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In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: A CD player of today… 20 years after TL0
Post Subject: A CD player of today… 20 years after TL0Posted by Romy the Cat on: 12/8/2013
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Oh that forgotten pleasure… I am not spoiled with audio experiments nowadays. Partially because I do not have a lot of drive and have reached a definitive return in my possible audio experiments. Another partial preseason is that I kind of able to predict the results in so many cases… The last nigh is the case to point.

A local audio guy came to me complaining that Sound of his CD setup so much worse than the sound of his LP setup.  He has indeed a very nice LP setup and he plays CD from OPPO 95. I never valued OPPO as any player that would be suitable for anything but a crappy video room, but it was what it was and the guy was asking what I would advise to do.

Well, I told that he needs to define for himself if it is possible to get better sound from CD but verdure or better CD equipment. I gave to him my Lavry DA-924 DAC and advice to substitute it the OPPO’s output stage. The guy called in reported a substantial sonic advantage. I explained to him that he just substituted $1 DAC Chinese consumer chip-DAC with one of the best true R2R Multi-bit DACs ever built. Well, that was predictable. He asked it is possible to push the envelop even further and to improve sound even more introducing a new CD transport. I said possible but I was not at ease.

Of cause the next thin was the guy brought o my listening room a couple of transports and I was watching, very predictably(!!!), how TL0/Bidat destroyed them in comparing. For sure it did simulate my dilapidating ego but my felling not to be at ease was only aggravated. For sure the guy can go to used market if not afraid and get TL0 and find a good DAC that he likes, however, would it be the way to go nowadays? It would be fin in 1993 but 20 years later I am very convinced that it would not be a direction that I would go myself.

I do think that I today world audio people do need a universal CD player that would play CD, DVD, Blue Ray, the garbage SACD, be able to stream 1X, 2X, 4X, DSD and to work off network. It has to do it delivering no worse result that what TL0/Bidat did 20 years back and it shall cost 1000 a package.  The whole OPPO family is a wonderful idea but they sound (at least on CD) no near acceptable, unless it is a bedroom or basement system. To recommend the gay to look into the EMM Labs product is kind of contra productive as EMMs are ridiculously priced and do not deliver reputable sonic results.

So, what the hypothetical friend of mine shall do? He is not a hypothetical person but the question is much wider than the interest of that specific guy. The 20 years after TL0 – do we have anything in market of universal multi-format players that would be even remotely compatible to the best red-book CD of 20 year back?

The Cat

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