So, a couple of weekends ago I picked up a JVC XL-V211 CD player for about $8 USD to replace the Sony DVP-SR200P DVD player that has been doing duty in my thrift shop stereo stack. It's from like 1989, has a solid but functional build, amber LEDs, etc. Probably the component CD player in your head.
After hooking it up, found it wouldn't play through or past track 5 on Journey's Escape, so hooked the Sony back up and was immediately heartbroken. Even with these old ears and a couple of decades of road noise pounding on these eardrums, I can hear it in the cymbals, the fingers sliding against the steel electric guitar strings, and the ring in Steve Perry's voice. So, patched the Sony back in, sighed, and waited.
This weekend scored a JVC XV-N40 DVD player for $12 and thought I would roll the dice. Only a few reviews out there, seems to get good reviews with a digital patch, possibly decent DACs, but I can still hear a difference. The old CD player is better.
But, it's not horrible. It might be better than the Sony, but I'd really need two copies of this CD to A/B test. At least it has the standard suite of physical buttons (the Sony assumes you're going to shove in a Shrek DVD and hit play), so makes for a better piece of gear.
But with track 4 now playing for the fourth time in the last hour, I can still tell. It would be so much better if I couldn't.
The hunt continues.
#馃捒 #AlwaysBeThrifting #LazySaturday
Discussion
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If you're on a similar journey, I recommend using a CD you've heard a thousand times in a hundred different ways. All those memories highlight the exceptions, good and bad.
I picked Escape by accident, but couldn't have chosen better, I think. Very little with a modern mix that I've heard in so many different environments.
Aerosmith's Pump, maybe. Such good production values. If you haven't heard it with headphones, it's just a magical auditory experience. Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session has fantastic ambience but not the same tonal range.
I would love to take a stack of music from my teens and twenties to a modern listening room to level set my head and then listen to some current mixes. Do they take the same care now that everything is Spotify'd? it is it all mixed for streaming and Bluetooth earbuds?
If you have a track from the last three years whose acoustics or mix blows your mind, let me know!