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Hi there,
In this thread:
/forum/imported-unmapped/newbie---beosystem-5000-reconditioning#post-2197265
Location: Flensborg————Danmark
I tend to agree with Peter on the 5500 (6500/7000) if we are talking about specs and techs.
However, soundvise I would prefer the Beogram CD X or CD50 any day. They are just so warm and voluminous.
Martin
I agree with Martin, and I have a firm preference for old mellifluous (some would say "fluffy") CD players like the Philips CD100 and 104.
Even a Sony CDP-101 charms me!
The 5500 is very good too, but brighter, less "analogue".
The CD5500 has the best D/A converter - the TDA1541A and also has the brushless motor. As usual with B&O, the bean counters despecced the motor for the CD6500 and 7000. I can't tell the difference between any of these by the way!!
On sound quality, the CDX certainly sounds more analogue - it uses the 14bit TDA1540 DAC and does sound very good. It suffers at the very top end in comparison with the 5500 and indeed more modern CD players - I took it to compare with some modern CD players and it held its head up with anything up to £1500. The Naim CD555, which costs some telephone number, was audibly better! I can understand people liking this deck but as with records, it is probably distortion that we like!!
My B&O Icons:
THANKS!
Is there any special thing to look for when byuing the 5500?
Does a list of the DACs used in the Bang & Olufsen CD players exist?
Greetings Millemissen
Location: Flensborg————Danmark
Hi Orava - and thanks!
does that mean that the 5500, the 6500 and the CDX2 have identical DACs? - It seems so!
The 2 x by the CDX - does that mean that it had one for each channel?
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And how about the CD7000?
How about the CD3500/4500 and the newer ones?
Does anyone have information on them?
I currently use the CD4500 with which I am quite content. But I have no idea which DAC is in it - and I do not have the guts to open it up ;-(
Greetings Millemissen
Location: Flensborg————Danmark
Yes CDX has one each channel. I think CD7k is like 5500, 6500... Correct if I am wrong.
CDX2 vs X500... I guess not identical, X500 has more B&O in it, designvise.
4500 has 1541 (again ?) Maybe I open one I have in que.
Interestingly, things are not that straightforward! B&O seemed to have a slight scatter gun approach to the DACs and you will sometimes find that the TDA1541A appear in CD players which are supposed to have the lesser TDA1541 and vice versa!
The CD5500 is very much a designed by B&O CD player with the CDX being a clone of a Philips and even made in the Philips factory in the Netherlands. The CDX2 again was really a Philips machine along with the CD3300 sister machine. The really interesting one was the CD50 which was largely a Aiwa machine but it varied massively between models with almost everyonr being subtley different! Makes the service manual interesting anyway! It also had the amusing characteristic that it only had one Burr Brown DAC, of extremely high quality which was single channel. There was a switching mechanism so it alternated rapidly between the two channels. Sounds good but not a very reliable machine in my experience.
My B&O Icons:
The 4500 is not quite as complicated as the CD5500 - which has a very elegant electronic design - but is a fine sounding machine. Some do have TDA1541As in - I talked to Tim Jarman about this and he has found a variety of DACs in most machines. The CD5500 always seems to have the A model though there is talk of some having the fabled P model which is a selected version of the A. Mine has an A!!
Before this goes much further, I can't tell one TDA1541 machine from another whether A or not! Nothing to lose sleep over! 😁
My B&O Icons:
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