thank God, I know better. I not only purchased one unit? I purchased two units and I am running them into a Sony 125 watt Amp with two 15 Inch Bose Speakers and two 10" Pioneer speakers...For a total of no less than 12 individual speakers in four speaker boxes. I have not heard any...."Hiss?"....I have no problem playing MP-3's either. So perhaps one should consider re-reading the instructions? The unit has 8-times oversampling with a frequencie response of 20Hz Khz +2db signal to noise ratio is more than 83DB (IHF-A) with an out put of 2.0 Vrms Analog through RCA jacks the total power consumption is only 10 watts.
For a "Good" economical low priced unit? what more do you want?....Perhaps a recording studio?
This unit is perfect for the audiophile who just loves to listen to their music with out analizing it or the system they are using. Granted there may be "Better" units out there? but "Not" at this price. Get real !!
Make up your own minds. Base your decisions on "facts".... not; Here say."
If your looking for a good quality inexspensive unit to play at home. This is it. If your looking for a recording studio? Try Hollywood California..,........ "You will pay a lot MORE;"...... there too.

Monty
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The only Teac component I've ever owned was an old reel-to-reel deck. I don't have a clue what kind of stuff they are currently making. I do believe there is a certain amount of pleasant surprise in buying any cheap electronic that does the basic job without blowing up. I'm always suspicious someone is making a value judgement rather than an objective comparitive with these sorts of things. But, I'm sure there are diamonds among the lumps of coal every now and then and your Teac recorder may be one of them.

I like saving money on stuff just as much as the next guy.

Buddha
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Quote:
monty, buddha, and others w/ Marantz 63SE (or 67SE) -
I'd like to hear more of the comparisons you run. I have a Teac CD Recorder that overall is beating my Marantz. The Teac is a LITTLE bit more full, and transparent, and more spacious. As a player I don't think the Teac has any pretensions or reputation but it's sounding better than the Marantz - also sounding better than my 5 yr old Sony SACD/DVD player on CD's.

There is a certain quality I absolutely do not like from digital that I call the "Friends of Mr. Cairo" effect. You know those sort of metallic honks on that song? That's classic 'bad digital' type sound to me. Maybe it happens at a frequency that is most bothersome to me, but it's a yucky type of sound.

I like the CD 63SE because it doesn't add that quality to recordings.

The CD 63SE is also pretty good at putting flesh on vocalists and capturing a bit of the air that exists around things.

Some digital is very clean/pristine, almost clinical, which I actually get weary of, and the CD 63SE dosen't add that quality, either.

However, some people may prefer that cleanliness, I just find it a bit 'Stepfordy.'

For comparisons in the recent past...

The Sony PS1 leans toward that 'antiseptic' thing. But others would disagree.

The Esoteric DV50S captures more of the delicate sounds. It's sweet sounding to me, but I know Ncdrawl hears it differently. I think the Esoteric line is very very good.

The 36 dollar Sony DVP-SR200P/B - too soon to tell. I think I need to hook it up to a TV to be able to tell if I've got it set right.

The Phillips DVP3962/37 at 35 or so dineros is very very sweet sounding! I prefer it to the PS1 and would rate it only a tiny bit below the CD 63SE. I really like that deck.

The Marantz VC 6001 is a stone cold bargain at 250 bucks. Great low end, great dynamics, lots of features. It's a worthy device.

I can't find it at Music Direct to link, but I think it's the DV 7001 that's the single disc universal player and I positively love it. Very well composed, easy to listen to.

Of those, my wife and spend the most time with the CD 63 SE via Lowther speakers!

Not including the Esoteric, I think my total digital investment has been 15 bucks for the Sony, 35 for the phillips, 36 for the Sony, 250 for the five disc Marantz and 300 or 350 for the other, and 350 bucks back in 1994 or so for the CD 63SE. So, around a grand or so total for loads of joy in several systems!

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http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73832
http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73851

Here are the links. If these units have any of the Marantz genetics of the DV-7001 they should perform way above their price ($249).

