Topic: Could any1 recommend an audiophile grade portable CD player?

[xpenz]

Hi! Anyone here still using a portable CD player, I'd like to ask for your recommendations when,what and where to buy it? I plan to use it during my casual travels here and there.. I recently bought a decent Grado headphone so it would be more pleasant musical experience if i could pair it up with the old school but still unbeatable in terms of sound quality, i'm speaking of portable CD players..

Here's what i have in mind. I wish that this CD player can:

1. Play MP3 and lossless formats.
2. Have line out connection for my Grado headset and pre/pro
3. Play FM radio tuner - Good and instant substitute if you're tired of hearing your typical powerhouse audio CD collections.
4. Read CD-R and hopefully CD-RW.
5. Has features such as shock proof, skip proof or something like that to prevent interruptions while music is playing whether iam just sitting on my desk or actively running around like nuts. ^_^
5. And most of all, as i've stated earlier an excellent sounding one, very musical.

I know.. i know.. I can't get everything i've listed above. But an excellent sounding CD player is my first priority. The rest will be as good as a bonus for me. Very Happy Thank you in advance! Smile

[rascal101]

I don't think you can associate audiophile with portable. The reason I say this is because of the difficulty
in achieving very good mechanical and electronic design with minimalist approach - specially in
mechanical design. How do you ensure jitter free and shock free with minimal space? Further you
may achieve good pcb layout but face difficulty with limitation of small size components. For example, to achieve very high values in inductance with minimal number of turns requires high permeability cores which are very difficult to fabricate as they do not display very tight tolerances. Further, the max limits are so much lesser than bigger counterparts.

Having said this, have you tried the IPOD? It isn't as good as CDP but with correct matching of portable
amp will give you almost same quality as audio CD.

[xpenz]

I don't think you can associate audiophile with portable. The reason I say this is because of the difficulty
in achieving very good mechanical and electronic design with minimalist approach - specially in
mechanical design. How do you ensure jitter free and shock free with minimal space? Further you
may achieve good pcb layout but face difficulty with limitation of small size components. For example, to achieve very high values in inductance with minimal number of turns requires high permeability cores which are very difficult to fabricate as they do not display very tight tolerances. Further, the max limits are so much lesser than bigger counterparts.

Having said this, have you tried the IPOD? It isn't as good as CDP but with correct matching of portable
amp will give you almost same quality as audio CD.

Thanks for your input mate, if there's no such a thing as an audiophile grade portable cd player i guess i would settle to a very good warm sounding portable CD player. That's what i meant anyway.  Well, i have an ipod but i gave it to my brother because audio quality isn't good due to the super compressed MP3 format. But you mentioned about portable amp that would give my iPOD almost same quality as audio CD, What is the brand of that and where to buy it? I might reconsider buying CDP if that's the case and i want to thank you for helping me save a few hundred bucks. 

[macmac09]

sir, haven't you tried using lossless formats para sa ipod. kasi alam ko near cd quality na yn e. as for portable amps, there is cmoy i think.

[xpenz]

sir, haven't you tried using lossless formats para sa ipod. kasi alam ko near cd quality na yn e. as for portable amps, there is cmoy i think.

Hi there yes my friend is also suggesting that and Iam also considering that option since it's near quality of CD nadin as all of you stated. problem is where can i buy that cmoy portable amp? Do you have any idea? Thank you

[macmac09]

sir, i think you should pm maybe sir arnoldc or mr jojod818. although before alam ko may group buy ng parts sila in another forum. tnx.

[xpenz]

sir, i think you should pm maybe sir arnoldc or mr jojod818. although before alam ko may group buy ng parts sila in another forum. tnx.

Thanks macmac09, so it's really just a DIY project. iam hoping that i could buy it as a whole and made na sana. i don't have such skill with electronics..

[rascal101]

Sir xpenz,

Pwede kang mag abang kung may nag bebenta ng CMOY or you could PM jojod818 to fabricate one for you. Personally, I am using passive pre-amp for iPOD or MP3 player. I specifically specified iPOD because we have already tested it on a Sony int amp 777ES.

[JoeyGS]

Dear xpenz,

You can try this route for portability:

1.  You can use Ipod or a CD walkman.
2.  Buy a Sonic Impact t-amp - About 2K plus a good power supply (regulated 12v or 13.8v at 3amperes) for ac power or you may use 8 - AA batteries with the t-amp.
3.  You can also add (to improve further to audiophile SQ) a tube buffer which JojoD818 can easily make for you.
4.  In the end,  you can integrate the t-amp with the tube buffer into 1 unit to which JojoD818 can also make for you.  Then you only have to contend with a player and an integrated amp (t-amp plus tube buffer)

Hope this helps.

JoeyGS

[xpenz]

Sir xpenz,

Pwede kang mag abang kung may nag bebenta ng CMOY or you could PM jojod818 to fabricate one for you. Personally, I am using passive pre-amp for iPOD or MP3 player. I specifically specified iPOD because we have already tested it on a Sony int amp 777ES.

Thank you for the tip sir. Nagpagawa nalang ako kay sir arnold of wiredstate. It's pretty good naman except for the frequent "thugging sound" when it's activated. I can say theres an improvement with the sound quality of my lowly Mp3 files when using with it, well enough to justify my 1k payment. Unfortunately, as my friend indicated the amplification includes everything down to the extra noise that the file possesses. So if you are going to use it, better be sure that the MP3 files you are playing are transcoded very well, doesn't mean it needs to be at a higher bit but just enough encoding of the file without the added artifacts on it.

[xpenz]

Dear xpenz,

You can try this route for portability:

1.  You can use Ipod or a CD walkman.
2.  Buy a Sonic Impact t-amp - About 2K plus a good power supply (regulated 12v or 13.8v at 3amperes) for ac power or you may use 8 - AA batteries with the t-amp.
3.  You can also add (to improve further to audiophile SQ) a tube buffer which JojoD818 can easily make for you.
4.  In the end,  you can integrate the t-amp with the tube buffer into 1 unit to which JojoD818 can also make for you.  Then you only have to contend with a player and an integrated amp (t-amp plus tube buffer)

Hope this helps.

JoeyGS

Hi sir joey, wonderful suggestion. Although i already have cmoy, the price of that sonic t-impact is quite tempting. I love the performance of cmoy however the frequent thugging and screeching sound when the cmoy enclosure is brought near other components and initial activation is also a worry that it might bring harm to my headphone overtime.

Where can i buy this Sonic t-amp sir if ever?