Cheap DVD player as a transport - ever tried it?

[Macca]

I don't think any soldering is required but you do need one of those anti-static set ups. If you can find a guide to doing it on line then you could have a go yourself, not really much to lose. No way is it a £75 job.

[Clothears]

OK cheers for that. I think I will investigate it further and maybe have a go myself. As you say its hardly got much sell on value as it is, so nothing to lose really.

.

[hifinutt]

I have frequently tried my msb cd 4 transport against my sony blu ray player and while the latter is very good , the msb was streets ahead . the sound seemed to come from half the speaker with the blu ray whereas with the msb it filled every pore and filled the room and sounded marvellous

[Jankoff]

Read and sorry to hear about your misadventures, Accudazed!
Interestingly, my experience with one particular Pioneer DVD player almost perfectly matches the opinions of some of the people here.
I have three setups and in the third one I use the Pioneer 656 DVD player feeding digits to an Advance Acoustic 305D integrated amp with a DAC. As it is my third setup (not even second), I do not care much about interconnects and use such simply left over from previous cable endeavors - and I have had many endeavors, which means I use cables that are certainly good but have been taken over by better ones.
Hence, I never expected wonders from this combination. But I must emphasize that I find the sound surprisingly good - of course, using interconnects of reasonable quality.
What is more, please, note, that I did not come to the decision by myself. I remember very well that I read an article in tnt-audio.com about 10 years ago in which there was a very detailed description of how one could easily turn a Pioneer DVD 656 player into a very good transport through some upgrade or a tweak. And the author strongly insisted that the Pioneer 656 DVD player was - or could be after some modding - a very good transport.
I just tried to find this article but I can't. I have never made any attempt at upgrading or tweaking my Pioneer 656 - I simply started using it as a transport with a good coax cable - and it works well.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you finding a good transport but let me add that, IMO, using a computer, a good USB interface and a DAC is not only much more convenient but generally yields a better sound that using a CD transport and a DAC. Sadly, of course, but the CD player/transport is approaching its demise.

[icehockeyboy]

It was the 'In Thing' about 4 or 5 years ago.

I used one of the old Tosh 330 award winning CDP's though a Stan DAC.
It equalled whatever £1k plus CDP I had at the time.

I recall using a Pioneer 575 too....or was it a 757?
Either way it was a real eye opener.

[Jankoff]

I have made a mistake in yesterday's post where I explain that I use a Pioneer DVD player as a CD transport. The model number is 696, not 656. Here it is: http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/a...AV-S/page.html
I am sorry - and hope not to have misled somebody!
It is only now that I see that it plays DVD-audio and SACD! I bought it a long time ago, obviously the fact later escaped my attention. It seems to me that its ability to work well as a CD transport may have to do with its DVD-audio and SACD feature.

[Ninanina]

I recently put my old Marantz CD50se back into my system, used as a transport, which I haven't used for ages... but today I put back the Pioneer DV717 and I much prefer it to the Marantz setup...

I think these old Pioneer DVD players are very good, especially for the crazy low prices they are ..

[Stresss42]

Hi Steve, don't know if you're still looking for a DVD player as a transport - I know the post is quite old now !

I've been using a Pioneer BDP LX-55 as my main source for CD's, USB ( plays FLAC / WAV from USB ) and Blu ray - it's been absolutely superb. I would only ever consider upgrading to an Oppo player -
or a higher spec Pioneer - Flagship model. ( Arcam looks nice - can't afford it )... I do have a heavilly modded Beresford TC7510 Battery Powered DAC ( Deben Tracer 10ah Battery pack ) and the detail and musicality is simply breath taking. Love it.

Sorry to hear about the grief you've had - hope you get it sorted mate. All the best, Steve.

Edit. 10ah Deben Battery not 14 !!

[Pieoftheday]

My recent experience of using a pioneer bdp170 blue ray player as transport with a caiman mk11 DAC was, OK sound wise, awful to use, I've recently 'upgraded' to a pro-ject CD box s as transport and the results are stark improvements even in my modest set up, jim

[Stresss42]

That's got me thinking now Jim...Is the laser pick up that different in a cd player than a blu ray ? Of course it's a different specification laser pick up ...but sent digitally to a Beresford Dac.

I was reading with interest some reviews on the TC7510 ( I have one ) and the reviewer - to my surprise had differing results with various transports.

Sorry if this changes the subject slightly everyone. I bought the BDP LX55 specifically for its rock solid transport. Wouldn't swap it anytime soon...Unless..Lottery.. ?