rawl99 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 8 hours ago, muon* said: I used to have a Behringer SRC and i preferred the sound with it set to not up sample, but with Dithering engaged. Edit: i find up sampling to sound different, some like it and some like myself do not. For myself it smooths the sound but at the cost of a little bit of dynamics. Pick ya' poison. MattyW has a DAC that uses Philips first chips the 14bit/44.1Hz TDA1540D operating in non over sampling mode, so no over sampling and definitely no up sampling. I would put it up against any modern DAC or player where being feed red book is concerned. Morning Ian, ‘I will profess to being of the same school as you. I am not a fan of up-sampling and have listened to a lot of devices that allege to do it well. I consistently find a sense of ‘whiteness’ is added to the sound and the natural harmonic decay in notes is negatively impacted. I would describe the end result as ‘more detailed’ but in an artificial and un-natural way. (your description above is apt ) i have a Chord Hugo TT2 and the associated upsampler for it which I am babysitting for a friend and I personally find the upsampler to be terrible. Using straight Redbook as input and using the built-in output stage as the amplifier (approx 18W output) it doesn’t sound too bad. Add the upsampler to the combo and it sounds White, Bright, and artificial. I was staggered to hear the difference. Still prefer the sound of the KDAC with TDA1541. The transport I use runs in NOS mode. More natural and musically engaging but the Chord is very good when fed as an analog output into SE valve amp. Cheers Rawl ps We are going to catch up in the early months of this new year??... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 @rawl99 what are you using as a transport, a modified Marantz 94? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray4410 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) just picked up this gorgeous little treasure,cd94,immaculate condition,works perfectly,complete with original remote,doesn't look like it has been used,transport screws,manual and original shipping carton,1 owner,just have to set it up now,both rca to amp and coax digital out to denafrips pontus,should be very interesting. Edited January 3, 2021 by ray4410 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockeater Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 1 hour ago, ray4410 said: just picked up this gorgeous little treasure,cd94,immaculate condition It does look like new. How much was it? 2 hours ago, muon* said: what are you using as a transport, a modified Marantz 94? This is what unmodified CD-94 MK2 SPDIF output looks like... Not ideal. All Marantz players appear to have such output Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 9 minutes ago, rockeater said: This is what unmodified CD-94 MK2 SPDIF output looks like... Not ideal. All Marantz players appear to have such output If Rawl is using a 94 as transport it will be highly modified and will not have any compromises like that. In fact he is may be feeding the Killer via i2s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawl99 Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 5 hours ago, muon* said: If Rawl is using a 94 as transport it will be highly modified and will not have any compromises like that. In fact he is may be feeding the Killer via i2s. Hi Ian, You are pretty close. I have a 94 which has had extensive power supply mods,, complete clock replacement running I2S as you expected in NOS mode. On the other system I have a Wadia 3200 with full power supply mods, full clock replacement (using a car battery to power the clock) also running I2S. I also have a 94mkii , similar PS mods running a zenelectro Zen-clock which has oven controlled oscillator and full reclocking circuitry. Also running I2S but this one also outputs spdif if desired. Fun to change them around. They all have their own slightly different signatures. I am slowly getting off my butt to finish Axiom 80 system but this last year has been crazy busy for me. I so feel for folks in tourism and a lot of small businesses that have been crucified by the lock-downs and related measures. I have all the bits to build a Type 50 SE amp (or PX4) for the axiom 80s but not enough time or energy. I have a nice little 2a3 as a possible interim for said system It will have a KDAC plus one of the Marantz’s. Am also experimenting with USB To I2S input with full buffering/reclocking to be built into the KDAC (supporting up to 192 or possibly 384 in simultaneous mode) but nowhere near enough hours to finalise this yet. Too many projects, not enough life......... ‘’cheers bud Rawl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 5 minutes ago, rawl99 said: Hi Ian, You are pretty close. I have a 94 which has had extensive power supply mods,, complete clock replacement running I2S as you expected in NOS mode. On the other system I have a Wadia 3200 with full power supply mods, full clock replacement (using a car battery to power the clock) also running I2S. I also have a 94mkii , similar PS mods running a zenelectro Zen-clock which has oven controlled oscillator and full reclocking circuitry. Also running I2S but this one also outputs spdif if desired. Fun to change them around. They all have their own slightly different signatures. I am slowly getting off my butt to finish Axiom 80 system but this last year has been crazy busy for me. I so feel for folks in tourism and a lot of small businesses that have been crucified by the lock-downs and related measures. I have all the bits to build a Type 50 SE amp (or PX4) for the axiom 80s but not enough time or energy. I have a nice