Yamaha CD S300. Has anyone heard it?

It supports only WMA and MP3.
Use dBPowerAmp or Microsoft's own WMA Encoder (which can be tough to set up) to encode to WMA 320 CBR v9. It ain't gonna get any better than those files, and they are pretty darn close to the CD playback.
Whilst it isn't as good as lossless for comparisons, I think that you should still be able to make some reasonable assumptions comparing between two masterings.

Note, when comparing masterings, you'll want to match the level as even a 0.3dB difference can make one sound fuller and more aggressive. I use EBU-R128 scanning to get a loudness stat for each, which should equate well as they are the same material, just mastered differently. I'll also use some spectrum analysis and check it out on my DAW firstly. Once I have worked out what is the level difference, I'll adjust gain in the DAW for both files, obviously one more so than the other, render to 32 bitfloating point WAV or FLAC and then convert that to WMA 320kbps CBR. Do not dither, because the lossy compression algorithm deals with all that internally.
Because both have been level adjusted, they will both have some truncation artefacts from the DAW, which should keep things a little more even.

I think an Optical or Coaxial S/PDIF connection input would have been more useful. I wonder why CD players don't fit a way to use their DAC. Rega did on one player.
Of course, just supporting Linear PCM WAV would do just fine, but for no good reason, they decided not to support it. Record Industry?

 

Thanks. Would you say that WMA 320 is any better quality than MP3 320?

 

Absolutely, when played back in this players USB port.
WMA V9.2 CBR 320kbps sounds the least worst in my family's opinion, either from dBpowerAmp (which calls it Window Media Audio 10 for some reason) or from MS's free encoder. There is a difference between the two when looking at data, but I can't hear it.
I haven't checked lots of flavours of MP3, but I tried LAME 3.99.5 and Adobe Auditon 3.0 MP3 Pro (Fraunhofer) and neither were as "clean" as WMA.

It's probably worth taking a bit of time to make your own assessment, and not just believe me.
I'd be happy to convert some samples for your listening before you buy any software. Just PM me, and we can have a look at options.

For the record WMA is supposed to be better quality at a lower bitrate than MP3. AAC is supposed to be too, but the CD player doesn't support that format.

 

well, this is resurrected.

just bought one of these yamaha cd-s300 RK models. I'm hoping it will work better than my denon dn-500c did. lasted all of 30 hours.

i hope the yamaha will last a little longer.

 

if not, ill be going for the onkyo 7030 next.

heard mixed reviews on this yamaha, poor, very poor, to just a good mid level.

I'm hoping to hget over a year with it. but then again, stuff these days are made cheap on purpose to boost sales, oh, it lasted 2 years, hey, you received a good deal.......did I ???

my onkyo dx 7500, and acurus add 11, lasted me 10 plus years easy before things went south. i HIGHKY DOUBT ANYTHING these days will go over 5 years. chi**y reality !

 

Good luck! I am very happy with my CD S300. (And with the two Yamaha CD players that I had before this one.)

 

thank you, this adds a bit of promise to my purchase. I'm hoping for some longevity........ please, please!!!!!

thank you

 

My last two Yamaha CD players lasted over 6 years each, with hours of daily use.

 

anyone have any gripes about it?? sound quality? skipping, able to play cd-r's ?? i have recorded a hundred or so of my records on nice taiyo yuden cd-r's, and hope to be able to play them on this cd player. the denon would not play everything, and i was frustrated.

 

First, the drawer doesn't open all the way, so you have to slide the first bit of the CD under the lip, potentially scratching your CD. Why they couldn't just have it open all the way is beyond me. Second, the USB port not only won't play WAV or FLAC files, it won't read the flash drive at all if any WAV or FLAC files are mixed in with your MP3s. Third, the remote is a bright silver color, which doesn't match the black exterior of the 300. Fourth, when you skip ahead, the unit pauses a second or so and then plays the next track. I prefer the old Yamaha design of simply playing the next track right away. And if you skip ahead an extra track at the end, it stops playing the CD, rather than simply playing the last track (as the old players did.) Fifth, if you have the display set to show the time remaining for a track and then fast forward, the display automatically switches to elapsed time. Old units allowed you to scan and watch the time remaining. And finally, this time remaining option used to stay enabled if you switch to a new CD and now each time it switches back to elapsed time. Perhaps these last two are not a big deal to most, but in the past, Yamaha allowed you to simply set your player once for stuff like this and it would stay set.

