What a splendid and musical piece of art, made in Japan! Even with a recording for youtube it sound analogue, natural and extraordinarily emotional and engaging - all there's supposed to be in a vinyl reproduction, not on a CD! Well done, congratulations!
Antonio, thanks for posting this very interesting video. Your careful restoration of this vintage CD player has produced spectacular sound (even over RUclips). I also have a CD-94 MkI (production date 1987) that I purchased new in 1988. I am in the process of restoration of my CD-94. and would be interested to know if you might share which resistors you replaced the Shinkoh tantalum resistors (I suspect the signal path resistors in the between and after the op amps (R566, R569, R570, R571, R574 and R575). I would greatly appreciate any information that you might share concerning all aspects of your restoration. You might also consider replacement of the off-the-shelf +5 volt, +12 volt and -12 volt regulators (78xx and 79xx) with Sparkos Labs regulators for lower noise floor and improved sonic performance.
What high end upgrades did you do? It looks like you swapped in WIMA polypropylene caps, (3) OSCON PS caps on DAC, larger ‘lytics in main power supply, polypropylenes in digital stage, and 4 op-amps? Which opamps? Sounds great!
@@thevintagehifiambassador8524 Well, your Denon DCD-3520 is a big machine with one of the best laser units made by Sony - the luxurious KSS-151A (TEAC, Esoteric and Wadia uses it), but it not have a good DAC chip inside, the PCM64P is not recognized to have a great sound. Better you use it only as a transport, or try instead a Denon DCD-2560, with the same laser and transport mechanism, but with a much better DAC chip: the AD1862. The Audionote brand is known to have explendid DACs but not so good transports or CD Players. Enjoy the music!
Thanks, indeed I prefer the 3520 with balanced outputs analogue compared to pairing it with the Sudgen Dac-4. But apparently the Sudgen Dac-4 does not work with the B&W CDM 1. Of course thete are better Dacs but now I have thd Denon for classical music and for times when I want a less fresh sound and on the othee hand my Naim CDX2 I like for some live music feeling. I’m finished for now and went on the homecinema road with Rotel RSP 1572 and today I paid for a RSP 1570 :-) Peace
Hi, I have a Sony cdp c100, 4xos duel tda1541a, 10 disc changer with onboard hpa line out, also has variable output and coax out (not optical). Could he be a good one like him? Thanks!
Absolutely not! Your Sony have a regular laser unit and the transport mechanism isn´t the best thing ever made. All Sonys tend to sound a little steryle, may be due to the 8x oversampling chip they use. The Marantz CD94 are among the best CD players ever made! It is for their recognized quality that they continue to cost a big amount of money. Cheers.
@@antoniocruz5714 Thank's, I appreciate that, I'm glad I asked. Cheers! Also Cambridge Audio cd4se & Naim cd5i. I thought I might snip mod the cd4se. But no, I was humbled, after reading a John Westlake article on his creation.
@@planet_oith Hi: Sorry but Naim CD5i is not a good CD player. Poor transport mechanism VAM1202, and a bad DAC chip Philips UDA1330ATS. If you like the Naim CD5 device go for a much better incarnation, eg NAIM AUDIO CD5XS, also with with VAM1202 but it comes with the top grade R-2R DAC chip 2x PCM1704-K (the best R2R ever made, with 24bits achived by hardware)!
@@antoniocruz5714 Thanks, I will consider this. I'm running a tda7297 diy amp (Folsom) which has an "up and at em" presentation The Sony cdp? its warmness I like but like you say, lacks finesse.
@@planet_oith If, in the future, you make your mind to buy a good CD player or DAC, take a look a this very good and exaustive CD/DAC list: vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm. Search for CDPs DACs that have inside the best R2R DAC chips like Philips TDA1540, Philips TDA1541A, Burr-Brown PCM56, PCM63, PCM1702, PCM1704, Analogic Devices AD1862 and AD1865. If you want to grab the best of the best among laser/transport mechanisms you will need to hunt machinery wit Philips CDM0, Philips CDM1, Philips CDM1-MKII, Philips CDM9, Philips CDM4, Sony KSS 151A, Sony KSS 190A, Sony BU-1 and TEAC VRDS CMK-3.2. Cheers.
Still got mine. Mk1 1988. Been boxed for last 21 years. Just waiting for my last house move then it’ll be refurbished and back in use. Can’t wait.
What a pitty such gem staying inside a box! Get him back to life to do what he´s suposed to: music at his best!
What a splendid and musical piece of art, made in Japan! Even with a recording for youtube it sound analogue, natural and extraordinarily emotional and engaging - all there's supposed to be in a vinyl reproduction, not on a CD! Well done, congratulations!