little 2a3 as a possible interim for said system It will have a KDAC plus one of the Marantz’s. Am also experimenting with USB To I2S input with full buffering/reclocking to be built into the KDAC (supporting up to 192 or possibly 384 in simultaneous mode) but nowhere near enough hours to finalise this yet. Too many projects, not enough life......... ‘’cheers bud Rawl Lovely stuff, Rawl What's your opinion on the CD-85's, the OP in this thread is looking for something TDA1541 based and one option while not cheap is a recapped CD-85 with NOS mod I've read they are nearly as good as the 94, but you have heaps more knowledge on these players than I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 huge list of DAC chips and transport mechanisms of CD players http://vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm regards 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Hi All, I am not singling out any Dac/chip in particular, I am after something that is quality, sound and build wise and the one’s that I have mentioned is what I could buy now, as they are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 I have come across a Shanling CDT100A, $300, needs some work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 Can anyone tell me about the Linn Mimik ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koputai Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) 31 minutes ago, Digital Man said: Can anyone tell me about the Linn Mimik ? It sounds like the others. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Cheers, Jason. Edited January 5, 2021 by koputai 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 On 04/01/2021 at 12:15 PM, Ian McP said: huge list of DAC chips and transport mechanisms of CD players http://vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm regards Yes and it's also updated regularly with new CD players of all price tags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 On 03/01/2021 at 11:42 PM, rawl99 said: I have all the bits to build a Type 50 SE amp (or PX4) for the axiom 80s but not enough time or energy. I have a nice little 2a3 as a possible interim for said system Off topic but I found a type 50 ST shape in my tube stash the other night and it looks so darn sexy. I mistakenly took it as a 2A3 foraging through all the ST shape bottles I had in this box. Re the 2A3, I have a Sun Audio SV-2A3 that sounds brilliant and is slowly pushing it's way ahead of my two 300B amps and 845 amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 @Digital Man would you consider this unit? https://m.ebay.com.au/itm/MARANTZ-CD-74-compact-disc-player-high-end-rare-vintage/124512888991 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 Maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 Okay, I missed out on the Shanling, I have come across a Arcam Alpha 7 and a Yamaha CD X1, any good ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al2813 Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Hi, I had indeed a thread specifique to TDA1541 players but as this one is more generic, I am posting here instead. I was looking at modified TDA1541s, but at the moment there's nothing specific I am able to get fixed on, plus there's a risk with buying from the UK (due to Brexit there's a lot of confusion and people get charged extra taxes for buying in the UK despite the agreements made). Have decided for now to buy a non-modified player and star there. Yesterday I bumped into a Rotel RCD971 with the BB PCM63 DAC. According to accounts I read, this is also one of the legendary multibit DACs, and for 200 EUR this looks an interesting opportunity. Anyone had this player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 Welcome, I have read your thread, continue here, no, I have not heard the Rotel that you mentioned, maybe someone else can chime in !? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockeater Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 1 hour ago, al2813 said: Yesterday I bumped into a Rotel RCD971 with the BB PCM63 DAC I had the more upmarket one, RD-991 with the same DACs but also PMD-100 HDCD chip, adjustable dither, full of Black Gates, Nichicon Fine Golds and Muse, WIMA, It looked like the best made CD player inside and I bought it because it was the cheapest balanced player available at the time. Sadly the performance was pretty average and at the time of sale I finally found that it was not balanced at all. The cold outputs were merely inverted by a set of op-amps. Inside looks great but pretty average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7502dan Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 Some lower models Wadia cd players used stable plater mechanism as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 I'd just up your budget a bit and grab a Rega Apollo and be done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 11, 2021 Author Share Posted January 11, 2021 I have thought about the Rega cd player's, a lot of reliability issues, that I have read about though, doesn't happen to everyone, but it seems to occur more than not 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Man Posted January 11, 2021 Author Share Posted January 11, 2021 I have come across about 3 Sony ES cd player's, are the laser's still available for this series ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muon* Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Digital Man said: I have come across about 3 Sony ES cd player's, are the laser's still available for this series ? You'd need to look at what mechanisms they use, and then search from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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