which second hand CD Player up to £300

CircleFaust

CircleFaust

CircleFaust

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my marantz cd67 has become very temperamental.

i want to get a great second hand player of ebay.

what should i consider? would i get a Naim for £300
what are you using

any suggestions appreciated :)
 
You may get an older Naim for 300 notes, the newer ones the CD5 and CD5i go for 350 upwards, but you might get lucky as i've seen some seriously good stuff go for not much in no reserve auctions. Like some B+W nautilus floorstanders going for less than 200 quid :eek:

Having a look there are a few for less than 300, there is a nice CD5 going for 650 at the moment though, seriously tempted myself tbh.
 
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Naim CD3 is doable for £300 ish. Some say it's better than the 5 anyway. I picked up a CD3 for £260, but it turned out to be an early 3.5 (still badged as a 3 though).

You can also look into the Marantz CD17 series which are apparently quite good too.

Are you looking to buy from eBay/classifieds, or from a shop?
 
Assuming you already have a DVD player, stuff a decent quality DAC on the back end.
A Dvd player isn't the greatest transport ever, but on a modest system the differences won't be that great from adding a dedicated transport.
For info, I recently compared my DAC against a Naim CDX2, and prefered the DAC I have (though the DAC does have a dedicated PSU).
Note that it's only my personal preferences though, and system synergy is important. Naim kit is very boppy, great beat to it, quite driving, just far from tonally accurate. My DAC is very tonally accurate, but doesn't have the same drive to it.
Having said all of that, my DAC costs around £140, whilst the CDX2 is £2600+.
 
i've really been looking to buy from ebay. there are few shops around that sell second hand, plus they are sure to be looking more than i could get on ebay.

having said this don't you find it's getting harder to bag a bargain on ebay. i've watched auctions where the items sell for close to what you would get it for new
 
If you can push your budget also look out for a Linn Genki, not quite such a one trick pony as the Naim, as highlighted by Mr_S.
The DIY DAC route will be your cheapest option.

Re Auction sites...... Yes... sometimes more than dealers sell used for !!!!!
It's ok for people who know there product/item well and it's values and bid as such.... do your homework.... and be prepared to wait !!
Try also,
www.exdem.co.uk
www.adverts.hififorsale.com/home.asp
www.hifitradingstation.com
 
Hi Cruiser,

Your options are quite open really as there are so many different makes out there. Any of the suggestions so far would happily solve your CD player woes!

Personally, i own a Cyrus CD7Q. It's been a revelation and i've never felt the need to replace it in the 3+ years i've had it! Don't know how much they go for now but it shouldn't be too much more than your budget if you can stretch!

Before it i owned a fairly expensive Sony unit (CDP930 uk edition i think) and then a couple of B&O stereo's the last of which was the Beosystem 7000. In 1995 the cd player alone was an £800 unit.

The move to cyrus was more luck than judgement as i'd never personally heard them in action - just seen reviews! It did turn out to be an awesome decision though. A £1050 CD player for only £400. :cool: What a bargain and what a performance! Tight fast rythmical bass - not too sharp and perfectly resolved! The Q in it's name relates to the Q dac. This doubled the number of dac's in the unit and beefed up resolution. Cyrus are known for music that's fast and accurate but lacks a little body. The Q dac completely solved that and made a highly versatile and capable player!

These days they are as rare as hens teeth but can be found if you're lucky. There's one on a certain major auction site at the moment in fact! :eek:

If you need more info simply google the name - they've been widely reviewed!

Hope that helps?! :)

gt_junkie
 
go here richersounds [hope not a competitor]? if it is dons delete... some great bargains to be had.

why buy secondhand?
 
^ ta

regarding the cyrus on eshay. is the power supply the extra box in the second pic? looks more like an amp

gun9: i just reckon i can get a superior player for at least two or three hundred pounds cheaper than new.
generally people buying seperates look after their equipment so

do richersounds sell second had?
 
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Gun9 said:
go here richersounds [hope not a competitor]? if it is dons delete... some great bargains to be had.

why buy secondhand?
Click to expand...


Because you get much more for yor money. Lets say you go to Richersounds or anywhere with 300 quid, your going to get an entry level or slightly higher marantz, Nad, or cambridge audio, and a couple of others, now spend 300 quid second hand and you can get an older cd player that is superior to what you could get new, andmakes like Arcam, Linn, Naim etc, etc become available which cost 500 quid upwards new or for the equivelent piece of kit now.
 
The Cyrus CD7Q is meant to be awesome, but are pretty rare. I've got a DAD3Q24 which is also excellent and should easily be in your budget now. Both players compete for Cyrus' top spot and rival their newer players. There is also the option of the separate power supply which is meant to make the sound better, although without the money to buy one I don't know how much better.
 
If you can find any of their fmj (full metal jacket) range then they'd be the best - but may be out of your budget unless your real lucky! ;)

Alternatively the CD range CD 72, CD 82 etc would be ideal. There's a silver 82 on that major auction site i mentioned earlier. It's sat at £199 with no bids and 1 day to go! Also, for a bit more a black CD 93T (t for cd text capability) at £205 with 2 days to go. This would be even better (near fmj standard) and may well finish somewhere close above your own budget so you may get it if you can stretch your funds!

Finally, if you don't mind something thats grey, ugly and looks a bit dated then the Alpha 9 is a great player! Plus, many users had their power supplies and dacs modded to improve performance. If you can find one of those then you'd be quids in!!!

gt_junkie
 
Arcam have made great players! Take the one's i've listed - no one could easily argue that they were poor! The CD 92, modded Alpha 9 and any fmj are all very highly acclaimed!!! A friend of mine has a CD62 that he got for next to nothing and it performs admirably!

The lower end Linn kit you'd be looking at tends to sound more mellifluous and warm. They concentrate more on home install so that type of inoffensive sound works very well. They do have ultra high end kit but that's way over your budget. 10's of k's of pounds! :eek:

Richer sounds do have a couple of interesting players in their own Cambridge Audio range. Take a look at the 640C V2. At £250 it's well within your budget but was raved about in What Hifi quoted here:

"However, if you've got an extra 50 quid spare, it's worth checking out the 640C V2.0. It's such an accomplished player, that even some designs costing almost twice as much will struggle to cope with this calibre of performance."

That could well be worth a look! :cool:
 
my mates got the 640c what a really well made player it is.

got the matching amp to go with it,sounds great for 500 pounds!
 
gt_junkie said:
Arcam have made great players! Take the one's i've listed - no one could easily argue that they were poor! The CD 92, modded Alpha 9 and any fmj are all very highly acclaimed!!! A friend of mine has a CD62 that he got for next to nothing and it performs admirably!
Click to expand...

Listening to any kit is a personal thing
If you enjoyed the Arcam gear you heard, then good on you.
Personally I now wouldn't give any of it the time of day, but that's probably because I have different preferences on presentation style. Note that I AM an ex Arcam owner.
So I most certainly can argue that they are poor, IMO.
 
Hi Mr_Sukebe,

I've heard you and other's mention your dac - is it something that is widely available or a quality home made affair?

I'd be very interested in something for that money as i quite fancy an upgrade! :cool:

Sorry for the slight thread hijack Cruiser but i'm sure this'll interest you too! ;)
 
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