Hi guys, I just wanna share to you the remarkable journey of my CD player. It has served me well throughout the years(since 1984 to be exact) Has been powered by so many amps( carver, audio rersearch D-70 mk2, robertson audio 40-10, HK citation and now an entry level Rega brio3 amp. For the past 3 years di ko siya ginagamit. nagdidisc error siya pag nagloload ako ng cd. Anyway, 2 weeks ago, sinipag ako, binuksan ko siya, brinush at vacumn yung loob then I cleaned the lens! Tried with a pirated CD! Alas! Can read it without a hitch! I'm amazed by this players longevity. . then I started reading on its history to trace it roots! Ganyan talaga pag nagkakaedad, you look back to years gone by, you begin to like vintage gear kase it brings back memories of times when you were young, innocent and full of ideals. It's so nice to reminisce. . it's like a breath of fresh air.
Well, here is what I found out! the Marantz CD-84 has the most jurassic, oldest actually progenitor and grandma of all the DACS in the world. . .The Philips TDA-1540, a 14-bit dac invented in 1980(same time as the invention of CDP). It's transport is made up of the famous Philips CDM-1 assembly! How vintage can this player get! This CDP is very heavy and even the CD tray and mechanism is metal! Kampupot na plastic ang makikita mo sa loob. Well, here is an excerpt from the evolution of DAc and digital filter from the Marantz/Phiips website :
Philips TDA1540
"The evolution in the use of digital filters and DACs, which greatly influence the sound quality of Super Audio CD/CD players, is also a fascinating topic. In the Red Book, which defines CD standards, the resolution is quoted as being 16 bit.
However, the first DAC used in the first Marantz CD player, the Marantz CD-63, and the Philips LHH-2000, was the 14-bit resolution Philips TDA1540. Since Japanese CD players all employ 16-bit resolution DACs, the Marantz/Philips specification would seem inferior, but according to data taken from actual performance situations and among audiophiles with a good ear for sound quality, the performance of the TDA1540 CD player with its 14-bit DAC is rated outstandingly high.
In actual fact, the secret to the excellent sound produced by the Philips SAA7030 digital filter incorporated into the TDA1540 is not obvious at first. The SAA7030 with a 4x over sampling filter capacity utilizes a top quality noise shaping circuit called a secondary noise shaper. When the Marantz CD-63 went on the market, the effect of noise shaping (imposing frequency characteristics onto distribution of quantized noise in order to shift noise component to an ultra-high ranges that are difficult to hear with the naked ear) was lagerly unknown. The combination of the SAA7030 and TDA1540 used noise shaping to achieve a resolution equivalent to 16-bit.
That's not all. Analog filters built into the analog output circuits after the DACs were set for smooth 3rd order slopes with particular attention given to regularity of the phase characteristics.
At the time, the filter characteristics of Japanese products were set as high as the 9th or 11th order, and the superb sound quality of the Marantz products was overwhelming. The sound quality of the Marantz CD-34 was given high praise as being nearly equal to that of the ultra high-end Philips LHH-2000. "
Link:
http://www.marantzphilips.nl/the_evolution_of_dac_the_digital_filter/Here are some pics:
web pic*
actual pics*
The Marantz CDP and its remote is still working perfectly. I did an A-B comparison with my cambridge audio CDP and guess what I've found out?
The Cambridge may be more detailed than the marantz but biglang tumining yung tunog nung cambridge para saken nung tinest against the Marantz. The Cambridge is hooked up sa CD tube buffer,but toe to toe, the Marantz has the more "tubey" and warm sound than the Cambridge. Di nakakapagod ang tunog ng CD-84, I can spend the whole evening listening to my discs withous gettiing tired. Mas tunog plaka itong lolo na Marantz. Just what an old guy needs at the end of a busy and hectic day. . .Total relaxation and basking in music!!!