Smooth, natural, very easy on the ear.

Out of the hundreds of CDs I have played on it, I've only had one skip so far and it had some deep scratches.

It's played all of my CD-Rs without any problem at all.

 

Ok, I received it last week-ish. I left it on the rack for 24 hours to warm up to room temp, was cold as a witches (***) (for Jerry and had to let it warm up.

Left it on for about 24 hours to warm up initially, let my amps warm up for the same 24 hours, as well as my preamp.

Popped some CDs and also used my iPod with AAC songs, CDs sounded better, but the AAC songs were fine too.
I felt it does have a nice sound, much better than my previous denon dn-500c which bit the dust after only 30 hours.


I just hope it lasts is all, I don't mind giving up some sound quality for a player I know will last 10 years, but these days aye we all know 5 years of use is lucky, compared to the quality components of yesteryear.

I like it and hope it lasts. I'm happy with that the sound, it just sounds relaxed, and neutral, not bright at all, although my speakers help w it's that, as they are a very warm speaker anyway, which is what I love!

 

I like cymbals and high pitched sounds as they are meant to be heard, Only when they are supposed to be heard is when you should hear them. They have a great decay as well, but that's the work of mr. Steve McCormack and his brainchild. Anyway, I like the Yamaha cd-s300 it sounds great.
I still miss my acurus acd -11 and onkyo dx-7500

 

anyone have a timeframe for break in on this cd player?

the bass is lacking a bit compared to my other cd player.

It only has 6 hrs of playtime so far...... I do leave it on overnight the day before a jam session. any info help on this is appreciated. thannx

 

I can't speak to the exact break-in time, but I can say that my Yamaha 300 has plenty of bass and I don't recall the player taking very long to break in.

 

good top know, thanks new yawk. cheers from chicaaago.

will give it another week or 2 before actually listening closely.

 

Might have been mentioned, but does anyone know for sure whether the CDS300 is internally the same as the -RK (rack mount) version?
Thanks in advance!

 

CowFish. I looked this CD player up and down and I don't see any difference in players. Maybe some others would chime in with more info but from I've read, they are the same. One is rack mounted one is not.

 

I don't know, I would just call Yamaha and ask. The last few times I had questions they were quite helpful.

 

After reading this thread, I realize that WAV doesn't play through the USB port. How then could one play WAV files through the system. A DAC would then be in order?

 

Thank you, I appreciate the help. I'll call YAMAHA and double check before I place an order.

 

I seem to recall that they are the same, but it's wise to double check.

 

Same. And the rack ears can be easily removed, if desired.

 

Was just reading some info here and thought I would share it, since I hadn't seen some of this elsewhere - Yamaha A-S300 Integrated Amp and CD-S300 CD Player Preview

 

cd-s300 sounds great ! no its not a 4000 macintosh, but it sounds pretty damn good, and considering i play mostly metal, and rock, there is no need for a 5k cd player anyway.
if i was a jazz nut, and wanted to get every cymbal, or triangle "ting" i would have spent more.

for what it is, and its ease of use, and neutral sound, which compliment my energy rc-70's very well,

i may get a onkyo 7030 for the basement, or maybe the tammy 5 cd changer for the basement, not sure, for the price, they sound good!

I'm happy!

 

update --!

started skipping a lot more this morning. some ads a lot, some none?? either way, its going back, and getting a refund. Its a shame, I was just liking the open airy stadium sound it gave us. Even the wife mentioned she liked it.

now i don't know where else to go. ill only have 300$, maybe 400# for another cd player. I thought about the maranta 6006, bt reviews are of poor sound, or dirty sound, not the open clean sound of the yamaha. damn! back to no cd play for a while.

my 16+ year old sherwood one plays everything, was only 100$ go figure..........

no more yamaha for me.