Need help buying a new CD Player NAD, Yamaha or Teac

I have sold all my Lp's ,Turntable and accessories so I can concentrate on one format CD's. I have a 300.00-350.00 budget and the units in contention are the Yamaha CD-S300 but the drawer looks like one on a inexpensive DVD player and does not fully extend out so you have to slide the cd edge wise to load. Then the NAD c516bee I dont know if the drawer extends out completely either but have read some good stuff about it. The Marantz cd5004 cdp I have read mixed reviews about it and the Teac CDH 750 is at the upper end of my limited funds. Any opinions from memebers who have owned or listened to and have first hand experience with any of them is really appreciated. For me this is a lot to spend on a CDP so I need to get it right. Thank You, Tim

 

Sound or reliability?

Sound - depends on your taste. Reliability - Yamaha if they actually still make it.

 

I have the Yamaha and for the price it's hard to beat.

I wouldn't worry for the drawer. No it's nothing special, but if something breaks it's easier and cheaper to repair than a fancier one.

The CD-S300 has very good connectivity and ease of use with an ipod if you have one. We plug my wife's ipod into it all the time.

As for the sound quality, I could not compare its sound to the other CD players you are currently shopping, but let's say I'm not looking to change it anytime soon.

 

I have been very happy with my Teac CD-P650. I had been using a Rega Jupiter, but decided to sell because of financial hardship.

 

I've had good luck w/ the NAD 546bee - reliable and sounds good to my ears (pretty good step up from my oppo 103 for CD playback). Should be pretty easy to find a gently used one in that price range.

 

I have the Marantz CD5004 and have not had one problem with it and it sounds great to my ears.

 

Thanks for the input. Hard to part with my analog stuff but I find myself buying the lp and the cd so I'm buying my music twice. I'm leaning towards the NAD or the Marantz. They have the Marantz at my local Best Buy so I'm going to give it a listen tomorrow and see what it sounds like.

 

Is the drawer design pretty sturdy on your NAD and does it open fully?

 

Yes, it opens fully, and I haven't had any problems w/ it. Have owned it for about 6 months

 

Lot of love on this and other fora for the Onkyo C-7030. Good build, nice sound quality, around £200 I think, worth shortlisting.

 

My Sony CD player died like a week after the Onkyo went back to full price. I may hold off and see if it goes back down. I'm using a Phillips DVD player for the moment and it works good but its a little on the noisy side, like the laser keeps reading ahead then going back my Blue Ray does the exact same thing on cd's also, must be the way dvd players handle cd's.

 

Yamaha out of those 3 brands for reliability. Teac acceptable. Tascam or Marantz Pro models much more reliable long term than most players now. Denon pro also good.

 

I'm going to check out the Marantz today when Best Buy opens up and give it a listen and a little abuse. They hate it when you give a unit a gentle wap to see how skip resistant it is. I only would do this at Best Buy not at a mom and pop without permission btw.

 

I'm going to be needing one soon as well (my current Technics is wonky) so please do let us know what you think as you test different ones out.

I too am hoping that Onkyo price drops again!

 

Dumping all your lps for cds? What is this? 1988?

Cambridge Audio should also have something in this price range. Or you might want to look for a used Rega Planet. You actually have a lot of options. I see a fair number of decent CD players getting dumped at Goodwill too, so if you're patient and lucky you may be able to find a real bargain.

 

I have a Yamaha 5 disc C-961 SACD/DVD player. Had it since the day it came out. The tray is a bit underwhelming and now needs a gentle sideways tap occasionally, to close, but I love the convenience of the feature. It has HTML and RCA connectors, but I prefer the sound of the analog outputs.

 

TASCAM makes a model for about $200 I'd have a look at. Amazon carries.

 

Stereophile had a write up on the Tascam and gave it good marks I may check into it , sound quality was supposed to be pretty good.

 

I just bought the Onkyo cdp7030 it dropped to 152.00 did not want it to jump back up so I pulled the trigger on it. Thanks for all the input.

 

just out of curiosity, how did the Marantz sound?

I was just looking at the Onkyo online this AM.

 

The Marantz sounded good but it is 399.00, it's hard to judge in a sound room enviroment. Audio memory is marginal at best but it reminded me of a Yamaha carousel I had before the laser quit. From what I've read the onkyo c 7030 may be edged out but not by much. I will know better after I can listen to the Onkyo when it arrives.