Originally Posted by porschedpm
Hi, Ian. A lot depends on what your own preferences, situation and budget are. IMHO, If you're looking for the absolute best CD sound available, it's going to be with a dedicated CD player, but expect to pay prices starting at $3,000 or more (note: all prices shown in US Dollars). In this product class and price range, the circuitry doesn't have to perform dual duty for both DVD and CD's and the presumption is the manufacturer has not skimped on the choice of components or inboard DACs. Agree and I think its a bit over the top.
So if this level of price/performance exceeds your budget, then the next question becomes where is that point of diminishing returns that gets you to say 98 or 99% of that absolute best performance but falls within your budget. Personally I feel that spending around $1,600 +/- $400 on a dedicated CD will probably get you to about 95 to 98% of absolute best performance. Agreed. This may be acceptable especially if you're using vinyl for your most critical listening. Agreed
I myself prefer a multifunction unit because of space considerations. But theoretically anyway, a dedicated CD player should sound better than a multifunction unit costing the same amount. But that may not be a fair comparison because if you spend your entire budget on a dedicated CD player, you'll still need something to play your DVDs and multichannel music on. In your case Ian, your Pioneer may serve you just fine for that purpose. But if you're looking to upgrade your DVD sound quality and features also, you probably should be looking for a multifunction unit. Since you're not having to buy separate units, I believe you could justify spending a little more on a multifunction unit vs the dedicated CD player. So as an estimate, spending $2000 +/- $500 on a multifunction unit may get you to within 95 to 98% of that absolute best performance. That is possible.
When it comes to outboard DACs, I feel they serve a valuable purpose improving CD and DVD players in the under $1,000 range. By adding an outboard DAC you can get your $400 DVD player to sound like a $1,600 unit. But you'll be spending $1,000 or more to get there. I tend to agree. IMO your better off going with a $1,600 unit with decent inboard DACs to begin with. Unless the inboard DACs are inferior to begin with, my opinion is that adding an outboard DAC to a player that has better than average inboard DACs already is not going to improve the sound, and may have the potential of degrading the sound. Also the outboard DACs won't convert a multichannel digital signal to multichannel analog output. Correct. I currently use the processor only of a good HT amp.It will only output to 2ch analog which may or may not be an issue for you.Yes this requires more investigation and is a grey area.
Blu Ray does seem to be picking up momentum, but as with all emerging technology, the cost of players is still too high, IMO. I'm sure we'll see the prices start to drop over the next year. I only know enough about Blu Ray to be dangerous. You'll probably want to do your own research and listening tests to determine if it's worth waiting for and the extra cost.
I'm sure none of the above is anything you haven't already thought about. But I hope maybe these ramblings would have provoked further thought to help you in your decision.
Ed S.