Tell me about your cd player.

What luck; you for the discount and the dealer for winning his bet!

 

Denon DCD-1800. Got this in December 1984. I Still use it in my 2nd system and even with all of today's technological advances, it holds it's own sound-wise. I bet it weighs close to 25 lbs. and it's built like a tank.

 

Wow I don't know how I missed this thread but I love it! So many memories of all the CD players I've used over the years. Memories of the excitement of the format - some of you are too young to remember, but CD was a really big deal when it was new. I still have tons and tons of CDs that sound fantastic!

The first CD player I ever purchased was the first one I ever saw for sale for about $100 in March of 1986. This Multitech CD-140. I thought it was awesome! I was just out of high school getting ready to pay for my own college at the time so the CDs and player were a big expenditure!

Pics from the internet:



My Dad, a big classical music fan, bought the same player after I got mine.

That CD player lasted a few years and when it died I replaced it in the late 80s with this Magnavox unit which was a big step up in appearance and I didn't really notice a sound difference. I believe this player has the famous DAC that Philips was using at the time which is supposed to sound very good.

Pic from the internet


In the early 90s I set up a little home theater in my living room with a Phillips ProLogic receiver and a Magnavox Hi-Fi VCR. I moved the Philips CD player to the living room because it was compatible with the Philips ProLogic receiver remote. (there was a green "Remote" RCA jack on the back of the receiver that worked with the Magnavox CD player - the CD player had no remote capabilities otherwise). So for my office setup I got this Sony single CD player for my office system:

Pic from the internet


to be continued.......

 

The Sony did not last long because I wanted a carousel changer. In the early 90s they started being ubiquitous. I ended up getting a JVC 5 CD changer that to my knowledge my brother Mike still uses to this day in his living room stereo.

Pic from the internet:


In the later 90s I got a MiniDisc deck - I think in 1996/7. I got the combo with a recorder and a portable. I was sick of cassette and wanted something better that was like CD but had better editing capabilities. As the JVC 5 disc changer had no digital output and I wanted the ability to make digital copies (not go D/A out from the CD player into the A/D converter of the MiniDisc deck), I replaced that with a Pioneer 25 disc changer PD-F606. This player is still in service in my living room and plays great - we load it up every year with Christmas/holiday CDs and it is fantastic on random play.

Pic from the internet:


In the late 90s DVD came out, and in the early 2000s I replaced the analog only stereo Harman Kardon HK3270 in my office with a digital capable home theater unit repurposed. From here on out until the last year a few different DVD players and LD players rotated in and out of the system. Including a Pioneer CLD-M401 LD player / 5 CD changer (still here), a Yamaha dv-s5860 (the most used CD player of all the rotation), Sony DVP-NS500V DVD/SACD player, Sony DVP-NS775V SACD/DVD player, Sony DVP-NC875V SACD/DVD changer (still there), Panasonic DVD-F87 DVD-A/V 5 disc changer.

Recently I got a receiver to handle multichannel duties that mentions analog bass management for my sub, and the Sony SACD/DVD player I was liking died, so I pulled my Technics DVD-A10 out of retirement. The DVD-A10 is a beast of a machine compared to my decidedly mid-fi system. It's very limited in capability - it can only play pressed, not burned media, both for CD and DVD. But connected analog it sounds better than anything else I've tried. I love how solid it is and how silent it is, and the blue glow from the front panel display is pretty cool IMO.

My system now looks like this:

There are four disc players here that are capable of playing CDs, but the DVD-A10 is the dedicated "CD Player". If I want to put some discs on random play I use the carousels. I play burned CDs in the DVD players, I play SACD in the SACD machine and DVD-Audio in the DVD-Audio machine (unless it is stereo only in which case it gets played in the DVD-A10).

The DVD-A10 is a DVD-Audio combo player, but I have it connected through L/R analog audio cables and I think of it as a "CD Player" as far as utility is concerned. And it's a pretty good one, too.

Note the DVD/CD player on the top next to the turntable. I like having the sources I use the vast majority of the time right on the top shelf easy to access quickly.
Playing a CD:


The blue glow:

 

Already need one.

 

The SCD-1 puck isn't.

 

The Meridian 507 is a fantastic player & there is no need to upgrade .

 

Wow, with all that gear I'd have thunk you'd have a much bigger TV....

 

I have an adcom GCD575 sitting on the floor. I like it because it has a polarity switch both on main panel and remote. It can make a difference!

I ran digital out to a a Bryston DAC. Much better than red book playback from my universal players. Transport is really touchy and doesn't do well with long CD-Rs.

Went back to analog, sold the DAC and haven't the heart to trash the adcom.

 

Funny my desktop computer in the same room I run a 28" and 27" dual monitor sytsem....

 

The DX-5

 

Moved to a Marantz SA8005 for its SACD capability (I found I had a ton of CD/SACD hybrid discs and wanted to be able to play 'em) and really couldn't be happier. Being able to play the SACD layer was cool, but I didn't realize how great so many of my redbook CDs sound through this deck. This was money well-spent and I hope it lasts the 20+ years some of you are seeing on your respective players.

Oh, and the SA8005 has a really nice DAC built in as well...

 

Esoteric K01x : One box to rule them all.....



D.D.

 

$10.00 find at the local GW about a year ago. cleaned up nice, looks great and sounds O.K.

 

Rega Apollo. It sounds great but has controlling software written by amateurs. Every couple of months I have to cycle power because it simply will not respond to the controls. Sometimes it takes a long time to start playing and sometimes it stutters at the beginning of play.

 

Those Kyocera players always sounded pretty nice. Good find!

 

The Soundcoat treatment is nice and it works, but the Stillpoints ERS paper is a much more potent tweak. It can be glued over Soundcoat by Patafix or what have you.

 

I have a Denon CD R-W1500 player/recorder which I paid about $600 for in January of '08. It plays cd's so terribly that I stopped listening to them - it literally hurts my ears and the ears of others. The music sounds flat and lifeless. On the other hand, I bought a Pioneer DV588AS Slim Progressive DVD/CD player for $147 on sale. It makes the music come to life and a pleasure to listen to. The Denon was the worst audio investment I've made, yet the reviews by "users" of the player praise it to the heavens.

 

Did you buy the Denon player new? Did you listen before buying ? At $600 (£425) I definitely would. A review is only a guide.

 

Foolishly I did not - bought it online. To this day I'm still reading good things about it aledgedly written by people who use it.

 

Ah well , you have my sympathies . I think everyone gets burned in the quest for putting together a decent system.

 

Yes, we live and learn and sometimes do foolish things. I recently went online re the Denon player and found posts on Amazon from people back in 2012 whose same model Denon player had finally stopped working and who were willing to pay as much as $600 to get another one! I should investigate this and see if I can unload it.

 

This was my very first player in 1983 or so. Arrrived with a defective display. Had to send it back for a 6 week repair job. Longest time of my life..

 

Audio Research CD2, an amazing unit.
But it has not been switched on since 2 years I guess,
I only listen to vinyl now....