MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
does a bog standard DVD player play a CD as well as a decent CD player?
Audio Question: Is a DVD player as good as a CD player for CDs?
- Thread starter MontyVeda
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dantheman
Veteran
- Location
- Hitchin, Hertfordshire
No. Not if they're the same quality range...
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
They can be, but their quality is as variable as a CD players can be. It's a bit like asking if a cake is better than a biscuit - too many variables to simply reply yea or nee.
dantheman
Veteran
- Location
- Hitchin, Hertfordshire
I have what I think is a reasonable stereo, and it's all about making the sound pleasure able to the listener/coloration is personal...
Think of it this way instead - if the brand is the same, the price is the same and age etc the same then the cd player was designed to play audio, and the dvd to play video with audio attached so coplaying should be better, as given the same circumstances a single disc player should outperform a multi disc player (the extra mechanism costs money that theoretically isn't wasted on the single disc player, so more goes on the basic components)
Think of it this way instead - if the brand is the same, the price is the same and age etc the same then the cd player was designed to play audio, and the dvd to play video with audio attached so coplaying should be better, as given the same circumstances a single disc player should outperform a multi disc player (the extra mechanism costs money that theoretically isn't wasted on the single disc player, so more goes on the basic components)
midliferider
Guru
- Location
- Northampton
I have connected both my DVD player (Alba) and CD player (Kenwood) to the Kenwood Amp. Sometimes I play CD in the DVD player.
On most occasions, in day to day life, listening to music while attending to other household chores, I do not see a difference.
But as others have said, it does make a difference. But it all depends on what you want from your listening experience.
On most occasions, in day to day life, listening to music while attending to other household chores, I do not see a difference.
But as others have said, it does make a difference. But it all depends on what you want from your listening experience.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
When you're a Motorhead fan like me it doesn't matter at all!
FishFright
More wheels than sense
Did you go to many Motorhead gigs ? I SAID .. DID YOU GO TO MANY MOTORHEAD GIGS ??
Seevio
Guru
- Location
- South Glos
To the original question: It depends.
The information on a CD is digital which essentially means that the player can read it or it can't. This means that if the CD plays at all, it doesn't matter whether it is a CD or DVD player that reads it.
Where it gets more complicated is that once the digital info has been read, it then has to be converted to analogue in order to amplify and produce sound. My feeling is that while the decoding method is pretty standard, the quality of the circuitry could possibly introduce noise or distortion.
This means that the original question is does a bog standard player sound as good as a decent player. To which the answer is, it probably depends on how good your hearing is. Best bet is to do a blind test because if you know which one you are listening to, the decent one will win every time.
The information on a CD is digital which essentially means that the player can read it or it can't. This means that if the CD plays at all, it doesn't matter whether it is a CD or DVD player that reads it.
Where it gets more complicated is that once the digital info has been read, it then has to be converted to analogue in order to amplify and produce sound. My feeling is that while the decoding method is pretty standard, the quality of the circuitry could possibly introduce noise or distortion.
This means that the original question is does a bog standard player sound as good as a decent player. To which the answer is, it probably depends on how good your hearing is. Best bet is to do a blind test because if you know which one you are listening to, the decent one will win every time.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
The majority won't be able to tell the difference or rather their system won't be up to highlighting the differences, much the same as not being able to differentiate between a budget CD player and a high end CD transport and DAC.
FishFright
More wheels than sense
The difference is night and day and the majority can tell the difference between those,
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
So why don't more people buy em, I'm lucky in that 30+ yrs ago I got into Audiophile component HiFi but no-one else in my family would spend the kind of money I did just on listening to music, they think a 'Technics' stack is impressive especially the ones in glass fronted cabinets.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Because they have never heard the difference, by and large. Once they do, it's a different story IME.
PapaZita
Guru
- Location
- St. Albans
The main difference, to me, is in the user interface. The CD player is easy, just drop a disc in and press play. There's a nice display with track number, time, etc., so you can see what's going on. I thought we could retire the CD player and just use the BluRay player instead. The BluRay player is designed to be used with a screen, has a mostly menu-based interface, and the tiny scrolling dot matrix display on the front of the player isn't very helpful. I thought we'd be able to manage simple stuff, like playing a CD, without the TV, but half the time we ended up having to turn it on, find the other remote control, etc., just to figure out why we couldn't hear anything. Sometimes the BluRay player had got itself into streaming mode instead of CD mode. Another time it was sitting there with an on-screen message asking if we wanted to update the software... The CD player came back out, and these days it's the BluRay player that hardly ever gets used. Of course, other DVD/BluRay players might be better than ours.
