Sound quality; CD player compared to DVD player?

Can someone help me here please, I'm confused? Some people say dedicated CD players will always give better sound from Cd's than DVD players can, others tell me that a cheap upscaling DVD player (by cheap, I mean £30 or less) will sound as good a CD player costing several hundred £££. They tell me this is because almost as a byproduct, their ability to do what they do for DVDs means that the DACs they have to use handle Cd's exceptionally well.

I work with and tune antique musical instruments (a musical box generates sound, it doesn't reproduce it. Though limited to its programme, it is a musical instrument) and can appreciate music, but I have to accept that at 58, my hearing range is limited. I might no longer be able to hear a bee fart. Lucky me.....................

Now I haven't done any exhaustive tests in this regard, but I did dump a mid-level Denon DVD player because I couldn't stand the sound of CDs on it. I replaced it with a Sony DVP-S7000 (an early, $1K benchmark unit with a dedicated dual laser system) and have never regretted it. Great DVD picture/sound and exceptional CD sound (all for around $100/150 for a used unit). I also use a Sony CDP-508ESD in my office system. IMHO an upscale vintage system blows away modern cheapies. Oh, and my 60+ year old ears can still appreciate good sound, even if I can't hear all those high notes anymore.

My normal CD player is an old Mission DAD 7000 which I like the sound of very much.
I tried a DVD player £30 Philips DVP3120 as an experiment

Initially I preferred the Mission but now I find it difficult to tell the difference.
I tried playing a few CDs against CDRW copies & switching between these on the amp & in all cases preferred the original CD to the CDRW copy no matter what machine was playing the original.

To get more of level playing field I then made 2 copies of a CD The copies were made on Windows Media Player lossless)
switching between the CD & DVD is virtually seamless, though I still give the Mission a higher score for smoothness. But I then find after the Music takes hold, I forget which machine I am listening to & have to look at the amp switch to find out.
The difference is marginal.

Those were my findings a few months ago .. I've since tried a Rotel CD02 £350 player on the same basis test which I thought was terrible as it played about an Octave higher .. Piano awful & Pavarotti was a different guy .. it did allow more detail but had less musical attributes

It's dependent on your own ears & tastes & equipment

That's great guys, thank you. I've just read my original post again and must apologize for sounding like such a pompous twat. "And can appreciate music". Well duh; ain't I the pretty one~~~~~~~~~ This whole audio hobby to me is something I've come back to after a long absence. Back in the 1970's I had a hell of a good start. Bought a `Stereogram' made by Decca (UK) in the 1950's for £8. A far a I know this was their first stereophonic record player; horrible design (8 tube amplifier mounted directly below the record deck) but given a decent cartridge plus a pair of Lowther Acousta speakers, it was mind blowing. Also fuse blowing; despite slots in the back of the case, there was no way that thing could run cool.

Oh well; back to work.............................. Jim.

When we picked up our HDTV it was time to change to a progressive scan DVD player. Picked up a Sony combined DVD and VHS unit as we still have several VHS tapes. As far as my 77 year old ears can tell it does an excellent job with CDs as well as DVDs. Hmm, I'm not sure that I have ever heard a bee fart.

Couple of things to note about DVD players if used as a seperate CD player is that you first need to program them on a TV for 2 channel use & with the one I bought it was a bit slower to start & switch to other tracks. The text display on the player itself did not show track length but you could still use the remote. So Functionality was not the same or as good as a normal CD player. It did allow me to play SACD & other music formats though which my Mission does not. ASDA sell this Philips for about £29 with 28 day exchange so if you do not like it you won't be out of pocket.

Also, If you decide to try the dvd player option check to see if the particular player your considering has a "CD DIRECT" option. I use this feature on my Pioneer dvd player with much success.