I have a Pioneer DV-656A universal disc player, which I bought on the strength of the UK 'what HiFi' review, however well specced it is I am seriously underwhelmed by it's cd playback.
I am using a Denon AV1803 AV amp, with the Mission M3 surround speakers set. I have the two channel output of the Pioneer going into the CD input on the Denon using QED Qunex 2 interconnects. I have bypassed tone controls on the Denon and made it source direct to get the shortest signal path, however it is lacking in detail and generally sounds quite 'muddy'. In contrast DVD (DD & DTS) sound is good using a digital interconnect. Any ideas on where I am going wrong?
Is the Pioneer no good as a CD source?
Should I look at the new NAD 533 as an alternative?
HI Anthony, Don't worry man i also have similar system like yours. Problem is a DVD player I mean the cheapest cd player will play better then any DVD from 500$ or more! I have 565a and it is a great for DVD and for cd music is a bad like every DVD i have heard! I borrow NAD cd player from my friend and what can I SAY WOW ! 50% difference and I have bought a new cd player and that it is. Buy Cd player you will be much satisfied!
The premice that a cheap cd player will sound better than a good $500 dvd on music is totally off base. Their are several dvd players in the budget to mid priced area that sound excellent with cd's , two being the Elite 45 and the Marantz 6400. I have had cheap cd players and that's what they sound like, cheap.
ak
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Hello Anthony,
You can use the dvd player for cd music.
I have the similar pioneer universal dvd player. I connect to the av receiver (from dvd player 5.1 output and digital out to the av receiver 5.1 input and digital in). I do not use the two channel output as you did. I use 5.1 direct input channel for SACD/DVD-A. For music cd, I select the dvd source. you can listen in stereo/dts/dolby prologic II etc. Sound is great .
No need to buy the cheaper cd player. Why shoud you need the cd player if your AV receiver can do for the sound quality!!
I too have a Pioneer DV565A, and I'm happy with CD playback. But I agree it doesn't sound as a traditional CD based system. IMO this is a matter of different priorities at construction stage:
- CD player should contain correction circuites to improve the rather limited disc format (upsampling, dither, etc.)
- SACD/DVD-A player should reproduce with fidelity what is recorded in these high-resolution disc formats.
Digital out to receiver permits you to use bass and treble controls to make CD sound more dynamic, and take advantage of subwoofer. But I guess few - if any - receivers contain advanced CD enhancement circuits.
Lastly, but maybe most important: surround speaker sets are maybe not the best option for reproducing HiFi music. I'd recommend main L/R channels in line with listening room's size.
Thanks for the advice, I fixed the problem by buying a NAD C521BEE CD player for playing CD's and the Pioneer purely for DVD, the difference is huge! I also tried a NAD T533 as a CD source, but it didn't compare for CD sound, it looks like the best solution to poor CD playback on a universal disc player is to use a separate CD source.
The best solution is to buy a really good universal player of which there are several like the two I mentioned above. In your case you probably did do the logical thing since you already had the 656. Happy listening.