Open sound
Antonio, thanks for posting this very interesting video. Your careful restoration of this vintage CD player has produced spectacular sound (even over RUclips). I also have a CD-94 MkI (production date 1987) that I purchased new in 1988. I am in the process of restoration of my CD-94. and would be interested to know if you might share which resistors you replaced the Shinkoh tantalum resistors (I suspect the signal path resistors in the between and after the op amps (R566, R569, R570, R571, R574 and R575). I would greatly appreciate any information that you might share concerning all aspects of your restoration. You might also consider replacement of the off-the-shelf +5 volt, +12 volt and -12 volt regulators (78xx and 79xx) with Sparkos Labs regulators for lower noise floor and improved sonic performance.
What high end upgrades did you do? It looks like you swapped in WIMA polypropylene caps, (3) OSCON PS caps on DAC, larger ‘lytics in main power supply, polypropylenes in digital stage, and 4 op-amps? Which opamps? Sounds great!
Sound performance compared to Sony CDP 555ESD with also TDA1541?
Marantz CD94 is among the best sounding CD players ever made. If you find one, do yourself a favor and run for it!
Tristessa he's singing, yes I'm crying not to have this player here. So it sounds as a Mk ii now ?
MKII is better, but it also needs some upgrades to sound like it should. In stock mode it's nothing special - lots of colorful sound.
my Denon Dcd 3520 is really great, now going the Audio Note path. Seperate CD and Dac or the CD 5.1. Don’t know yet.
@@thevintagehifiambassador8524 Well, your Denon DCD-3520 is a big machine with one of the best laser units made by Sony - the luxurious KSS-151A (TEAC, Esoteric and Wadia uses it), but it not have a good DAC chip inside, the PCM64P is not recognized to have a great sound. Better you use it only as a transport, or try instead a Denon DCD-2560, with the same laser and transport mechanism, but with a much better DAC chip: the AD1862. The Audionote brand is known to have explendid DACs but not so good transports or CD Players. Enjoy the music!
Thanks, indeed I prefer the 3520 with balanced outputs analogue compared to pairing it with the Sudgen Dac-4. But apparently the Sudgen Dac-4 does not work with the B&W CDM 1. Of course thete are better Dacs but now I have thd Denon for classical music and for times when I want a less fresh sound and on the othee hand my Naim CDX2 I like for some live music feeling. I’m finished for now and went on the homecinema road with Rotel RSP 1572 and today I paid for a RSP 1570 :-) Peace
Hi, I have a Sony cdp c100, 4xos duel tda1541a, 10 disc changer with onboard hpa line out, also has variable output and coax out (not optical). Could he be a good one like him? Thanks!
Absolutely not! Your Sony have a regular laser unit and the transport mechanism isn´t the best thing ever made. All Sonys tend to sound a little steryle, may be due to the 8x oversampling chip they use. The Marantz CD94 are among the best CD players ever made! It is for their recognized quality that they continue to cost a big amount of money. Cheers.
@@antoniocruz5714 Thank's, I appreciate that, I'm glad I asked. Cheers!
Also Cambridge Audio cd4se & Naim cd5i. I thought I might snip mod the cd4se. But no, I was humbled, after reading a John Westlake article on his creation.
@@planet_oith Hi: Sorry but Naim CD5i is not a good CD player. Poor transport mechanism VAM1202, and a bad DAC chip Philips UDA1330ATS. If you like the Naim CD5 device go for a much better incarnation, eg NAIM AUDIO CD5XS, also with with VAM1202 but it comes with the top grade R-2R DAC chip 2x PCM1704-K (the best R2R ever made, with 24bits achived by hardware)!
@@antoniocruz5714 Thanks, I will consider this. I'm running a tda7297 diy amp (Folsom) which has an "up and at em" presentation The Sony cdp? its warmness I like but like you say, lacks finesse.
@@planet_oith If, in the future, you make your mind to buy a good CD player or DAC, take a look a this very good and exaustive CD/DAC list: vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm. Search for CDPs DACs that have inside the best R2R DAC chips like Philips TDA1540, Philips TDA1541A, Burr-Brown PCM56, PCM63, PCM1702, PCM1704, Analogic Devices AD1862 and AD1865. If you want to grab the best of the best among laser/transport mechanisms you will need to hunt machinery wit Philips CDM0, Philips CDM1, Philips CDM1-MKII, Philips CDM9, Philips CDM4, Sony KSS 151A, Sony KSS 190A, Sony BU-1 and TEAC VRDS CMK-3.2. Cheers.
Do you sell this?
Sorry but It´s already sold, some months ago.