DVD5 or CD5x?

I guess you need to ask yourself what is more important to you. Both offer an improvement in sound one more so than the other and it has more potential.used to have cd5 myself and a friend had the more recent cd5x. Both players really do(did) punch well beyond there price points and then adding hi-cap well thats another story completely.Up to you really.

Your first priority is to consider WHAT you want your system to be like in 5-10 years time. Reports are that the DVD5 is similar to a CD5x on CD playback, so if that is as far as you wish to go audio-wise, could be the best path.

You don't mention the rest of your kit?, because if you desire cdx2 or better in the long term you may need to start changing that as well...

Personally, I waited until I could afford the CDX2 before I purchased my DVD player/recorded. 2 main reasons, first, much less cd players sounded like shite in comparison to the lp12, and if the other half cottoned on that the dvd could play cd's...

Cheers
Pete

An interesting dilemma...

Having had to use a DVD5 as my only CD source for a few months I can attest to it's superb performance in this role. Yes, better than a CD5i, but not as good as a CDX2. It actually reminded me a bit of a CDX... The main thing was that it drew me into a performance the way that only a really fine CD player can, quite a result for a DVD player!! (Just make sure you switch off the display for best performance).

However, when I first put a DVD5 into my home cinema system to replace a top of the range SONY DVD/SACD player I wasn't prepared for the improvements it would bring. Or rather, I expected a jump up in picture qulaity and it definitely delivered here. What I wasn't expecting was the HUGE improvment in sound - and this via just the digital output into the AV2! That really surprised me. Soundtracks that had been lacklustre suddenly came to life, and those that had been spectacular before, completely blew me away via the DVD5/AV2.

So, final choice will boil down to your priorities. The best thing would be to try a DVD5 out for yourself. If the PS3 and Toshiba give you what you want on DVD then go for a dedicated CD player, although you'll really need to consider a CDX2 to lift CD performance comfortably clear of the DVD5. But I suspect that if best sound performance from DVD is as much a priority as sound from CD then the DVD5 could be the one-box silver bullet you've been looking for...

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Dane:
... you'll really need to consider a CDX2 to lift CD performance comfortably clear of the DVD5.

I think the CD5x with HICAP2, especially with HiLine, does this too.

What are you using for a display, markusp? If the built-in scaler is good, you may find that the DVD5 picture quality is actually better than the HD-A1 on standard-def DVD content (and it won't take nearly as long to load).

OTOH the CD5x sounds quite good too with a FLATCAP2x–choices, choices, choices!

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I have decided to go with the CD5x as the one I am home demoing sounds terrific and it ultimately allows for an upgrade path in the future while the DVD5 does not.

To be honest, I was also a touch worried about resale value for the DVD5 as well, should blu-ray and hd dvd take off over the next year or two. It's true that I would always have a terrific dvd player and cd player, but should I decide to upgrade to a CDX2, I would most likely need to sell the DVD5 to fund the upgrade and I'm sure that prices will plummet over time as HD becomes the norm. I just couldn't justify the risk.

Now, if an when prices do plummet, then I may find myself being the proud owner of the DVD5 afterall

Or .....

You could get the DVD5 and then upgrade it by adding a Benchmark DAC1, which makes a great combination.

....better than the CDX2 in my opinion.

M

Not at all sure this contributes much, but surely the market for video has always followed availbility rather than absolute quality. The only way blu-ray will supercede DVD-video is if for some [unknown] reason DVD ceased to be available.

Heretical view: Fit an appropriate drive in the computer and enjoy the delights of any specific medium with an IDE drive and forget the comaptability issue as the hardware as a whole will not be redundant, but only the drive, as things move on. No one really knows where this is going...

IMHO. Fredrik

quote:

.... No one really knows where this is going...

IMHO. Fredrik

Completely agree!

M

Agree to some extent, but not entirely.

Lets get the blu-ray vs. HD-DVD thing sorted. Neither format is going to go away in the next four or five years. Both formats are producing product of similar technical proficiency. Blu-ray has greater studio coverage but differing distribution agreements between regions means a title that may be Blu-ray only in the USA is available in HD-DVD in Europe. The region-free nature of HD-DVD means that 80% of titles are available in both formats and only 20% being exclusively blu-ray or hd-dvd. Blu-ray and HD-DVD will simply run as co-existing formats for years to come. Anyone sitting on the fence thinking they are waiting out the result of a format war, well, high definition is not going to be for you then in the foreseeable future.

Where will it all end? A HD-DVD player can be bought today for about £240, six months ago that player would have cost about £340. The Chinese are about to enter the HD-DVD player market and I've no doubt we'll see HD-DVD players costing around £150 in about six months time. Give it another two years and anyone picking up a £29.99 DVD player from their local supermarket probably won't even realise that the DVD logo on the box has subtly changed into the HD-DVD logo and will happily play their normal DVD's on it, perhaps totally unaware that it also happens to play HD-DVDs. Before too long, the cost of including HD-DVD capability in any mainstream manufacturers new DVD players will be so small that it will be included by default. In other words, HD-DVD will become ubiquitous, you won't be able to buy a player without it. At that point, whether you chose to continue purchasing/renting SD disks or HD-DVD's is entirely up to you, the player itself won’t care, it will play either.

Meridian are now getting behind the HD-DVD format. It looks like their intention is to produce, in conjunction with Microsoft, a high-end universal HD-DVD 'engine' which can be bought-in by other high-end manufacturers (hello Naim!) for use in their own products without having to make the investment to develop a HD-DVD solution themselves.

So, given a bit of time that's where I see things going, HD-DVD, from the cheapest supermarket players to the most expensive boutique brands. Outwardly the logo will change and the consumer will just feed his machine SD or HD disks without concern having not been challenged to making a choice between purchasing a SD or a HD player.

The big driver towards high definition software is going to come from the growth in sales of large high definition flat panel displays. When was the last time anyone recommended a 480 line plasma on this forum? If you’ve got a high definition display, you’re going to want to see high definition material on there, seems little point otherwise.

Allan

quote:

When was the last time anyone recommended a 480 line plasma on this forum?

Shortly before the word "overscan" was used!

quote:

Originally posted by Mr Underhill:
Or .....

You could get the DVD5 and then upgrade it by adding a Benchmark DAC1, which makes a great combination.

....better than the CDX2 in my opinion.

M

very interesting.....I already have the Squeezebox and am thinking of adding the Benchmark DAC1. If my doing this, I can have a better performance than a CDX2, then it is an investment well spent..

Cimman,

I have found the DAC1 to be very transport and cable sensitive - despite what the manufacturer's claim.

Lots of comment available on pfm so you should be able to get some feedback.

M

quote:

Originally posted by cimman:
very interesting.....I already have the Squeezebox and am thinking of adding the Benchmark DAC1. If my doing this, I can have a better performance than a CDX2, then it is an investment well spent..

SB3 + BM Dac1 betters cdx2.

SB3/Naim DC1/BM Dac1/Hi-Line equals cdx2/xps2/Hi-Line.

Keith