How does one shop for a CD player nowadays?
- Thread starter Mr Perch
- Start date
Spox
Tele-Meister
I gradually upgraded my separates from 1997-2010, re cd players I went from Ariston to Marantz to Cambridge Audio and stuck there with it matched to the same model of amp. They're nowhere near high end, about the £350/$500 mark each. I'm happy with them, if money was no object I'd buy a valve amp and upmarket cd player. The last upgrade which really rocked my boat was doubling my previous maximum outlay on a turntable to buy a Pro-ject turntable and the difference in sound was worth the doubling of my money, again, nowhere near high end, at todays rates it'd cost about £500/$680.
Re buying used, late last year I visited a friend I hadn't seen in a few years. He was using a burnt out old one piece hifi, cd player dead etc. He doesn't have the internet and I said I'd go online and source a cheap separates system for him and did so on ebay, took it to his place, set it up and found that it wasn't working properly. I took it to my local electrical engineer, the one recommended by the hifi separates chain store, and found that the tracking on the cd player needed repaired and the pots in the amp repaired, the speakers were fine though. Due to p&p costs not being covered by ebay and it being bought from different sellers it wasn't worth returning as I'd lose more money on top of the repair costs. My friend has never owned a separates system and decided after that that he didn't want to, I instead bought a cheap mini system for him which is lost in the supply chain somewhere three months later. The Aux channel on that though will take the tapedeck I bought as part of the separates, it's running slightly slow, each 90 minute tape last 93 minutes, I bought the same model of deck from another seller on ebay to digitise my own four figure tape collection and that's in at the same engineer as each 90 minute tape was lasting 97 minutes.
I'm left with a cd player, amp and speakers that whilst they're now in fine form after being serviced I have no use for them myself as I have a better system. Another friend expressed a desire to purchase them as his own seperates are done but when I visited it turned out he had another separates system sitting unused in his spare room, he'd bought it used from another friend for £1000/$1350 but the prospect of dismantling the broken one and moving the one in the spare room in its place was giving him the fear and as a friend I said that I'd do it rather than sell him the one I have but he's humming and hawing.
I'd honestly recommend buying new with if possible an extended warranty, I'm lucky in that the store I use offers a six year warranty for 10% of the price of the item. I'd have said buy used until I bought other peoples problems on ebay last year, if buying used try to buy from somewhere which isn't hundreds of miles away as was my case, if anything needs replaced you can travel within your own city to return it.
Re buying used, late last year I visited a friend I hadn't seen in a few years. He was using a burnt out old one piece hifi, cd player dead etc. He doesn't have the internet and I said I'd go online and source a cheap separates system for him and did so on ebay, took it to his place, set it up and found that it wasn't working properly. I took it to my local electrical engineer, the one recommended by the hifi separates chain store, and found that the tracking on the cd player needed repaired and the pots in the amp repaired, the speakers were fine though. Due to p&p costs not being covered by ebay and it being bought from different sellers it wasn't worth returning as I'd lose more money on top of the repair costs. My friend has never owned a separates system and decided after that that he didn't want to, I instead bought a cheap mini system for him which is lost in the supply chain somewhere three months later. The Aux channel on that though will take the tapedeck I bought as part of the separates, it's running slightly slow, each 90 minute tape last 93 minutes, I bought the same model of deck from another seller on ebay to digitise my own four figure tape collection and that's in at the same engineer as each 90 minute tape was lasting 97 minutes.
I'm left with a cd player, amp and speakers that whilst they're now in fine form after being serviced I have no use for them myself as I have a better system. Another friend expressed a desire to purchase them as his own seperates are done but when I visited it turned out he had another separates system sitting unused in his spare room, he'd bought it used from another friend for £1000/$1350 but the prospect of dismantling the broken one and moving the one in the spare room in its place was giving him the fear and as a friend I said that I'd do it rather than sell him the one I have but he's humming and hawing.
