New CD player?

[BoneDigger]

I already have a nice record player. I am thinking it would be nice to add a decent co.ponent CD player. Any recommendations for under say $500?

[YamaYairi]

The Onkyo C-7030 is supposed to be very good.

[Steve DeRosa]

$399 @ Crutchfield:

https://tascam.com/us/product/cd-rw900mkii/top

[Borderdon]

I second the Tascam recommendation, I have it’s near cousin, it’s performed flawlessly for years, with quite reasonable fidelity.
I’ve had many players, some quite $$ and the above is a winner IMHO.
Happy Hunting !

[Brucebubs]

Why not go for something like a Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra High Definition Blu-Ray player with High Resolution Audio?

Lists for $250 here in Australia - that's only US$180

I use my older model Sony BDP-S580 Blu-Ray player to play everything nowadays - Blu-Rays, DVD and CD's - it even plays Super Audio Compact Discs in 5.1 surround sound sound through the HDMI connection to my AV Receiver.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by YamaYairi

The Onkyo C-7030 is supposed to be very good.

I've still using my almost 30 years old Onkyo 5 disc R1....

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

I've still using my almost 30 years old Onkyo 5 disc R1....

My Pioneer PD-6050 is 34 years old - still plays OK but only shop CD's, doesn't like anything burned at home... which is why I mentioned the Blu-Ray player option ... it reads everything!

[seannx]

I use a 60 CD Technics player for my living room sound system, and two 5 DVD/CD/Video CD decks (a Sony and a Yamaha) for my bedroom one. The local audio/video repair expert told me that the older decks work just fine, and the difference in sound quality of the new, expensive single play ones isn’t worth the high price. I considered getting one, but having to change discs one by one isn’t at all appealing to me. I already have to do that with my high end vinyl turntable, plus turn the record over. It’s so nice and convenient to have 60 CDs available using a remote control on my main system, and 10 in the bedroom. I think the Technics deck was $60 on Craigslist, the Yamaha was $85, also on Craigslist, and the Sony was $15 at a yard sale.

[fitness1]

I'd give this some consideration....

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022CDS...03.html?tp=197

[Bob Womack]

I have a lovely Studer A730 deck with wonderful D/A converters. It's just the smoothest sounding thing. It cost $2500 in 1990 and a working example can draw $10,000. I worked with it at the studio for twenty years and then the drive began malfunctioning. I saved it from the dumpster after the engineers declared it not worth rebuilding. It took a couple of tried to boot a disc but it sounded so fantastic. Eventually however, the drive croaked.



But here's the thing: Before it died, I compared it to my cheap, run of the mill, $100 Sony BluRay-DVD-CD-Super Audio CD player fed directly to the receiver via USB and using the receiver's D/A. I was horrified to discover that twenty-five intervening years had yielded reproduction quality equaling it a fraction of the price.

I had to come down off my high-horse rather quickly.

Bob

[RJVB]

I'd second the suggestion to go for a BluRay player, as it will also allow you to play audio BRs from 2L Recoring (www.2l.no) and possibly others using that format.

What amp do you use? If it's an AV amp with digital inputs I'd get an old or cheap MSWin computer with an HDMI output, and drive the amp via that using Foobar2000 in bit-perfect/direct (Wasapi) output and whatever software you need for the BR player (possibly just VLC?). I made that switch years ago (Onkyo amp, btw), and have been ripping my CDs over the years. I'm not kidding myself that I can hear the difference between a good quality MP4 rip and the original under normal listening circumstances so I use that to keep the library size manageable on older hardware.

That aside, I'm partial to the NAD brand and wouldn't hesitate to get another one of their CD players.

[Slothead56]

This thread reminds me, once again, that I am a technological nincompoop….

Thanks….

[Mr. Paul]

People are ditching CD players ... both junk and really nice. I would recommend the used market. Local Craigslist or one of the audio forums.

[jseth]

Seems like CD players just "go out" after a number of years... not being an electro-type, I don't have the ways to fix them when they go sideways...

So I bought a cheap Sony player, about 5 years ago or so... $39 on Amazon. It's still working fine, although it's given me a few starts - locking up with a disc inside and the like... I checked on Amazon and you can still get them for well under $100...

Zero bells and whistles; just a player that sounds good and works fine. A bit of a pain to have a seperate remote, but, then again, I don't listen to many of my 1,000+ CDs very often.

I've had some nice CD players over the years, and this one sounds as good as any.

My "system' in my tiny home consists of an NAD 7600 ("Power Envelope"?) amp/preamp into B&W K Series bookshelf speakers... my Dad's old Dual turntable (modded for single play only) with a Pickering cartridge, and an NAD cassette deck... all but the speakers are pre-1990.

[BoneDigger]

Thanks everyone! As a secondary question... I was just planning on sending the signal to the same set of powered speakers I use with my turntable. Would I necessarily need an amp if I use powered speakers?