• Better laser quality?
• Greater vibration resistance?
• Better post-processing circuitry (interpolation, etc)?

Obviously there is going to be variation in playback quality between the el cheepo no name CD player and premium/professional models, though one might think that the digital nature of compact disc audio should guarantee identical playback everywhere, if we exclude output filters, DAC quality, SNR etc.

Quote from: yourtallness on 2009-10-05 12:27:05

Obviously there is going to be variation in playback quality between the el cheepo no name CD player and premium/professional models, though one might think that the digital nature of compact disc audio should guarantee identical playback everywhere, if we exclude output filters, DAC quality, SNR etc.

I don't see what's so obvious about it.  Find a blind test where people can tell the difference between an el cheepo player and a premium model.  Some people have tried...and failed.

To me it sounds like you are talking about the ability to read scratched discs... A disc can be scratched and still be read perfectly (even by a cheap player) - Also a disc can be so badly scratched that it cannot be read at all by pro-players - it all comes down to the type of scratches on the disc. If they are surface scratches - You won't be able to retrieve the missing information no matter how "pro" you go. If they are silver-side scratches, usually there's a good chance they can be recovered and probably read better by some players than others.

That said, if the disc is NOT scratched, any player should output the same digital bits.

To me it sounds like you are talking about the ability to read scratched discs... A disc can be scratched and still be read perfectly (even by a cheap player) - Also a disc can be so badly scratched that it cannot be read at all by pro-players - it all comes down to the type of scratches on the disc. If they are surface scratches - You won't be able to retrieve the missing information no matter how "pro" you go. If they are silver-side scratches, usually there's a good chance they can be recovered and probably read better by some players than others.

Just take a look at a Denon DN-C635 or Denon DN-C640.
You get for 600€/950€ really good gear that beats any High-End stuff in engineering quality and features.

The difference between Consumer and Pro gear, is reliability, long term service, robustness in any way and you get what you pay for.

What do you mean by silver-side scratches? Are you referring to the non-label side, from which the disc looks silver? Your statement is confusing because the silver layer is actually on the label side, under the label.

OP: What is your goal? Do you just want to have a ripped copy of said CD without any noticeable skips? In that case, you should just try different drives and different rip settings. Once I was in the same situation as you, where any CD player would skip badly on a track and EAC seemed to be of no help in secure modes - However WMP ripped it without a problem. I think that I was able to rip it using burst mode in low speed, and this mode has actually helped me rip a lot of discs that I had problems ripping in other modes on my Lite-On drives.

Edit: That-is, I think you are focusing too much on a post-processing theory. I can't tell for sure if there's any, but if a hardware player can perform post-processing, so can software. AFAIK it has been discussed previously how to remove skips/pops from bad rips both automatically and manually.

• sturdier chassis
• better service plans
• DSP effects (equalizer, ability to tinker with pitch/speed etc, crossfading capability) [this is not to say that these are not available in very affordable consumer-grade players]

• Never heard music played at dance competition skip (this would be a disaster for competing couples)
• Never heard serious skips in night clubs
• Have had incredibly badly scratched CDs play back without audible artifacts on standalone DJ deck players (CDs my CD-ROM and car player would choke on)

Obviously there is going to be variation in playback quality between the el cheepo no name CD player and premium/professional models, though one might think that the digital nature of compact disc audio should guarantee identical playback everywhere, if we exclude output filters, DAC quality, SNR etc.

Whle it may seem intuitively obvious that there is going to be variation in playback quality between the el cheepo no name CD player and premium/professional models, there are no such guarantees in real life. In fact, it has been documented that there is a highly-regarded $multi-kilobuck CD player that hides a CD transport taken from a $60 boom box inside its  millled aluminum billet chassis. In other cases megabuck optical players are just rebadged product that sells under its maker's name for a few $100.

Quote from: Arnold B. Krueger on 2009-10-06 12:43:58

Whle it may seem intuitively obvious that there is going to be variation in playback quality between the el cheepo no name CD player and premium/professional models, there are no such guarantees in real life. In fact, it has been documented that there is a highly-regarded $multi-kilobuck CD player that hides a CD transport taken from a $60 boom box inside its  millled aluminum billet chassis. In other cases megabuck optical players are just rebadged product that sells under its maker's name for a few $100.

Please, share the knowledge and website with photographs or other forms of proof, please. if you are uncomfortable with sharing in public, you can PM me.