[Richard in Idaho]

Have been looking for a tube cd player in the $1,000 range.

Found:

Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000
Audio Space CDP-8A
Jolida JD100A

Any others?

Anyone care to rate these?

Thanks

[Ern Dog]

Look for a used Modwright Oppo 83 with tube mods.  I've had mine for almost a year now and it is the last cdp I'll ever need.  I don't like overly warm and mushy tubes, so I went with Sophia Electric 6SN7's for the driver tubes.  It is highly resolving, detailed and warm all at the same time.

I haven't heard the others you have listed so can't offer any comparisons.  I did have a Bada HD-22 tube cdp which is not even in the same ballpark as the Modwright Oppo.

[nnck]

Raysonic CD128
Shanling?

[PDR]

Yep....Raysonic 128....finest player I've ever owned.
Hard to find used ones....people just dont give them up
But occasionally....they pop up for 1k or less.

[medium jim]

I love my Ah Tjoeb, serious mods and E188CC's makes it a real winner. IT was the early version, i.e., a Marantz CDP 38, the only thing original is the transport and case.  It was a bit more than $1000.00 only because of the tubes that were about $400.00. 

I wonder if you could mod a Oppo 95 to tubes?

Jim

[AgentOrange]

Good fun from a collector side.

If you just want "tube' sound, the $$ is better spent on a tube pre and an external DAC.  Older high end CD players can't touch a cheaper one with a modern external DAC.

[medium jim]

Good fun from a collector side.

If you just want "tube' sound, the $$ is better spent on a tube pre and an external DAC.  Older high end CD players can't touch a cheaper one with a modern external DAC.

I suppose, but tell my ears that. A good power supply, a quality onboard DAC, followed by a duet of nice tubes is a good recipe for tone.  The greatest factors are the quality of the recording and the limitations of the human ear.

Jim

[50jess]

Cayin CD-50T modified with Mundorf caps.

[wisnon]

Bolder modded Grant Fidelity Dac-11 will run about $600.

[djbnh]

I have the JD-100; it has served its purpose over the years, and am looking at using it as a transport with a contemporary DAC. Funds are always a consideration, a used JD-100 with NOS tubes and better power cord could be an intermediate alternative.

[Early B.]

I did have a Bada HD-22 tube cdp which is not even in the same ballpark as the Modwright Oppo.

If you're gonna buy a "cheap" tube CD player, be prepared to mod the hell out of it if you want great sound. I own a heavily modded Bada HD-22 tube CD player and it sounds infinitely better than the stock version.

[doug s.]

Good fun from a collector side.

If you just want "tube' sound, the $$ is better spent on a tube pre and an external DAC.  Older high end CD players can't touch a cheaper one with a modern external DAC.

+1

i recently sent out a spare modded art di/o i have, to an a/c member who was curious.  (i have a-b'd this +10 year old dac against digital set-ups from $2k to $8k, in highly resolving systems, and it easily held its own.)  after trying it in his two systems, he sold both his jolida cdp's and bought a stock di/o he found used, for $75; he's getting better sound w/that, a cheap transport and a tube buffer stage...

definitely an outboard dac is the way to go, imo.  there's a plethora out now, $400-$500 brand-new...  zhaolu, musiland, lite, schiit, etc...  personally, i haven't heard anything that made me wanna replace my lowly modded di/o - this system wasn't any better:  EA modded Northstar 192 DAC, EA Pace Car with Tascam 144 for 24/96, Bolder modified SB2, Northstar transport asynched to Pace-car.  how much would i have to spend?  i think there's only so much that can be gotten out of redbook; spending more than $500 seems a waste of money to me.

doug s.

[Poultrygeist]

I owned a MHZS 66F tubed top loader which was decent but I found the tube stage made little difference compared to how it sounded using an outboard DAC. I eventually sold it as I preferred the sound of the modded SCPH-5501 that sell for $100 on A'gon. This PS1 easily competes with my Marantz SA8004 on redbook ( but not SACD ).

[Poultrygeist]

I think you can easily reach the point of diminishing returns with a CDP. I wouldn't consider spending $1000 for a redbook player. The greatest sound improvement for me came with SACD.

[Richard in Idaho]

Thanks, for the replies.  I will want a external DAC at some point anyway, so think I will start there.

[enginesix]

Anthem CD-1.

[Freo-1]

Thanks, for the replies.  I will want a external DAC at some point anyway, so think I will start there.

I tried the externel DAC route.  After lots of gear moving in and out, concluded the best sound for the cash is a Modwright Oppo.  It plays all spinnig media, the solid state mod sounds better than most tube units, and the tube Modwright is outstanding. 

I've seen them on A'gon for around 900.00 or so.  (BD-83 SE Tube out or full solid state mods).

[sugbob21]

Check the Decware site.  believe they make one.

[50jess]

If you're gonna buy a "cheap" tube CD player, be prepared to mod the hell out of it if you want great sound. I own a heavily modded Bada HD-22 tube CD player and it sounds infinitely better than the stock version.

What modifications have you done with the Bada HD-22?  Capacitors upgrade, etc?

[SteveFord]

I'll chime in - the guy doug s. was talking about is me.
I'm using an older Harman Kardon CD player as a transport fed to an art di/o dac with an inexpensive Blue Jeans Cable S/PDIF cable fed into a Yaqin CD-2 tube buffer with NOS GE tubes all hooked up with silver interconnects made by me and you know, it sounds very good.
The Yaqin is also considerably more dynamic than the Musical Fidelity tube buffers which are kind of bland sounding by comparison, irregardless of tubes used.
Two guesses what I was doing late this afternoon...
At any rate, is the HK+art di/o+Yaqin set up Audio Research CD-5 good?
No.
If you do have a Jolida you'd be better off having it modified as it did not play well with external DACs.
My two cents, ymmv.