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Topic: CD player with JUST S/PDIF output? (Read 9608 times) previous topic - next topic
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CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Hey Everyone,

I'm looking to buy a dedicated CD player for use with my new receiver, but I only need it to have digital output, not any inbuilt DAC/RCA-out functionality. I'd prefer the CD player to be quite small (at least in height), so that it perches on top of the receiver.

Does such a CD player exist? I've looked about, but most of the main companies seem to sell high-end CD players with digital output as an extra to high quality RCA output, which I don't need, and which I suspect add a great deal of bulk to the device.

Any recommendations would be appeciated, and I'm happy to look at older hardware, including stuff available only second-hand.

Thanks!

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #1 –
Wouldn't almost any DVD player (uncluding the smallest, portable ones) work?

BTW, I just noticed that you typed JUST in all caps. You absolutely don't want any analog outs? Even if you're not going to use them, why? Otherwise you can get what you want for less than 40 bucks on Amazon.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #2 –
I suppose, though I was hoping to get a dedicated CD player so that it had functions most DVD players and the like do not, for instance, random track playback and better handling of index points.

I really don't mind if this player was from the 90s, say, but I'm keen on it being as compact as possible with just the digital output.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #3 –
I see, I've not played a DVD in a dedicated player in years so I don't know their capabilities. I'm guessing they do offer those functions though, they're pretty basic aren't they?

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #4 –
If no such compact CD player exists (for a decent price), I'll probably end up getting an analog/digital-out combo one like you suggested. I'm just curious if a compact CD player such as the one I described exists.

With the CD/DVD players I've used, I've found their support for indices to be lacking - most have just ignored them altogether!

Oh, and also, I'd like some sort of LED display on the device; if I bought a DVD player, I'd very likely need to combine it with a TV to access/view any of the aforementioned functions?

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
I really don't mind if this player was from the 90s, say, but I'm keen on it being as compact as possible with just the digital output.


I have an old portable with digital and analog out.  It's not much bigger than a CD horizontally, and only about an inch thick, so it doesn't look like  the internal DAC adds much to the bulk.  I'd suggest just going with the flow as most MFR's don't want to limit sales by omitting analog out.  At this point the front area of the player is probably determined more by what's needed for the buttons and display than room needed by electronics. edit: or wanting to match other components from that brand.

In my experience you're right that a combined DVD player usually needs an attached TV for full function even with CD's.

My CD player has index support, but it's pretty old.  I don't know that I have any CDs with index.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
I'm just curious if a compact CD player such as the one I described exists.

Probably not.

Quote from: DonP on
I don't know that I have any CDs with index.

I have a couple.  Rush - 2112 comes to mind.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
With the CD/DVD players I've used, I've found their support for indices to be lacking - most have just ignored them altogether!

Indexes on CDs have pretty much fallen into disuse - probably because so few players supported them in the first place!
And now, because so few CDs have indexes, hardly any players bother to support them - the whole thing is a vicious circle.
Shame really, they were very useful on classical CDs.

I think the only way you'll find index support is probably to buy a used player that is quite old - which in itself may be a problem, because the laser could be on the way out.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #8 –
I seem to recall an old discman of mine that had index support. I never used it though. The oldest Discman players were feature packed. I remember my uncle had one with optical out, at that time it was unheard of, and I don't think I've seen a portable CD player with optical out ever since. He bought it in Japan.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #9 –
These kind of 'simple' transports can be found but they are high end audiophile esoterica and will cost thousands of dollars/pounds/euros.  Brands to look for are Mark Levinson and Esoteric and probably any other manufacturer who makes consumer audio playback devices which cost more than your car.  There was a trend maybe 10 years ago for budget makers to offer separate DACs and transports but it didn't last, probably because it wasn't long before the cheapest all-in-one Sony CD player separate contained a better DAC and equally good transport for half the price.  I'd be inclined to find a new inexpensive CD player and use the digital out.  I do recall owning a Marantz CD-54 (this is 1st generation, when CDs were new and exciting) which supported indexes and I think a few years ago I had Sony player which did as well. But I wouldn't buy used because as someone already mentioned the lasers have limited life and all this stuff dies in the end.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
Hey Everyone,

I'm looking to buy a dedicated CD player for use with my new receiver, but I only need it to have digital output, not any inbuilt DAC/RCA-out functionality. I'd prefer the CD player to be quite small (at least in height), so that it perches on top of the receiver.

Does such a CD player exist? I've looked about, but most of the main companies seem to sell high-end CD players with digital output as an extra to high quality RCA output, which I don't need, and which I suspect add a great deal of bulk to the device.

Any recommendations would be appeciated, and I'm happy to look at older hardware, including stuff available only second-hand.

Thanks!


a long time ago there was a site where a prof broke down a panasonic discman and was impressed at its quality.  not sure if that applies to todays product though.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #11 –
From the topic title, I assume that u actually need CD-transport, CD-player WITHOUT analog output doesn't exist.

Then, if you won't use rig for movies, buy any PHILIPS model from '90 (610, 614), they've been cheap then and today you can find them almost for nothing (long lasting mech+laser, upgradeability..), only downside in your case is that they have only coax SPDIF.
Why toslink? Doesn't your receiver support coax input also?
However, if you still insist on transport, try to check their mechanic - laser for good ones are 100+euros (KSS151A and similar)

Hope this help

EDIT:tyypo

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: gorgon on
You'll benefit from cheaper, shorter cable and better sound with coax.