Our secretary asked me what she should get to "play cd's and dvd's" at home. (She had been using her laptop and liked the Grado 'phones I recommended for movies- instead of the little built in speakers . So we put together a Marantz VC-6001 (she liked the idea of the turntable convenience), a stereo Onkyo tuner and some very cheap Athena speakers (she was on a budget, okay?) for about $700.
She is thrilled. Her teenage son came over after we had assembled everything and thanked me for helping his mom. It was so touching.

Poor Audiophile
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Any idea how the DV-6001 compares to Oppo(sound; Video doesn't matter)?

rvance
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No, I haven't heard the Oppo.

Buddha
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Sony update:

(Listening impression sald to follow...)

I had to hunt for a TV hook up to go through the set-up routine for the player. That in itself pisses me off that I need a GD TV to make a stereo component work, but what are ya gonna do (WAYGD)?

Also, I took the player to Cali to another system, so no final judgement vs. the CD 63SE at this time now that the Sony is set up.

Currently:

Sony into McIntosh C-28 preamp, into McIntosh MC 2205 over to some vintage Klipsch La Scala speakers.

Home made (via OSH hardware store) speaker cables, Phillips interconnects (can't recall the model number, they have rhodium connectors, FWIW.)

For comparison, the Marantz DV 7001.

Used Bob Dylan's "Tell Tale Signs" and The Flatlanders "Hills and Valleys" CD's.

The Sony...

Is good at fleshing out Dylan's vocals, on track 2 you can really hear the space around his voice (or is it just reverb... ...?)

Compared to the Marantz, vocals are slightly laid back sometimes, but not others, but still in the ballpark.

The imaging of the Sony is slightly more diffuse. Bob is less certainly palpably centered on "Mississippi" and "Dignity."

(Never mind the weirdness of cut one, it's in the recording.)

The Sony has that new sort of 'cleanliness' to its sound that modern digital seems to do so well. The Marantz, slightly more organic.

The Sony is a little more congested at about 100Hz, the sort of upper bass detail that is actually quite hard for many systems to get right. The Marantz has more detail in this region.

I have both decks into different inputs on the preamp for quick comparison...and blah blah blah about decibel matching, input to input variability...but switching from deck to deck (I picked these two discs 'cause I have two copies of each) makes for easy identification, even when I flip them.

The Marantz leaves more air around the higher frequencies.

The Marantz also listed for nearly twenty times the Sony's price.

The beauty of the Sony is that it gives its own vision into things, which I appreciate.

(The atmosphere around here has lately been kind of daunting talking about what we hear vs. what we measure, but there are different things to hear between these CD players.

I will back off my criticism of the Sony on the Karla Bonoff CD because I hadn't yet done the TV hook up and set up for that first listen.

I also have two copies of the newest Dylan (one came with the LP but I already bought the CD...D'Oh!) so more instantaneous AB is coming up.

The Marantz seems also to provide a deeper soundstage but, again, for 36 dineros the Sony is - to my ears - easily in Oppo country.

The Sony does piano very well, but seems maybe a little compressed compared to the Marantz, yada yada yada.

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Quote:
The only Teac component I've ever owned was an old reel-to-reel deck. I don't have a clue what kind of stuff they are currently making. I do believe there is a certain amount of pleasant surprise in buying any cheap electronic that does the basic job without blowing up. I'm always suspicious someone is making a value judgement rather than an objective comparitive with these sorts of things. But, I'm sure there are diamonds among the lumps of coal every now and then and your Teac recorder may be one of them.

I like saving money on stuff just as much as the next guy.

Years ago I used to covet a Teac 4 channel reel-to-reel, I think the model # was 2340, super!
I don't know their current rep, but when I was looking for a CD-recorder, Teac seemed like the best of the (very few) options with better reliability reports than their peers in the $300 price range.
I often use my Marantz 67SE, my Sony, and Teac in rotation like a DJ as I cue up my next CD before the last one ends. When I want the best sound, tho, I now go straight to the Teac. Not what I was planning, I was just going to use it to digitally archive vinyl and old cassettes. But it just sounds better (by a small margin).

