Is Your (Portable) CD Player Lying to You?

[HiWire]

Bit of a link bait title, but I'm glad we're well clear of the lossy compression era in hi-fi CD players - I always turned skip protection off.

The test album was Goldfrapp's Head First - pure synthwave ear candy. Head First is an almost entirely electronic album, with heavily-processed real sound from Alison Goldfrapp, a guitar, bass, and drums on selected tracks. I read that Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp were somewhat unsatisfied with the results of a rushed production process, but to me, it's a perfect gem. The anthemic, insanely upbeat pop tracks are well balanced against the more relaxed ambient instrumentals. To me, it's a touchstone, both a microcosm and a portal to classic 80s pop enchantment.

Inspired by the video, I pulled out my old Panasonic SL-S160 from 1995, plugged in the Alessandro MS-1 and inserted 2 Eneloop AA 1.2V NiMH batteries and it sounded a bit looser and not as deep in the bass with its MASH DAC (with XBS bass off - this budget player lacks skip protection), but serviceable (volume is somewhere around 2 out of 10 with its scratchy old pot and decent channel matching - 2.5+ is deafeningly loud with the Alessandro MS-1) compared to the Sony D-EJ2000 from 2002 - the SL-S160 was an excellent match for my old student-fi Sennheiser HD 320 headphones with a nominal impedance of 100 Ω back in the day.

Switching back to the D-EJ2000 on 1.2V gumstick battery with the MS-1 is a sonic revelation (perhaps not a surprise, comparing a budget player to a cutting-edge flagship). People underestimated the Sony when it was released (it came with horrible stock earbuds) - it has a much cleaner overall sound, far more separation, resolution, bass depth, soundstage, you name it - it blows the older Panasonic away in every category - you can hear things on the Sony that are completely obscured on the older player at the same volume level - younger people raised on iPods and wireless headphones have no idea what they're missing. It also demonstrates that you don't need a lot of power to drive the Grado headphones well.

It was like comparing a landscape in a dark fog to a bright, sunny and clear day on a mountain meadow. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to finally test a Chord Mojo 2 - I used a Toslink optical cable out of the Sony D-EJ2000 to the Mojo 2 into the Alessandro MS-1 and I heard no difference. It was both reassuring and surprising. Obviously, the source and the headphones were limiting factors, but I walked away discovering that a $150 portable CD player from 2002 can match a $650 DAC from 2022 in my informal test (digital deathmatch!).

Finally, I switched to my Arcam FMJ CD36, Headsave Classic, and Grado HP-2. Immediately, there was a change in tonality from the MS-1. It's actually hard to describe - they are in the same family and closely related, but the HP-2 emphasized different parts of the notes. The MS-1 was both brighter in treble and boomier in bass - the HP-2 had less emphasis and it was cleaner-sounding overall. I started to wonder if a pop album like Head First needed the distortion that is more evident in the MS-1 - was the HP-2 too controlled to enjoy non-audiophile music?

After a few minutes, I settled into the new sound and I was able to hear a lot more - the full system had much more breadth and scope: treble was less emphasized, but more accurate and extended, with better soundstage, clearly-delineated layers, and better coherence in both the main voices and the background layers and effects. In particular, I heard the layered reverberations at the end of track 5, Head First, something I hadn't noticed before.

With the home system, I heard new stuff from an album I'd played hundreds of times - was I taking crazy pills? It shows you that there's more to discover when you really listen carefully. Generally, I'm not an analytical listener and I don't seek out gear that emphasizes detail - I only do this when I'm comparing equipment. I also found myself at the limits of hearing fatigue - listening to the same short album (38 minutes long) three times in a row, even at safe volume levels, had a cumulative effect. Powering through this time, I was able to pick out additional little tunes that played in harmony in the background of the songs - they were barely audible on the other players, but the HP-2 gave them more space and separation. I like the word "holographic" that Joe Grado used to describe his new microphones. The HP-2 are not the widest-sounding headphones, but they demonstrate a giant leap from the plastic-bodied MS-1 coming out of portable CD players.

At the end, it's a reminder of what happens when you climb Mount Head-Case. 🏔️

I had been easily satisfied with listening to what I had from 1995 for ten years - but after listening to better headphones and equipment, it's hard to go back. It's good to know I can still easily hear the differences between equipment. As a nice coda, the TTVJ Deluxe Flat Pads are holding up perfectly - no crumbling black foam on my ears! I'm doing a lot less headphone listening these days because I mostly listen out of my computer speakers or my stereo, but every time I get a chance for a full headphone listening session, I'm reminded of why I have such an intense relationship with and recall of great music (and such a large CD and SACD collection). Protect your hearing and enjoy the music!

 

Edited 2 hours ago by HiWire

[MexicanDragon]

OK, didn't take the time to read or watch, but I had that PCDP on the right and that + Porta Pro Jrs is what got me into this game for real. ❤️

[HiWire]

I started with stock Panasonic headphones with my tape player and upgraded to Koss ear buds when they broke... the beginning of a long, beautiful journey.