DVD Players for Audio Use

Until the experts arrive here is my view. I have owned a Pioneer DV-333 since 2004 (purchased for under 7,000 I think). I have to say that this unit is a real workhorse - it has survived rough handling, storage, use with a wide range of discs and it has never faltered - not skipped even once or rejected a disc. As I do not own a dedicated CD player I cannot comment on its audio quality, as no frame of reference - I would say it stands between poor and barely acceptable. My Pioneer uses a 24/96 DAC, newer ones have the 24/192 but do not know model used.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the players offered by Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, etc. have an amplifier of any sort. Just the stereo line-out and digital+coaxial output (S-Video and Component out for video). Perhaps it is the really low-end Philips and Mitashi ones that have amplification of any sort as they seem to optionally come with speakers as well. Audio volume for movies has always been painfully low with my Pioneer - it pushes my stereo amp to the dangerous 12 o'clock position to be clearly audible for some movies.

I cannot speak about current adjustment or circuit boards so I won't try.

Finally, the cheapest dedicated CD player on the market in my knowledge is the Cambridge Audio 340C (although it uses Sony circuitry) at around 13k and the Marantz 5001 is about 14k or so.

Hope this helps. If I might ask, is this unit going to be used for an experiment of some kind?

particleman schrieb:

it has survived rough handling, storage, use with a wide range of discs and it has never faltered - not skipped even once or rejected a disc.

Very true! I am using Pioneer 383 DVDP since last one year and it NEVER skipped or rejected a CD , not a single occasion, I repeat ‘not a single occasion’ . I had several dedicated CD player like Arcam, Cyrus, Advance Acoustic, CA, NAD and Jolida for home audition and each one had shown problems mentioned above at least once.

However I must add here that a dedicated CD player is always better than than a cheapo (Rs 3k~5k ) DVDP.

Particleman wrote

Hope this helps. If I might ask, is this unit going to be used for an experiment of some kind?

No experiment besides listening to music. This is required as a substitute for a Creative 48X CD ROM drive that I was using as a CD player. It worked well as an Audio CD player for 7 years after removing it from a Personal Computer. Only drawback is it had to be powered by an external SMPS.

Now it is unrepairable and today's CD ROMs do not have a play button, so unable to substitute likewise.

For all those Audiophiles who feel that I am going nuts, this is for another system of mine where the Amplifier and Speakers are also home made and so the source could be as mediocre.

Behram schrieb:

No experiment besides listening to music...this is for another system of mine where the Amplifier and Speakers are also home made and so the source could be as mediocre.

Perhaps this is an ideal candidate then:
Yamaha CDC-585 5-Disc CD Changer

Just a notch above the Pioneers and the benefit of a carousel.

This is what I would recommend;
Good VFM !

http://www.oppodigital.com/

Sorry, Sir, I beg to differ.

Whatever serious reviews that I have read on the OPPO, talks of their great performance / VFM for :

1. The Video quality

2. Used as a Transport, feeding a Serious DAC.

I have not read good things about the Oppo feeding an audiophile system directly, and making the grade.

This is a popular mis-conception ( Good audio quality from the Oppo )

Anyway, the reason I am putting pen to paper, is that yesterday, I had the Oppo-tunity to hear the Latest OPPO in an audiophile system. This Universal player ( SACD & DVD Aidio ) is their current Top-Of-The-Line with 7.1 HT and HDMI with Upsampling....

It sounded somewhat muddy, and unrevealing, as an audio player.

I guess I would prefer the relatively hard etched sound of a Rs 5K Pioneer DVD palyer, since the Pioneer resolves more (IMHO).

When replaced by a ROTEL audio CD player, once again the system sang.

Just my 2 cents .....

Amp_Nut schrieb:

1. The Video quality 2. Used as a Transport, feeding a Serious DAC. I have not read good things about the Oppo feeding an audiophile system directly, and making the grade.

Yes A. N. !
I too like the oppo more for its video than for its audio.
No debate there.
However, when one is looking @ DVD Players @ 5 K as a budget, then the options to consider are few and far.....

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

This is the player I was recommending.
150/- US $'s or about 6.2 K + + +
I am quiet certain it may be in a position to give a run to many 'commercial main stream' dvd players in the audio playback. SUB 10/- K price i.e.