Adding CDs to the Desert Sessions

My wife and I have the good fortune of being snowbirds: winter in Phoenix and summer in Minneapolis. I have really enjoyed building a stereo system for Phoenix. It combines redundant equipment I had in Minneapolis with new equipment I purchased for Phoenix. Here is a summary of the rig I refer to as the “Desert Sessions.”

In Minneapolis, I have an extensive collection of CDs and vinyl LPs. I brought down a bunch of LPs the first winter and more each subsequent winter. Naturally, I bought more LPs in Phoenix. My rule is that LPs can only travel one way: LPs that have moved from Minneapolis to Phoenix must stay in Phoenix, and vice versa. This year, I brought some CDs to complement the LPs. One problem: I did not have a CD player in Phoenix.

I have been collecting CDs since the mid-80s – shortly after they entered the consumer market. I stopped collecting vinyl LPs during the CD era, but I had the good sense not to get rid of them. In the early days of the vinyl renaissance, around 2010, I started switching back to vinyl when possible, as many new releases were unavailable on vinyl. By 2020, pretty much all new releases were available on vinyl. I rarely buy a CD anymore. But given my vast collection, I still listen to them, so I wanted a CD solution in Phoenix.

I did a lot of research, talked to friends of the Arizona Audio Visual Club (AAVC), and talked to people on various audio-focused FaceBook groups. People were very generous in their responses. After talking to them, I came up with requirements for the CD player for the Desert Sessions:

• The CD solution needed to be under $500.
• The player must play Redbook, SACD, and DVD-A discs (I have an Oppo in Minneapolis that can do this).
• The CD solution needs to have RCA outputs to connect to my amp.
• The player needed to be black to match the rest of the Desert Session audio components – I know aesthetics should not matter to an audiophile, but they do to me.

After talking to people about my requirements, I narrowed it down to two options: an integrated CD player or a CD transport with an external DAC. To buy time, I brought an old Blu-ray player to Phoenix. I was disappointed playing CDs on the old Blu-ray: it sounded terrible, and the transport was noisy – I could even hear the transport with headphones on. This escalated my urgency to find a solution.

The integrated CD player option was problematic, as they only played Redbook CDs in my price range. Some inexpensive Blu-ray players played SACDs and DVD-A discs but did not have analog RCA outputs and required an external DAC. CD transports coupled with a decent external DAC were more than I wanted to spend.

Talking to one of my AAVC buddies, he suggested an inexpensive Blu-ray player from Sony (Sony UBP-X800M2) and that he could build me a DAC from spare parts – best of all, he would gift the DAC to me for free! This would meet most of my requirements, except that the DAC could not play DSD (the format of SACDs and most DVD-A discs). However, if you change a setting on the Sony (playback to PCM), the DAC can accommodate SACDs. The Sony was like my Oppo – it could play virtually any shiny disc (except maybe coins). But it was OK that the DAC can’t play DSD as I only brought Redbook CDs to Phoenix (I don’t have that many SACDs and DVD-A discs anyway). This would be a great interim solution to get me through this winter, and next winter, I can upgrade the DAC to play DSD (if I find that I play CDs enough to justify this). A bonus is that I can run my Bluesound Node streamer through the DAC – an upgrade to that device’s sound.

My buddy gave me a DAC based on an Orchard Audio Pecan-Pi (revision 3.0). It uses dual Burr-Brown (TI) PCM1794A DAC chips. It was wired with AgentPur silver wire on the analog side, which gives the DAC additional warmth to its sound. I have nicknamed it the “Joey G DAC” after his audiophile-focused YouTube channel.

Once I had the DAC, my first step was to connect the DAC to my Bluesound Node streamer. Without even an A/B comparison to the Node’s onboard DAC, I instantly detected a warmer sound from the Orchard DAC – wow!

A few days later, I did a quick A/B of the Node’s onboard DAC with the Joey G DAC (my reference recording was David Gilmour’s Luck and Strange via Tidal 24bit/96 kHz FLAC). The Joey G DAC was, hands down, preferable. It was much brighter (in a good way)—it was like having a blanket lifted off my speakers. It’s almost as significant as converting a 320 MP3 to a high-res FLAC. I quickly lost interest in the Node’s onboard DAC.

Once the Sony arrived, it was on to the business at hand: playing CDs. The Sony UBP-X800M2 is a bare-bones unit, except for its capacity to play nearly every disc audio format: CD, SACD, DVD, DVD-A, Blu-ray 4K UHD Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D. In addition, it can play audio files via the front of the unit USB or by connecting (hard wired or wireless) to a file server on your home network. The file formats it can play are MP3, AAC, WAV, ALAC, FLAC, and DSD 11.2Mhz. There is no display – you need to connect to a monitor or TV for display information and settings (this is pretty standard on Blu-ray players as their primary purpose is video). There are no analog outputs, so you need an external DAC or home theater receiver. The only outputs are digital coax and HDMI.

I hooked the Sony to the Joey G DAC via a digital coax output on the Sony and the digital coax input on the DAC. Voilà I was in business. I have nothing to A/B the Sony/DAC, too, but I listened to a couple of CDs, and they sounded fantastic—warm would be the key feature. There was no classic CD harshness that caused ear fatigue. To quote Joey G: “The glare is gone, and when you crank the volume, your ears don’t bleed. It’s not the same as vinyl, but it’s nice nonetheless.” Here are the first two CDs I listened to:

The Sony revealed fresh nuances on both CDs – more so on the Radiohead than the Stones, as more is happening with the Radiohead album. I am not going to wax poetically about the sound; the important thing is that I am delighted with this Sony/external DAC solution, mainly because it cost me less than $250. I still need to figure out how to listen to SACDs via DS. I realize not everyone has access to a friend who can provide a free DAC, but a similar quality DAC as the Joey G can be acquired inexpensively. I am grateful for all the generous advice I got from AAVC members and the various FaceBook audiophile group members.

Desert Sessions 4.0 (Winter 2024/2025):