In Reply to: How much have CD players improved in the last 12 years? posted by immatthewj on March 12, 2020 at 19:09:35:
While I never owned any of the high-end, cost-no-object players, I can attest that my <250$ chi-fi SMSL SU-8 DAC used with my modded Revox B226 CD player as drive, sounds incredibly better than the B226 used as integrated. Yet the latter uses the still widely appreciated TDA1541 but dated clocking technology and less attention to PSU and analogue stages than more modern players of the same pedigree (the B226 wasn't a cheap player back then!) so it's hard to assess what makes the brand new cheap DAC better... DAC technology, or just plain audio electronics issues?
The Revox + SMSL combination also sounds way better than my -then- "mega bangs for the bucks" Kenwood DP7090 1996 player, there's no comparison, even those two share a more "modern" sound (more details, better imaging, better liquidity, less "mechanical" sound) than the Revox.
Still, the Kenwood was great value and won numerous prizes back then but cannot be considered a high-end player, just a mid-fi device which used to sound much like a higher end one so it's hard to draw any conclusions.However, IMHO one can reasonably believe, at similar cost level (a high-end, modern player versus a similarly high-end, "vintage" player) that there IS some improvement to get from a last generation DAC chip (even on rebook CD, which stays my main source of music despite all odds) - altho you might PREFER the sound of the older chip (just like many people prefer old Philips and Revox players to their modern counterparts).
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Follow Ups
- RE: How much have CD players improved in the last 12 years? - KanedaK 03/13/2001:25:20 03/13/20 (0)