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Bronze Member Username: Bobby29Post Number: 19 Registered: Apr-04 | Besides playing HDCD, will these 2 units sound vastly different? I probably only have like 2-3 HDCD's, and someone told me that this format may be gone soon. I will be matching one of these with a 762. The price difference is only $150. Thanks. |
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New member Username: Dgb100PA Post Number: 10 Registered: May-04 | I have a 541 and it sounds outstanding. HDCD itself is a good format, and scads more titles than SACD or DVD-A, but the tolerances for HDCD machines are much tighter than your typical CD player. Also, the 541 upsamples regular 16bit CDs to 20 bit. Don't be fooled, HDCD is not a new "Format", it's more an evolvement of Redbook CDs which is %100 seemless and getting more common, not less. There is a notable increase in quality with HDCD to my ears. HDCD are also very common in asia and you can get thousands of HDCD titles on ebay. |
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Bronze Member Username: PersvakoNorth Europe Post Number: 19 Registered: Jun-04 | Rob, It depends on your whole audio system. If you have good speakers and amp then it's a good question which one to buy. I think they can't sound vastly different, but little bit... In the price class of 521BEE there are better players like Marantz CD5400, but C541i is the best for the price. That's what I have heard. So it's not my subjective opinion. I think in C541i there is also better DA-converter, I don't know. If you have the money go for the C541i/C542. No-one can deny that HDCD isn't a good improvement. But, in the Europe there aren't so many HDCD's in the market. Do you Derrick B really think that they still produce HDCD's? Btw, if these are all the HDCD's, then they're not a big amount. And most of them are pretty BS, IMO! http://www.hdcd.com/music_catalog/music.asp?action=AtoZ&alph=All |
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Bronze Member Username: Dgb100PA Post Number: 11 Registered: May-04 | That website is really out of date. HDCDs aren't ballyhooed as much as SACD or DVDA, many don't even indicate they are HDCD anywhere in the packaging. Just some of the recent CDs I've picked up that are HDCD: Neil Young: Mirror Ball, greendale, Beck: Midnite Vultures, Mellow Gold, Mutations, Tom Petty Anthology. Go onto ebay and search HDCD and you'll find dozens of pages of hits. |
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Gopal Unregistered guest | Just like to point out that the marantz cd5400 does not hold a candle to a 521bee. That might just be my opinion, but I have done extensive auditioning of both as I work in hi fi and have plenty of opportunity. |
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roberto c Unregistered guest | thanks for the inf. gys my old NAD CD player is dead and I have to pick something up. I thought it would be quick and painless but I am lost in the acronoyms. I lisitend to the 542 and was impressed the 521 sounded bad, possbily a hookup issue at the facility in dallas. I am leaning toward the 541. any last word of wisdom? thanks |
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Bronze Member Username: Dgb100PA Post Number: 12 Registered: May-04 | The C542 uses a better DAC than the 521. I think it's 24 bit Burr-Brown. I have the 541 (not i) and it's great except that it will only play 74 minute CD-Rs, 80 minute CD-Rs skip all over the place. 541i is supposed to have fixed this problem. |