[Mudjock]

I currently have an old Toshiba 3960 that is starting to give me intermittent problems reading discs.  I have a lot of my music ripped to flac and running through a WDTV to my Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/preamp, but occasionally I still listen to CD's.  The XDA-1 seems to have pretty good jitter rejection, so I'm thinking I don't need to break the bank on a transport.  I would like some thoughts on something that has reasonable build quality and versatility (maybe can do what the WDTV can, maybe can play hi-rez formats) and a budget price.

[Charles Calkins]

Try and find an older dedicated CD player and use it as a transport to the XDA-1. The XDA-1 loves that combination. DVD/CD as a transport to the XDA-1 the results are not as good. Been there. Tried that. Take my word for it.

                                                         Cheers
                                                         Charlie

[Mudjock]

I found a couple of interesting leads for dedicated CD players, as well as cd/dvd players.  I am curious what you tried and didn't have success with as a dvd/cd transport, because those seem to have depreciated quite rapidly - even the higher end brands.  The way the market looks now, I'll have to pay more for cd only vs. cd/dvd of comparable build quality.  That still has me wondering if I wouldn't be better off with a used - but highly regarded dvd/cd unit vs. an older cd only player. 

Of course, if I can scrounge up a surplus store cd player, I could face that off against my Toshiba 3960 cd/dvd and get an initial read on the situation. 

[Charles Calkins]

When I first got my XDA-1 I hooked it up to several different CD/DVD players. one was an older Panasonic and the other two were oppo's. 981 and BDP-93. With or without the XDA-1 in the system I really couldn't hear any difference. If there was it was very subtle.

Scrounged around thru all my retired audio gear and found an eleven year old Ultec UCD 100 CD player. By itself it is an okay CD player. When I hooked the XDA-1 up it became a much,much,much better player.

I couldn't understand why this was happening. After lots of inquiries about this it boils down to the fact that a dedicated CD player has less "Jitter" coming thru the coax digital cable than a CD/DVD player. Inside a CD/DVD there are lots of chips, Dac's and other gizmos. And they all contribute to "Jitter" which (I think) is noise. Or something like that.

 A CD player has much less gizmo's in it therefore less noise. Hey!!! Just try it. You may come up with a different result than I did. You are probably scratching your head right now and saying to yourself "Charlie doesn't know what he is talking about"

                                        Cheers
                                       Charlie         
 

[Charles Calkins]

One more thing I forgot to say.

 I prefer listening to the dedicated CD player/XDA-1 combination rather than the DVD/CD player. Even if the XDA-1 were hooked up to a DVD/CD player.

                                            Cheers
                                           Charlie

[Mudjock]

I'm just interested in your experiences.  In my long, twisted journey, I found that the Toshiba 3950/3960 had a more natural sound and clearly cleaner midrange than my previous combo which was an older HK cd player hooked up to an MSB link DAC through a Monarchy DIP 24/96, even though the separates offered more extension and slam.  After a few years, i picked up a NOS DAC to try out and really liked it with the 3960, but that combo didn't really reach it's full potential until I dusted off the DIP 24/96 and put it into the mix.  At some point, I realized that I had way too many little boxes strewn about just to play cd's, and I realized that I was voicing my speakers a little hot due to the polite highs from the NOS DAC, so I replaced my preamp and DAC with a Maverick D1, which is a really nice sounding piece with the right tube and op amp.  That setup still benefitted greatly from the DIP 24/96, particularly in that the soundstage became much larger and more involving.  Ultimately, I moved to the XDA-1 because I gained remote control and balanced outputs (I use a pro audio amp and was able to get rid of the signal booster between DAC and amp).  I am very happy with the neutrality and transparency that I am getting with the XDA-1.  With that setup, which I am using now, I find that the DIP 24/96 no longer helps.  I have assumed that it is because the XDA-1 is handling the jitter that the 3960 puts out. 

Your examples are interesting.  Maybe there is something else going on because I might not expect the XDA-1 to improve on the Oppo's sound much, but I would not expect those combos to be bettered by the Ultec/XDA-1 combo....  It sounds like I may have to at least run some experiments along those lines.

Thanks for your insights!

[Charles Calkins]

I was also surprised when I heard much better tunes with the Ultec-XDA-1 combo. than with the Oppo's. Even with the XDA-1 hooked up to the Oppo's. But Hey!!! That's life! Watrugonnado!!!

Another thing I was told but never did was to hook up the oppo's by their analog out sockets to a surround sound processor with seven(If needed)analog inputs. Then to a seven channel(If needed)amp. Doing it this way it eliminates all the garbage in the way of the signal path out of the Oppo's. I've read where the results are outstanding!!! Not for me though. All I use my Oppo for is movie play in my Home theater system. It's a different system than my main system.
 AND!!! All the tests I did were with my main system.

                                             Cheers
                                            Charlie

[timind]

I also tried an Oppo DV-980H as a transport and as a straight audio player. My impressions, it was an ok transport but underwhelming for audio when using the analog outs. The Oppo is now in my living room where it plays a dvd once a month or less.
Maybe one of the Arcam units, DV-78/9 or DV-88 would work for you.