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Next Blu Ray upgrade?

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atkins4725
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Evening all,

The time has come to replace my CA 650bd. Players I'm looking at are the CA 751 or a Marantz unit to match my SR 7005. I'm not a massive techno guru and I'm struggling to workout wich Marantz unit would be an all round upgrade and not just a side step. 

The CA I can take home and audition but the Marantz I can't!! Should the UD7006 provide a noticeable upgrade with both music and movies over my 650bd???

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Philips 56PFL9954H, Sky HD, Marantz SR 7005, CA 751bd, Monitor audio Apex, Chord Prodac, Chord active HDMI's, Chord chorus 2, Chord odyssey 2, Atacama equinox rack.

bigboss
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

If you let your receiver decode audio, you shouldn't notice any improvement. If you let your player decode audio, the difference will be very small. Only you can decide if that tiny difference is worth the upgrade, especially if your current player is working perfectly. 

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

atkins4725
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

The player is always set to bitstream with movies so the player does the decoding. The analogue outs are used with chord chorus 2 interconnects when cd's are playing.

Surely, the difference with between the 650 & 751 should be very noticeable, should it not??? 

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Philips 56PFL9954H, Sky HD, Marantz SR 7005, CA 751bd, Monitor audio Apex, Chord Prodac, Chord active HDMI's, Chord chorus 2, Chord odyssey 2, Atacama equinox rack.

bigboss
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

atkins4725 wrote:

The player is always set to bitstream with movies so the player does the decoding. The analogue outs are used with chord chorus 2 interconnects when cd's are playing.

Surely, the difference with between the 650 & 751 should be very noticeable, should it not??? 


Only you can decide that with an audition. Report back! Smile

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

DandyCobalt
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

I did a 1 hour comparative test at richer Maidstone when the 751 came out. Vs a 650. The 751 won hands down in terms of sound and image, and is better than my Cyrus prexpdqx and pioneer lx53 for dacs.  I posted on this site somewhere.  The  transport is better too.  Go for it.

 

Ah, here it is...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/home-cinema/cambridge-audio-bd751-vs-bd650...

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Chewy
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

atkins4725 wrote:

The player is always set to bitstream with movies so the player does the decoding. 

If the player is set to bitstream, the amp is doing the decoding, not the player. In which case changing the player for a change in sound quality should (in theory) have little to no impact.

If you are using an analogue connection for CD's there may be a difference in CD playback quality.

atkins4725 wrote:
 Surely, the difference with between the 650 & 751 should be very noticeable, should it not??? 

What BigBoss said!

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bigboss
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

Chewy wrote:

atkins4725 wrote:

The player is always set to bitstream with movies so the player does the decoding. 

If the player is set to bitstream, the amp is doing the decoding, not the player. In which case changing the player for a change in sound quality should (in theory) have little to no impact.

Oh yeah, didn't notice that bit in OP's post!

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

atkins4725
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

bigboss wrote:

Chewy wrote:

atkins4725 wrote:

The player is always set to bitstream with movies so the player does the decoding. 

If the player is set to bitstream, the amp is doing the decoding, not the player. In which case changing the player for a change in sound quality should (in theory) have little to no impact.

Oh yeah, didn't notice that bit in OP's post!

 

Cause it is, my mistake Laughing out loud

 

Well, my 650 is on its way out. Sometimes doesnt load blu rays at all, have to keep turning off the machine and then reloading the disc, software is up to date so it isn't that. I didn' really want multiple boxes hence the universal player 

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Philips 56PFL9954H, Sky HD, Marantz SR 7005, CA 751bd, Monitor audio Apex, Chord Prodac, Chord active HDMI's, Chord chorus 2, Chord odyssey 2, Atacama equinox rack.

bigboss
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

Ok, in that case, look at the upcoming Oppo 105 (apart from your shortlist). It's got some extremely useful features not found in any other blu ray player in the market.

http://hometheater.about.com/b/2012/09/19/oppo-formally-announces-bdp-10...

It should be launched this year.

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

strapped for cash
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

atkins4725 wrote:

Well, my 650 is on its way out. Sometimes doesnt load blu rays at all, have to keep turning off the machine and then reloading the disc, software is up to date so it isn't that. I didn' really want multiple boxes hence the universal player 

That's worrying. The 650 is hardly a cheap player and should last considerably longer. I know we live in a culture where everything seems immediately disposable, but if I bought a mid-to-high-end BDP I'd expect it to remain fully functioning for more than a couple of years! Such an experience would put me off buying another BDP from the same manufacturer.

bigboss
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

Agreed. My Panasonic BD60 still works flawlessly after more than 3 years of regular use.

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

gel
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

Lots of refurbished 650's on eBay.  Smile  My Pioneer still works great!

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woodster
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

My pioneer is good still and I absolutely do not need 3D, which will in my opinion is still a pain with those awful specs. It would have to be something spetacular to tempt me to upgrade for a while yet.

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System1-Roksan Kandy L3 amp, Audiolab 8200 CD, B&W CM8's, Sonos zp90, Appletv  for spotify via macbook pro. Russ Andrews Classic PowerKord on Roksan & Audiolab.

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atkins4725
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RE: Next Blu Ray upgrade?

Think im just gunna wait till the 650 pops its cloggs and buy a dedicated player and not go the universal route. Only thing now is i need to try and workout how much £££ to spend on a dedicated cd player without going over board taking in to account i'll be using the apex system for music aswell as movies.

My original buget was around £800 for the universal player but would this buy a cd player thats over the top for the apex??? 

I was considering the marantz pearl lite 

 

 

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Philips 56PFL9954H, Sky HD, Marantz SR 7005, CA 751bd, Monitor audio Apex, Chord Prodac, Chord active HDMI's, Chord chorus 2, Chord odyssey 2, Atacama equinox rack.

bigboss
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Why don't you buy a DAC

Why don't you buy a DAC instead?

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My Home Cinema  Pioneer KRP 500A, Yamaha RX-V1900, MA Radius R225HD LCR, R90HD rears, AW12 sub, Panasonic BD60, PS3, Boxee Box, Sky HD, Boxee Box, Logitech Harmony One, Logitech PS3 Adapter, Sonos ZP90

Bedroom Samsung UE32C6510, PS3 slim white, Apple TV, Sonos S5, Sonos ZP90, Audioengine 2, Oppo OPDV971H

Miscellaneous: Synology DS212J + 2 X WD Red 2TB drives, WD 1TB NAS, Sonos ZoneBridge, BT HH3 as modem & AirPort Extreme router

atkins4725
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RE: Why don't you buy a DAC

bigboss wrote:
Why don't you buy a DAC instead?

 

i've considered this and was looking at the Audiolab DAC. The only problems for me is that it adds yet another box. If the Audiolab DAC is considerably better than that of the Marantz pearl light (which has additional digital inputs) then I'll add It to my short list for a listen. 

I'm gunna have a read up anyway but do you know if the Audiolab DAC is any different to that which is in the 8200cd ???

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Philips 56PFL9954H, Sky HD, Marantz SR 7005, CA 751bd, Monitor audio Apex, Chord Prodac, Chord active HDMI's, Chord chorus 2, Chord odyssey 2, Atacama equinox rack.