Marantz CD5400

I've read a rave review in WTF about this CDP and its £150, I an probably get one for £120. I will need to listen to it first but do you think its its work its salt or will a NAD(I can't remember the model number, I'm so tired! its the £200 one!) beet it to a pulp?

I currently have a Sony CDP530 which is now 3 years old and its showing it as its been heavily used. I would idealy like a CD6000OSE so I might look out for one of these second hand.

Although with CDPs new might be better because of the mechnaical parts, I would like the 2 years gurentee you get with new stuff these days.

 

If you are after a sonic improvement, i don't think it would be worthwhile really getting one of these players over your current Sony, best off saving up more money in order to make a significant improvement.

You say your current one is showing its age? Is there a problem with it - regular skipping or something? 3 years isn't that old. If there is a problem with it, Sony MAY fix it, if the problem is minor gratis, or for a small fee. If it was a more serious problem then it would probably make more financial sense to just change it then.

The Nad you are on about is the 521i the lesser sibling of the NAD541i. They are both very good value players, i have had both of them in the past, especially if you can get them cheaper. Depends what you are matching it with and what type of presentation you prefer. The marantz is a different kettle of fish, but may be more to your tastes ala the current Sony. How much would you be spending? I'm not really sure what there is sub £200(?) TBH? PB may have more suggestions. What do Richers or someone have in - or e-bay might have something decent for that money.

But unless it is bust i would save for something that would be likely to be a worthwhile improvement TBH.

sorry, not much help

 

I agree with cookiemonster.....

Don't bother with the lower order of cdp's as the one you've got will be as good as the rest if not better. There are a number of things that you can do to cheap CDP's to give them a boost. JUst the damping of the case work could give you much better sound. Then there's setting about the internal's swap the opamps for better ones, change the supply caps and upgrade the sockets.

I've turned a ten year old £25 s/h unit into a real good sounding machine with a little effort and very little cost.

 

Upgradititus!

The 6000ose can be picked up for around £200 new. And s/h anywhere between £70-150.
It's a decent player and will probably be a step up from your current sony. But it may be worth holding out for a bigger upgrade. The KI version is a big step up again....

But then keeping the system balanced comes into it.

I'd go for the tweaking route for now while you save some MOre. IIRC, you use the 6010ose amp and are happy with your eltax speakers yeah? IMO bigger source upgrade than what you're looking at currently would be worthwhile. Obviously you may not get the full potential from say £500 cdp (picked up half that s/h) but it would survive any future amp/speaker upgrade!

And for the time being i'm sure zanash, and others, will be MOre than willing to help you BIY it!

 

Amazing,

I recently bought a NAD 521i to replace an ageing Technics machine (c.1990 vintage) and I found the step up in sound quality quite noticeable. However, I do think Cookie and Zanash have a point;_many are the times I've sat and wondered if I should have spent more, and I still find myself checking on prices for machines such as the Marantz 6000ki. This is the way of hi-fi.

Having said that, I could just about justify the £160 outlay on the NAD, whereas £300 or higher is simply a no-no for the time being. If you're in the same situation, why not find out more about Zanash's tweaks? I wouldn't mind having a go myself. I'm no engineer, but I just about know one end of a screwdriver from the other: so come one, Zanash, do tell us more.

 

Thanks, well I think I will keep my Sony, I have damped the caps and the transport using blutac that did give a subtle upgrade nothing major but it was good for £1. I could replace the cord too but I don't really want to have to solder these connections together.

My Sony is still in 100% working order despite at least 5 hours a day use, its just the transport sounds a bit tired, having said that it works smoothly enough. For now I will probably spend the money (when I get it) on new speaker stands (my home made ones are crap!) and interconnects. Although most of my listening is done with headphones these days so maybe buying a headphone amp will be a good solution, but then I iwill feel my 6010OSE has been wasted.

Or I could buy a cheapest £100 digital radio box seperate from RS, but then I've heared these can sound compressed. For now though its a new interconnect, and some more music I think.

Thanks for your advice anyway, I guess its just a case of easily being sucked into the rave WTF reviews, they would probably say mine was crap now but to be honest its probably no worse than any new sub £150 cdp.

These forums save me so much money, I can actually have a holiday this year

 

What, is it snoring coz of the boring music :SLEEP: (sorry couldn't resist)

 

Lmao yep probably, its getting sick of playing John Denver 24/7