Best CD Player for under $500 (2021 Edition)

Searching through threads, the CD players recommended in past iterations of this thread are now discontinued. So the threads are now invalid. Which ones are recommended within that price range? DAC recs to go with them are welcome as well. I have a Yamaha 701 amp. Thank you!

 

Bump

 

Cambridge Audio CXC transport is excellent value for money. Topping D50s could be a good DAC to partner, although I haven't heard it.

 

Have you considered the Yamaha CDS-300? Having one remote would be nice. I’ve never heard it myself.

 

Is it? Really? Not saying that it isn’t but the price compared with the regular CDP seems weird.

 

Not sure what you mean here. Which regular CDP?

 

Dude, if you can find players in that price range in stock right now, jump on one. Out-of-stock is a common theme now I see retail prices creeping up, as well.

 

Conpared to a Cambridge CDP or something in the range, maybe the Cd5si?

 

I second the CXC. Amazing how good it sounds for the price.

 

"Sound"? It's a transport. DACs make sound.

 

Fair enough, I'll rephrase it... My DAC makes much prettier sounds with this transport hooked up than it did with my old one.

 

I just looked up the CD5si and it’s about $1600. Definitely out of my range. The Cambridge Audio CXC is a little better in price at $599

 

For that budget I would look to the used market, many bargains to be had!

Try not to buy anything over 10 years old however, lasers have a finite life...

 

2nd hand Pioneer stable platter
Were as low as 50 GB pounds on Ebay.
I have 3.
Add DAC to suit. Beresford from the UK, SMSL probably do one too