CD player, options?

MouthBoy

MouthBoy

MouthBoy

Soldato
Joined
6 Apr 2010
Posts
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Location
Cambridgeshire
Hi all,

I am thinking of getting a cd player to go with my setup for when I just want to listen to my music without my pc being on. I currently have a CA Azur 351a amp, CA DacMagic 100 and CA Aero2 speakers. I love the sound of the setup so not looking to change anything but add to it. I have many CDs and am buying more all the time, so also not interested in streaming services if anyone thinks they may suggest some instead. I enjoy physical media as much as listening to it.

I am not set on CA equipment, but I would like it to be black. Budget of between 200-300. It must do gapless play back and have optical out.

Any ideas? I have been looking at some from Richer Sounds but wanted to ask a wider audiance.

Thanks
 
Had looked at that but I really do not like the look of it.

The others I had looked at where the Yamaha CDS300 as this fits all my requirements but I am unsure if they have tried to do too much on one unit for the price it is, the Onkyo C7030 as I remember my parents using Onkyo when they needed to replace some older Technics equipment and it still works to this day - so good for my confidence of build quality an the last I was looking at was the Cambridge CXC Black. It does not have a DAC in it but I already have one so that would be fine. I am drawn to the fact that is has a single purpose of reading the CDs and lets other devices do the rest. Am I being drawn into the "hype" (for want of a better expression) on this idea though?
 
I am no audiophile (although I am working on it, a little!) but my ears are alright. Since going to "higher end" audio I have really started to notice more in music that I have listened too over the last 20years (I am 31) and its like, "oh wow, I never heard it like that before" which is great. It is really refreshing, hence I am looking for a purer experience. At the moment all my CDs are ripped to FLAC on my PC and played via MusicBee, through the DAC (USB at 192k), to the AMP and to the speakers. It works really well when I am on my PC and want to 'flick' between songs, but sometimes when working I just want to put on a CD and play it through. I work on my laptop and use my PC just for music during the day which seems like a waste.

Thank you for telling me about the CXC that you personally owned, very useful to get an actual 'experience of' comment. Why did you replace/get rid of it?
 
Sounds like some good advice and glad to hear you didn't sell it due to problems. I shall go look at one in the new year and have a listen.

I looked at Tidal but honestly buying CD's even to rip and keep, suits to me so much more. I rarely like modern 'music' and Tidal just does not stock what I would listen too. I also looked at Spotify premium but again the music I listen too is not always on there.

Just to throw a curve ball, any SACD players anyone recommends? I have a handful of SACD's and they have been ripped at 24bit to my PC but it would be great to see how they sounded through a SACD player. I can see they are for sale on RS but at £700 its a little steep for me. Was there a reason SACD did not catch on? I guess it might be similar to that of today's music where the mass market does not have the hardware to make use of FLAC over MP3, so not worth the investment?
 
TALON1973 said:
I'd throw a curveball on this..... I'd try and find a panasonic ub900 4k player. It's a great cd player.
Click to expand...

Can I ask what you base this recommendation on? Looking at it I cannot see anything that jumps out at me to be a great CD player. If it did SACD I may consider it more, but as it would never be attached to a TV it would be hard to justify - of course that is unless I am completely missing something?
 
I see what you are saying but save for a few albums bought from Bandcamp, most of my music is CD only so only 16bit. The HDD with music on is what I want to get away from. I can use my PC for hi res files or my Fiio DAP. I will still check it out but CD playback is my priority.
 
I genuinely enjoy the physical CD part of it. I guess you could liken it to records for some. Don't get me wrong, some albums will never be played on it due to having only a few tracks i like, but I also have many that I can put in the disc, press play and enjoy all the way through.

Also I have realised that I have my PC on for 40hours a week simply for music. I have no interest in a NAS at this time either, that's a next house thing where I put ethernet round the house.

I also like looking at my CD collection and I think of them like bluray discs to others. I enjoy the collecting.
 
Today I decided to get my not fully working Technics SL-PJ46A CD player out of storage to see if I could fix it. I did this because my wife wants to make sure that I would actually use a CD player if I bought one - which is actually very wise.

I took it apart today and it looked so clean for 28 years old but could not identify the problem. It skips very easy by itself or by any vibration near it. I cleaned the laser and then my wife noticed something obvious. A spring had dropped off a retention plate that holds the CD in place when spinning. Placing the spring back in place seems to have solved all the issues I was getting. As an added bonus it has gapless playback and has optical out so it is now attached to my DAC.

I am going to use this for a while and if I am still using it in a few months look to upgrade. Although I love the retro 80s design, it does have a very low mechanical noise when playing that I can just hear when sat at my desk, and I mean -just- hear. If it was on a shelf somewhere I would not notice, but I am sat very close to it so it is audible between tracks which is distracting. Still a great little CD player though and means that the rest of my Technics stack in storage makes a full system...just need the space to setup now....time for a new house?
 
Off to Richer Sounds today to take a look at options. Technics has started playing up again and I am not knowledgeable enough to fix it. It is almost 30 years old so it's had a good run.
 
MagicBoy said:
Might just need a bit of lubrication. The grease on the transport of my 90s CD-63 had gone crusty and it started skipping mid track. Clean up and some fresh silicon grease and it was fine again.
Click to expand...

Took it apart and it looks new in there, really impressed for the age. Nothing looks broken or damaged, and all moving parts are working as far as I can see. Compressed air from a distance is enough to move the laser so it's not having any issues there.
 
CXC.jpg


Yea so that happened...

Sounds so good, which is something I would have never thought I would say about a CD Player/Transport. Very well matched to my amp and speakers in my opinion. Thanks for all the advice in here by the way. I know I did not act on the 4K player option, but I feel I got the best for me with the options presented.

I paid £240 for it from Richer Sounds if anyone is interested. The silver was £300 and the black was meant to be £250, but the sales rep just gave me discount without me even asking. Very knowledgeable man and thanked him for his time.
 
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