Unsubstantiated claims of sound quality are not allowed here at HA (TOS  #8).

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #13 –
Quote from: cliveb on
Indexes on CDs have pretty much fallen into disuse - probably because so few players supported them in the first place!
And now, because so few CDs have indexes, hardly any players bother to support them - the whole thing is a vicious circle.
Shame really, they were very useful on classical CDs.

Most if not all of the early players supported indexes. Later players dropped support perhaps because few CDs used indexes and/or users found the feature confusing/unhelpful. Nowadays it would be dangerous to master a disc with indexes for lack of support in players but it definitely wasn't that way in the beginning.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #14 –
Please help me understand how are indices >1 are dangerous to players that don't support them.

EDIT: Let me try this again.

Are you suggesting that we're getting discs with large pieces split into individual tracks that would have otherwise been kept as a single track that is indexed?  I don't own many recent classical titles, but it seems like I still have a lot of progressive rock titles with large tracks that are not indexed.  In some cases they are indeed split into separate tracks, but this doesn't seem to be the norm.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #15 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
Hey Everyone,

I'm looking to buy a dedicated CD player for use with my new receiver, but I only need it to have digital output, not any inbuilt DAC/RCA-out functionality. I'd prefer the CD player to be quite small (at least in height), so that it perches on top of the receiver.

Does such a CD player exist? I've looked about, but most of the main companies seem to sell high-end CD players with digital output as an extra to high quality RCA output, which I don't need, and which I suspect add a great deal of bulk to the device.

Any recommendations would be appeciated, and I'm happy to look at older hardware, including stuff available only second-hand.


Pretty strange. DVD and CD players with digital outputs are readily available, but they all have analog outputs as well.  Why pay extra to not have an analog output?

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #16 –
Thanks for the replies guys. As many of you touched upon, my reason for wanting index support is a number of older CDs I have which include them.

I don't mind whether it's optical or co-ax out, my receiver supports both. But I think I'll just try to hunt down a mid-90s CD player with an LED display - that's probably as close to what I want as is actually available.

Thanks for the info/help!

Edit: Arnold, I assumed that a CD player which had only digital output would be more compact than one that had analog too; I was just wondering if such a compact design existed, albeit at a reasonable price. 

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #17 –
Sometime in the late 1990s I bought a Sony Discman that includes a digital out and a separate (headphone-bypass) true analog out. I have to say that the drive in this thing is virtually indestructible. It has outlasted two pricey (Adcom and Denon) CD decks I owned, and it will play problematic discs that made their bigger, considerably more expensive cousins choke. Not bad for $40 as a closeout deal at Target, of all places. For the last few years I've used it (connected to the amp's DAC) as my only CD player. It's as small as a player as one can get, and it keeps running and running. No remote, but who cares?

I think all of the CD decks I've owned had index support (not the Discman, though), and I must admit that even back in the day I never quite understood the reasoning behind track indexing. It always made more sense to have multi-part pieces broken down into separate tracks, which could also be programmed, etc. Indexing never allowed for anything but pushing the button forward or backward to the next or previous index. Big deal.

I always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the earliest CD players (perhaps on the prototype level) had such limited computer memory that they could only accommodate a certain number of programmable tracks. Hence indexing as a sort of half-assed method of achieving a bit more "functionality." I could be completely wrong about this, of course. Still, I do well remember that many early CD players were unable to program more than 20 tracks, plus they were incapable of displaying any track information for track numbers 20 and up.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #18 –
Quote from: Notat on
Most if not all of the early players supported indexes.

Yes, fair point - the very earliest players did tend to have index support. But I seem to recall that starting in the mid-80s a lot of players started appearing without. My recollection is that by 1990 indexes were supported on only a minority of players.

Quote from: Notat on
Later players dropped support perhaps because few CDs used indexes and/or users found the feature confusing/unhelpful.

Maybe you're right - perhaps indexes were dropped from the discs first, then players followed suit. All I can say is that it did turn into a vicious circle: few discs with indexes, so players didn't bother to support them, so no point in putting them on discs...

Quote from: Notat on
Nowadays it would be dangerous to master a disc with indexes for lack of support in players but it definitely wasn't that way in the beginning.

There's no problem with adding indexes to discs: they will still play fine on any player - it will just ignore them. (All players recognise indexes 0 and 1, of course - 0 is the start of the pregap, and 1 is the start of the track).

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #19 –
Quote from: cliveb on
There's no problem with adding indexes to discs: they will still play fine on any player - it will just ignore them. (All players recognise indexes 0 and 1, of course - 0 is the start of the pregap, and 1 is the start of the track).

That's good to know. That makes the vicious circle not so vicious though.

CD player with JUST S/PDIF output?

Reply #20 –
Quote from: JacksonGrey on
Edit: Arnold, I assumed that a CD player which had only digital output would be more compact than one that had analog too; I was just wondering if such a compact design existed, albeit at a reasonable price. 


Most CD players are in big empty boxes. It wouldn't be too much trouble to build a full-function CD player whose footprint was equal to that of a CD, and whose thickness is set by the transport. I don't know if anybody has actually done this. If you take apart a typical modern portable CD player, there is a fair amount of empty space inside of it.

My point being that the DAC and output circuitry need not add anything at all to the size of a CD player, because its minimum size is set by the footprint of the disc and the thickness of the transport, and still leaves some empty space, DAC or not.