Hi-End Portable CD Players?

Are there any "Hi-End" portable CD players out there anymore? With the influx of cheapo units (both disc based and solid-state MP3) over the last few years, I find myself longing for a well-built, great sounding portable for Redbook playback. Something along the line of a "Pro-sumer" unit, like some cameras can still be described as, would do me just fine.

Are you guys familiar with any players that are a cut above the usual?

Thanks!

 

The last time I heard about a killer portable CD unit was in Stereophile a few years ago. They were raving about an inexpensive Optimus player.

I doubt there are any "audiophile" type portable CD players anymore.

 

It seems to have heard that nexy years sony presents a sort of portable SACD. nothing for sure however.

 

I'd be shocked if Sony were to offer a portable SACD player now, but I'd welcome it with open arms!

 

Hi,

There is a high-end Marantz with professional type outputs. It also has pitch control and a higher output headphone amplifier.Costs about $900. Full specs can be found at Marantz Professional's web site.

 

As an occasional visitor to Head-Fi, where such topics are common, the overall consensus appears to be that the golden age of portable Cd players has long passed. Longer playing time, skip-free playback and other non-audio-phile related factors appear to be the agenda of most/all modern entries.

Interesting, when one considers that the late 80s and early 90s classics (Sony D-303 is a favorite) have less-than state-of-the-art DACs, but rather feature better op-amps and less signal path debris (undefeatable anti-skips).

The whole SACD format isn't a player in this arena, which may be a BIG factor in its less then stellar acceptance.

I admit, I listen to music more over headphones than speakers.

The Sony D-777 would seem to be the last of the greats, again according to my observations of many opinions. I recently bought a Bose PM-1 that I find much better than average, but I've found the mere suggestion that Bose makes anything above-average, often signals a mass of differing opinions, so let's keep it between us.

 

Not more than three months ago, in this forum i've read that Sony would release in september first CAR SACD player and next spring a portable model. Don't know if these are withdrawn, or not. Personally i've not interested, SACD are too delicate to take away.

 

Yes, it does seem to be the case that PCDP's are just not what they used to be. I'd be surprised if this trend doesn't continue, frankly.

I'm thinking that the trend is going to be towards higher quality HD-based players. It's a much more convenient way to take your tunes with, as compared to the size and other issues (skip-protection...ugh!) that go along with CD-based players. I know of at least one high-end manufacturer that is kicking around this idea. Furthermore, I think that a LOT of what I call the lug-able market (higher fidelity in portable gear that is particularly well-suited for use at the office) is going to be based around external USB soundcard/DAC stuff in the near future. To the extent that these portable CD players have decent optical outs, that's probably the best route to go.

The main reason that I don't think that we see superior performance in PCDP's any more is because the market in general isn't particularly sensitive to it. Let's face it, while there are a lot of us that congregate here, we're a bit of an oddity in the market for music and audio gear (particularly the portable stuff) - we actually care how good it sounds.

This is why I'd be pretty surprised if Sony released an SACD player...unless they're thinking that they'd really corner the market with it. It would have to be a vastly superior player to their current lineup for it to generate any interest...I mean, who wants an SACD player that outputs quality that's effectively 128kbps MP3? Besides, there isn't going to be any DSD flowing through the optical out, so external DACs are out of the question (at least for the SACD stuff). Oh, and if you thought that anti-skip was bad NOW...

That's my $0.02...

 

Do you think the ipods have taken away the manufacturers need to create a really good or high end pcdp? I do although I don't have an ipod and probably couldn't figure it out anyway.. I'd love a good portable to match up with my Headroom Little and Grado 80's for bedroom or on the road listening. I used to travel with the Radio Shack 3400 which had a digital out. I connected it to a Cal Gamma and then into the little and the sound was first rate. The 3400 wore out as has every portable I've replaced it with. I'm currently looking for a new pcdp. Beep

 

All of the supposedly unbelievable PDCPs are older. The people at Head-Fi know a lot about them, and many super old units can go for over $100 because they supposedly sound good and can power just about any headphones. Not just any old one is good, though, so check with them under "Portable Audio."

 

Any of the newer Sony's in the upper ranges have digital out, which should do a decent enough job in that application. Your 3400 was one of the better players out there in terms of it's analog out, and though today's players don't measure up IMHO, they do just fine feeding a DAC through a toslink cable.

I don't think that iPods have taken away the need to create a good high end PCDP per se. I don't know that the market was ever really there in enough quantity to make it viable in the end. I think that, once they could manufacture one inexpensively enough for most folks to afford, a lot of the people who originally bought the better players were just as happy to buy the cheaper model with lesser sound quality. That is to say, they bought the earlier player because it was a portable CD player, not because it sounded great. Most buyers are more concerned about skipping then whether it sounds great, and the manufacturers followed the money.

I think that there is more potential with HD or flash based players to get a true audiophile grade player, though again the problem is IMHO that the iPod (and other players like it) is, like most PCDPs out there, good enough for the masses. My hope is that we'll see more HD based players with optical or USB out, so that we can make use of them with external DACs (the only player with an optical out, the iRiver iHP120/40, is discontinued). I have some hope that the analog out will continue to improve, as more folks are using better headphones, and making use of enhancements like portable headphone amps. However, the sheer number of folks who make use of those awful white ear buds may keep this from becoming a reality.