I'd honestly recommend buying new with if possible an extended warranty, I'm lucky in that the store I use offers a six year warranty for 10% of the price of the item. I'd have said buy used until I bought other peoples problems on ebay last year, if buying used try to buy from somewhere which isn't hundreds of miles away as was my case, if anything needs replaced you can travel within your own city to return it.
oldunc
Friend of Leo's
I bought a preamp on EBay, figured there wouldn't be a problem with solid state electronics. However, I believe it had been beat up some, possibly used for a DJ setup- it mostly works fine, but some of the connections- the selector switch and one of the outputs- are iffy, and occasionally I'll get some fuzz or a channel will drop out. I live with it, I couldn't afford a new unit of equivalent quality, but I can't say I was really happy with the purchase.
bottlenecker
Poster Extraordinaire
What DAC is in your player?
DennyBob521
TDPRI Member
Same here! My 2021 RAM has no CD, only USB inputs. If I didn’t have Apple Music I’d be lost - I can’t listen to the radio any longer.
I bought an external CD/DVD writer/reader (my Mac also has no disc slot). I’m making my four foot stack of CDs into mp3 files.
But . . . I hung on to my vinyl, and now albums I bought for $6.99 are selling for $50
just bought a Bluetooth turntable.
Refugee
Tele-Afflicted
I got a great deal on a used 2010 Corolla. The coolest bonus was it came with a 6 disc changer and really good sounding JBL speakers. It even has the skip up and down buttons on the steering wheel. I was totally stoked. It only had 70,000 miles on it, woohoo! Runs like a champ.
Oh, and to the OP, yeah BluRay player will play just about anything. With a remote.
desert_dweller
TDPRI Member
you're right, i'd completely forgotten that i have it running through an external DAC into my receiver.
Mr Perch
Tele-Afflicted
I'm planning to gamble $65 on this sucker:
wyclif
Tele-Afflicted
I think the death of the CD format has been greatly exaggerated. Lots of people still own CDs and need new CD players.
It looks like you're in LA. If you can't find what you want stateside, I would suggest shopping from a southeast Asian source. I've spent a lot of time in that region, and CDs are still quite popular down there. When I've been in electronics stores there, I still see lots of CD players for sale—everything from budget to high-end.
It looks like you're in LA. If you can't find what you want stateside, I would suggest shopping from a southeast Asian source. I've spent a lot of time in that region, and CDs are still quite popular down there. When I've been in electronics stores there, I still see lots of CD players for sale—everything from budget to high-end.
Spox
Tele-Meister
How did it work out?
This week after being disappointed with second hand tape decks still running slow even after a service I dropped $500 on a brand new Teac tapedeck and good cable to connect to PC. There was a choice of one new tapedeck hence the outlay. It arrived day after I went into the shop and ordered but because the cable is a long run that hasn't arrived yet. I'll be getting $400 back selling an amp/cd/tapedeck/monitor speakers to a friend, they're spares and lower spec than my own hifi so this leaves an outlay of $100 which is a lot less of a hit than $500.
howardlo
Tele-Afflicted
I'm amused by the recommendations for using a Play Station, etc. for playing CDs. I would imagine that many of those regularly using CDs and looking for a CD player have ever owned a game console. I am 74 and have never owned one, or even have ever used one.
DougM
Poster Extraordinaire
When my $600 20 year old Arcam CD player died I went to Walmart and got a $40 Sony DVD player to tide me over until I could get a proper $300-400 player from one of the hi-fi brands that still make relatively affordable ones, and, much to my surprise, it sounds better than the Arcam, even on the analog RCA out, so I feel no real need for anything more expensive. Obviously, if you're using the digital out into a DAC or an amp with a DAC then the player is only a transport, but I was amazed at how good the DAC and the analog output stage is in the $40 Sony. The only drawback is that there's no display, but that doesn't bother me, because I always play a CD all the way through, and even if I didn't it's easy to skip to the track you want with the remote.
Mr Perch
Tele-Afflicted
Sounds great -- it has that DAC that other posters mentioned. The carousel seems a bit sluggish, possibly from physical wear. I hope it doesn't crap out.
