Yamaha CD-S300 and CD-S700

For reference, here's images of the CD-S300 and CD-S700. The CD-S300 is posted first:

 

i LOVED the 300 payer. the sound was stadium hall sounding, airy, and just sounded great. it started not playing certain cds after only a few weeks. its just my luck. i will try another soon.

i miss the sound it had.........
selling my McCormack UDP, and buying the Yammy,

 

Grabbed it George. Price was too good to pass up. The remote was still in it's original bag, so I don't think this has seen many hours.
Spent the last hour with Alan, and so far so good, nice sounding as you stated. Pretty fast load time as well which was impressive. My Onkyo 800 has it beat my mere seconds however
Remote is nice, well laid out and has great options which is a plus. It will be a happy addition

 

The date of manufacture should be on the back.

Nice grab!

If you do any sound comparisons with your other players, I'd love to hear what you come up with. Also, I recommend enabling the Pure Direct function. With it off, I get a bit more noise in the treble.

 

Will do. September 2017, neat eh?

 

Very nice indeed!

 

It's worth mentioning that a review on amazon.uk from 5 years ago reports the same problem I had with my CD-S700. " I sometimes have to load a CD twice before the player recognises it." So this seems to be an ongoing issue with the player, not one associated with just a few bad units. The problem seems to be in the actual design of the product.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-CDS700BL-Black-CD-Player/dp/B001H029PQ

 

George do you leave yours on 24/7?
I did some listening again after about 24 hours with it left on, the thing 'warmed right up'.
It toned down my old Duran Duran comp (which was welcome) I really like this player, but noticed the same issues with a couple of really old discs not being recognized right away.
Regardless, it's staying in my system

 

I don't leave my CD-S300 on 24 hours. The reason I don't is because my last Yamaha lasted 5+ years, the only thing that went was the display. It had faded to become unreadable during the day.

Glad to hear it's working for you. I agree, it does produce a nice warm, musical sound.

 

Hey Cory, how's the CD-S300?

Maybe this was because it hadn't been used in a long time before you bought it?

But it eventually reads them fine, right?

 

I just bought a second Yamaha S300 CD player. Nothing wrong with the one I have - in fact I'm so pleased with it I decided to have a backup just in case Yamaha stops making this particular model (which seems to be much more reliable than their pricier ones).
Of course my wife thinks I'm nuts.

 

It does George, so far so good!

 

fogalu
The Yamaha cd- S300 really has a Brilliant sound, Airy and beautiful .
I love this cd player , and I love the beautiful Killarney... but that's another story
Enjoy your second Yamaha S300 cd player

congratulations Cory for the CD-S300
Wonderful Buying .
enjoy it !

I listened yesterday to Nick Drake cd Five Leaves Left
, the combination of the stunning music/vocals and the sound of the The Yamaha cd- S300
gives you the feeling that you are diving into the music which accompanied by the Airy, beautiful Nick Drake vocals

 

Thanks Noomi!, By the way you look great in blue!

 

Just in case anyone is still looking for one of these players, this company is kind of the official place for refurbs for a number of companies including Yamaha. I purchased my A s2100 and A s3000 amps from these guys and both were mint and have been completely reliable. I think the internet buying business model has created this refurb market, where people buy 3 different amps/players etc. knowing they are going to send 2 of them them back. I feel bad for the companies that have to deal with this. With that said, these products have had at least a second look by the manufacturer...

CD & SACD Players | Accessories4less

I kind of like the CD s1000 at that price point. Quite an upgrade in components and build quality. For me, it would only be a transport.

 

That looks like a good option, thanks! I wonder why I only a few of them are being offered with free shipping?

 

That is curious. I know I didn't pay shipping on either one of the big heavy amps I bought from them. Perhaps it's a glitch with the web design.

 

Anyone else try the CD-S700? What are your experiences with it?

 

Well, after spending more time with my CD-S300 after a receptacle upgrade, I decided I wanted to try and upgrade my CD player again. I gave the Denon DCD-1600NE a try, but didn't like the sound. Too analytical for me. Then one day last week I was speaking with my local Yamaha dealer who sold me 3 CD-S700s last year. He told me he got new stock in recently, including more CD-S700s. He offered me one at the price I paid before, $629, so I said, what the hell! I brought it home and it has been running for over 100 hours. No problems at all and a clear upgrade on the sound of my old CD-S300. Smoother, better clarity and a fuller, more powerful sound.

I've decided in advance that if it occasionally has trouble reading a CD on the first try (something I have encountered in prior tries with this unit, and something I have read on amazon reviews) then I will live with it. Knock on wood, after already trying dozens of CDs in this new player, none of them have caused this problem. Still, if it pops up, I will deal with it, for after trying Marantz, Denon and Cambridge Audio players, all of which cost twice what I paid for my CD-S700, I have figured out that I prefer the Yamaha sound.

 

I spoke too soon!

Tonight I noticed that the unit makes a rattling sound when a CD is spinning. The sound gets louder at times, loud enough to hear across the room. I thought maybe it was the CD, but no, it makes the noise for every CD I put into it.

So, it's going back. And I'm going back to my CD-S300.

 

Geez...

I wonder if that is the disc in slightly off center? I have heard of that being an issue, as they just have those little rubber things on the bottom of the tray. No centering to speak of.

Accessories 4 Less has the CD S700 for $389.99 right now. Perhaps being a refurb, that "second look" so to speak, could the ticket for a good one.

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/cdplayer/home-audio/audio-components/cd-sacd-playe

If possible, hold out for the CD S1000. It really is on a whole different level of build quality, although it is much larger physically... ( I think I remember that being an issue)

 

Thanks but yeah, the CD S1000 is too big. And this CD S700 was my fourth try. All four players had issues. So I won't be trying another, as I can't have faith in that model.

On the other hand, my CD-S300 has never had a problem and is still going strong.

 

I bought used Yamaha CD-S300 and it seems to be quite nice for the price. I paid just about 72 USD, don’t know from which year it is.
It don’t have a connect for earphones, but that is a minor thing. Got to test this USB thing, would be nice to copy some music from my Itune and play it through it.

 

If you look on the back panel, there should be a date sticker.

 

WTF is going on with the Yamaha S700? The S300 is so good I bought two of them. I can't understand how the same company can make so many dodgy 700s!!