Parasound C/DP-1000
A rack-width CD player that doubled as a transport. It had an 18-bit Burr-Brown converter inside, and an optional output module that turned it into a serious digital front end.
Overview
The first thing you notice about the C/DP-1000 is the width. It is full rack-mount, about three inches tall, the same chassis format Parasound used across its separates. It was built to sit next to the company's converters and preamps, not on a bookshelf. The rear panel shows it. Besides the analog outputs and the standard RCA coaxial S/PDIF digital output, there is an IEC a.c. cord connector and a mini phone jack for an external infrared remote-control repeater, so the unit could be controlled from another room.
The C/DP-1000 works two ways. As a standalone CD player it runs its own internal DAC, an 18-bit Burr-Brown PCM67. As a transport it feeds an external converter through its digital output. The idea was to buy the player now and add one of Parasound's outboard D/A converters later. The review sample that Audio (March 1995, p.60) examined carried the Advanced Digital Adapter Module, or ADAM. It was a $225 option that adds an AES/EBU balanced XLR output and an AT&T (ST) optical connector. Parasound claimed at the time that this was the only user-installable output module with AES/EBU and ST outputs it was aware of, and that fitting it took under two minutes.
That modular output is what separates the C/DP-1000 from a plain consumer player. An ST glass-fiber output and a balanced AES/EBU connector were the serious-transport interfaces of the mid-nineties. Because they sat on a user-installable card, the player could be upgraded rather than replaced. Audio (March 1995, p.60) also noted that Parasound offered a CD changer sibling, the C/DC-1500, at $650, with the same feature set.
Performance and Reception
The reviewer, Bascom H. King, was candid that the player's measured performance did not match the caliber of Parasound's companion D/AC-1000 converter. On the bench, the player was the weaker half of the pair. Output resistance came in at a rather high 1 kilohm. King also observed that distortion near 20 kHz was real, the product of difference tones beginning to appear from aliasing. He noted Parasound's stated design decision that a separate anti-aliasing filter would diminish sound quality. Interchannel crosstalk, by contrast, was outstanding, equal to or better than 115 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Square-wave and impulse responses showed linear-phase behavior, and the absolute output polarity was correct.
The listening verdict was warmer than the bench numbers might suggest. King found the C/DP-1000 as a CD player quite favorable. Recordings that tended to sound irritating on his higher-resolution gear played back in a refreshingly listenable manner, though with some loss of ultimate resolution. Fed into the D/AC-1000 over an ST glass-fiber cable, the pair had good balance top to bottom, an excellent sense of space, well-defined and tuneful bass, and an airy, generally low-irritation sound. He singled out the drawer operation as especially pleasing and reported no operational problems beyond the need for the supplied ST optical adaptor with certain transports.
One quirk: the sampling-frequency indicator lights on the companion converter refused to respond to changes in incoming sampling frequency during the review, with the 44.1-kHz light staying lit. Parasound attributed this to shipping damage, which the reviewer found reasonable. That is a converter-side issue rather than a player one.
Living With One
The C/DP-1000 can still do what it did in 1995. It works as a CD player on its own, or as a transport feeding an outboard DAC through its coaxial output or, if the ADAM module is fitted, its AES/EBU or ST optical output. Buyers should confirm which output configuration a given unit has, since the ADAM was an option and not every player left the factory with the XLR and ST connectors. The IR repeater jack on the rear is useful for anyone running the player in a closed rack or a second room.
Treat the C/DP-1000 as a period digital front end rather than a reference transport. Its internal converter is the 18-bit Burr-Brown PCM67, and the reviewer's own conclusion was that the player sat a notch below the matching converter on the bench. The high 1-kilohm output resistance is worth checking if the player is going into a preamp with unusual input characteristics.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.