New DVD/CD Player

[Ninanina]

Picked up an Arcam DVD/CD player which uses Wolfson WM8740 DACs for both DVD and CD playback

Really enjoying it as a stand alone cd player and the dvd bit is superb as well. I believe it was about £1k when new and even though it's pretty old it is like new and works fantastic... I have so many dvd/cd players now.... Let me count them up....

My oldest is a Marantz CD50 SE which I purchased new in the 80's
Pioneer DV 717 x 2... one to use as a transport and one as a 'spare'
Pioneer PD-S505 Precision
My new Arcam

That's 5 now... they are breeding I think.... obviously my weak point :mental:

[Stratmangler]

The thing to bear in mind with some Arcam equipment is that the DAC chipset is of little relevance.
The implementation on the other hand is of major significance - Arcam brought in dCS as consultants, and the result was the very highly rated Ring DAC technology.

Which machine do you have?

[Ninanina]

The thing to bear in mind with some Arcam equipment is that the DAC chipset is of little relevance.
The implementation on the other hand is of major significance - Arcam brought in dCS as consultants, and the result was the very highly rated Ring DAC technology.

Which machine do you have?

Hi Chris it's the DiVA DV79 and it sounds surprising good as a stand-alone cd...not yet tried it with the AN Dac though ;)

I believe the implementation is much the same as in the fairly highly regarded CD73... even Mr Lampizator rates the 73, and anything Arcam using the same Wolfson....

[walpurgis]

About twelve years ago I auditioned the CD73 against the Meridian 507 at Audio T in High Wycombe. The Arcam was nice, better than the equivalently priced Cyrus that was also demoed (can't recall model number), but the more expensive Meridian won hands down. It was just bigger sounding, sweeter and clearer. I bought it and still have it.

[Ninanina]

I am sure the Meridian sounds better but the Arcam was so inexpensive it's a joke... :eek:

A while ago I had a Meridian 506 and while it was very good it wasn't a patch on pretty much anything used as a transport with the AN Dac, so was sold on...

I must try the Pioneer PD-S505 Precision again as well, it's been tucked away for a while now :doh:

[Stratmangler]

There's no mention of Ring DAC in the manual, so there's no dCS sorcery taking place.
IIRC they used the Ring DAC tech in the FMJ players.
That's not to say that your DVD player doesn't sound great - I'm sure it does. The Arcam players always had a decent and well balanced sound. And yours should have HDMI output too, so it should integrate well with recent TVs if they have an older spec HDMI input.

Funnily enough, the only discs that get played around here are DVD/Bluray discs, and games discs.
Everything else is streamed, but the video stuff is still from silver beer mat. There's so much data on the movie discs that it's not worth the effort of sticking them on server.

[walpurgis]

There are three versions of the 506 Bev and they do sound different.

[Ninanina]

There are three versions of the 506 Bev and they do sound different.

I knew you were gonna get me on that one Geoff :D .. I think it was the 506.20 :)

[Ninanina]

Well I've just put the Pioneer PD-S505 Precision back in the system, as a stand alone player, as it's been tucked away under the bed for months

I forgot how good this cd player is...

I have know idea what Tom Evans did to the standard 505 player but it all seems good to me...:)

That's all without the use of the AN Dac ;)

[walpurgis]

I told you they were good Bev. The sound is free of the 'digitalness' many CD players seem to suffer from.

[Ninanina]

I told you they were good Bev. The sound is free of the 'digitalness' many CD players seem to suffer from.

I know I should learn to listen to people like yourself more :doh:

However it was indeed you Geoff that put me onto these Precisions in the first place, so I did listen a 'bit' ;)

If I had to do without the AN Dac then the Precision or the Arcam would be just fine to live with, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the Precision would be my first choice :D

[Ninanina]

As you say Geoff the Precision is definitely "free of the 'digitalness' many CD players seem to suffer from"

It is quite 'silky' sounding in a way but detailed at the same time..

[Joe]

Picked up an Arcam DVD/CD player which uses Wolfson WM8740 DACs for both DVD and CD playback

Really enjoying it as a stand alone cd player and the dvd bit is superb as well. I believe it was about £1k when new and even though it's pretty old it is like new and works fantastic... I have so many dvd/cd players now.... Let me count them up....

My oldest is a Marantz CD50 SE which I purchased new in the 80's
Pioneer DV 717 x 2... one to use as a transport and one as a 'spare'
Pioneer PD-S505 Precision
My new Arcam

That's 5 now... they are breeding I think.... obviously my weak point :mental:

I tend to think of myself as not a hoarder, but actually I've got 5 as well:

Meridian 500 CD transport in the downstairs system
Exposure CDP in the upstairs system
An LG DVD player working, but with missing remote
Another DVD player (name escapes me) with remote but not working
Spare Meridian CDP bought when I thought the 500 was broken, but it turned out to be a minor and easily sorted problem, which is boxed up but which I daren't sell in case the 500 or the Exposure CDP actually do stop working.

[Ninanina]

I tend to think of myself as not a hoarder, but actually I've got 5 as well:

Meridian 500 CD transport in the downstairs system
Exposure CDP in the upstairs system
An LG DVD player working, but with missing remote
Another DVD player (name escapes me) with remote but not working
Spare Meridian CDP bought when I thought the 500 was broken, but it turned out to be a minor and easily sorted problem, which is boxed up but which I daren't sell in case the 500 or the Exposure CDP actually do stop working.

I think it might be an illness Joe :doh::doh:

I think I will keep the Arcam and put it to good use as just a DVD player as the picture quality is really good

Then I think I will sell the 'spare' Pioneer DV-717 which is great as a DVD player and very good as a cd transport as well, I've been using one as a transport for the AN Dac for ages

I've looked on eBay and it's crazy how little money the 717's go for ;)