Lamont Sanford
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This is a really weird topic. I have a Pioneer DVR-220 left over from when we got our new TV with HDMI connections. So, this morning I hooked it up to the HK3380 and compared it to the Sony CDP-X400. I picked, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" because it has a little bit of everything in it. The bass and midrange weaknesses of the Sony became heir presumptive when compared to the Pioneer. The Sony is ca. 1998 and the Pioneer is ca. 2006. The Pioneer was about <$300 new from Walmart. Of course, I was only concerned with the CD playback on this sound test so the price is moot. The Sony seems to have a more pleasant playback with my old Sansui SP2500s but these loudspeakers really do show the range they can pick up and playback from the Pioneer DVD recorder. I'm now not surprised to be reading about $40 DVD players with good playback. This turns everything upside down. WTF is going on? This could ruin the industry. To keep up with digital technology all we have to do is go to Walmart every couple of years and buy the newest DVD players for dirt cheap.

rvance
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Good report, Bude.

Have you ever played with the upsampling on the Marantz? (BTW, need the tv again for the menu).

This may be close to the Sony bargain-wise: Marantz DV-4001 for $69.99:

web page

rvance
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Lamont, Here's your mini-home theater, dvd, cd solution in your favorite brand :

Sansui Solution

Lamont Sanford
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Very funny!

Check out the lengths this "audiophile" went through to get great sound. He found it with the "S" Series Sansui!


Quote:
Great TV/DVD Buy, 04/28/2009
I found this set on the Wal-Mart online site about three weeks ago. I had been looking for a TV/DVD set for several months. I purchased and tried 3 or 4 in my home. Most of them were ok at best. The real problem was in the sound, but that's not the case with this one. I needed GREAT sound and an 'all in one system.' This is the one.

Buddha
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Quote:
Good report, Bude.

Have you ever played with the upsampling on the Marantz? (BTW, need the tv again for the menu).

This may be close to the Sony bargain-wise: Marantz DV-4001 for $69.99:

web page

Wow! That Marantz looks like a stone cold bargain!

An update on the Sony:

With the Nordost Valhalla interconnects and two Shakti Stones, the Sony becomes easily the equal of any 700 dollar player.

But, seriously....

This weekend will be the Phillips/Sony shootout (no work, only half the travel,) but right now the Sony is batting well above the Mendoza level; much more likely to win a World Series than the Mets.

First, go buy Dylan's "Tell tale Signs." Sorry to be redundant.

The Sony comes with those three color interconnects, and you can hear things about them...Ethan.

If you hook them up to a stereo only Hi Fi, you can hear whether the yellow connect is plugged into the CD player, or left unconnected. My neighbor was 10/10 on this difference.

Blatant.

With the rig set up via that damnable talking box TV thing, the "Bonoff Situation" (Pulp Fiction joke) is greatly ameliorated.

Next, stepping up to the 7 dollar Phillips interconnects that I mentioned in the Cable Forum makes a big difference...Ethan.

With those 'deluxe' interconnects, vocals snap more into detail; which is interesting because I think most of us are especially attuned to the sound of vocals, being humans and all...Ethan.

The imaging remains slightly more 'wide' rather than 'precise' vs, the Maranatz - using the same interconnects.

Some sounds at similar frequencies mesh together a little, rather than remaining distinct, but I quibble.

Treble 'air' is still not all that the Esoteric DV-50S can do, but the Sony's 1/100th the price!

Funny, but bass is lean rather than big, which shouldn't matter, given the low electrical level signals the players are really asked to reproduce. Why would a cheaper player care?

Bottom line:

If I had a grand for a system, this or the Phillips would take up the first 50 bucks, and I could drink wine and be happy...which is what Ben Franklin said that God wishes for us, anyway!

smejias
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Quote:
This weekend will be the Phillips/Sony shootout (no work, only half the travel,) but right now the Sony is batting well above the Mendoza level; much more likely to win a World Series than the Mets.


Grr. Great report, other than that bit about the Mets.

RGibran
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Quote:
With the Nordost Valhalla interconnects and two Shakti Stones, the Sony becomes easily the equal of any 700 dollar player.

Buddha, you need to seriously consider upgrading to Nordost Odin instead of that cheap ass Valhalla.

According to JVS

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