[Howard Ferstler]

H-Bomb wrote:

I'm not a audiophile, but I can be picky. What I'm wondering is if buying a
DVD player instead of a cd player and using it just for my stereo (my TV &
DVD aren't used with my audio setup) will pose any problems in terms of
quality? Will sound quality be the same or worse? I can't imagine it'd be
noticeably better.

Not any better, for sure. However, I have also yet to notice
any sonic defects with CD playback from any of the DVD
players I have fooled with or reviewed. Interestingly, I
recently auditioned a Panasonic DVD recorder/VCR combo
device that had the best defect tracking abilities of any
disc playback device I have ever tried and sounded as good
as any CD or DVD player I have encountered. (Yeah, I am one
of those people who think that most good players, be they CD
or DVD, sound pretty much the same.) The advantage of
obtaining a DVD player is that it will work for you down the
line, should you decide to install a TV monitor in your
audio set up.

However, if you do not want a player with superfluous
features that you would find annoying a CD device would be
the obvious choice. One problem is that it might be hard
these days to even find an affordable CD player.

Regarding the flexibility of DVD player use, I should note
that a "conventional" DVD player will not play an SACD disc.
The player, being a DVD unit, will ignore the CD layer that
is configured for CD players and its circuitry will not be
able to handle the info on the SACD layer that it might be
able to track. On the other hand, a conventional DVD player
will be able to play the alternate DD or DTS surround-music
tracks on a DVD-A disc. DVD-A has that edge, if none other.

If you think that you would eventually want to obtain some
SACD (Sony super audio) releases to listen to their
two-channel CD or multichannel SACD tracks (assuming that
the format lasts long enough for discs to remain available
for sale), you have to use either a CD player or SACD
capable DVD player. Shop with that in mind.

Howard Ferstler