CD PLAYERS AND STAND ALONE CD RECORDERS.( What brands have you used or are now using?)

[Bobberman]

The thread question says it all i currently use ONKYO for my cd and dvd playback
1. The audio only 6 disc changer which plays Cds. CDRs CD-RW And MP3 DISCS.
2. The DVD 6 disc changer also plays the same formats as the cd changer but ALSO PLAYS DVDs
A good friend years ago had a complete Onkyo stereo system and he had one of the first onkyo cd players circa 1984 which was still working flawlessly upon his untimely passing in 2009( as well as all his other various onkyo systems he has had). When a previous disc changer crashed he recommended i try onkyo for its longevity and reliability and i can happily say these devices are still doing very well and as for old fashioned non computer cd recorders my 2007 Sony RCD-W500C featuring a recorder and a 5disc changer (Which is now Discontinued) Is still working very well still records CD-Rs with ease. ( so far) well worth the extra initial expense and with regular proper care i been getting a lot of mileage. So Now I open the discussion to all of you fellow audiophiles. What brands of Cd playback units( and even cd recorders if applicable) do you use?

 

[Dave]

I enjoyed my Pioneer from 1993 to 2013 and probably not making what was an exact twenty-years to the date I bought it, so the best free-standing player that I can hook to my stereo is an imported brand called Cambridge Audio--real expensive at over-$500,and that's a single-play with a remote with all the essential functions for programming, etc. whereas the front panel is only basics for Push-to-Play, etc. and I even had to buy my own cables for it...!


-- Dave

 

[Bobberman]

I enjoyed my Pioneer from 1993 to 2013 and probably not making what was an exact twenty-years to the date I bought it, so the best free-standing player that I can hook to my stereo is an imported brand called Cambridge Audio--real expensive at over-$500,and that's a single-play with a remote with all the essential functions for programming, etc. whereas the front panel is only basics for Push-to-Play, etc. and I even had to buy my own cables for it...!


-- Dave

Well thankfully i saved all my cables over the years even though all my machines came with cables i always keep spares around Just In Case.... but hey Whatever Works. Use It. RIGHT???
by the way i had a Pioneer 100 disc changer that worked for 8 years so i know how that is.

 

[Rudy]

I've had terrible luck with Sony products--at least half died an early death, and just about all of them had issues with the loading mechanisms, especially on portables or car in-dash units. I still have a dual-well Sony CD recorder which still works miraculously, but again, one or both of the loading drawers "stick." For high-res players, I have a rarely used Pioneer DV-578A, and a no-longer-used Pioneer Elite DV-45A, which started getting flaky after a decade of regular use (probably a weakening laser). The changer was in regular use for several years, but I have no use for it at the moment.

Aside from two (now mostly unused) cheap DVD players on two TVs, I only have one disc player hooked up--the Oppo BDP-105, which plays all formats. It is also a network player, which is where it gets probably 95% of its usage. The disc player portion is primarily for SACDs, or discs I might pick up before ripping them to the network drive. As for the cars and all portables? All are solid state storage now, no discs. (Both car players have disc players, but we use USB thumb drives exclusively now.)

I did have a very large audio system set up at one time, where I had all of my sources connected (reel-to-reel, cassette, MiniDisc, DAT, CD-R, 8 track, 100-CD changer, and even a second turntable), but now that I no longer need recording abilities, and most playback is via the network server or SACD (and of course vinyl), I've pared my rack down to only the turntable, the Oppo, the preamp and phono stage, plus the power amp.

The only component I will be adding is a digital recorder, like the TASCAM DA-3000. Primarily to archive some of the vinyl and tape recordings I have.

 

[Bobberman]

I archived my tapes and vinyl on CDR well over a decade ago but i am more than willing one day to archive everything ( including CDS) to a device with more than 75Gb which my old laptop has and i need much more capacity than that but it will be a very pricey proposition. But im very open to that possibility.if such a thing exists that is within my ability to afford. In any case im thankful that i have what i have now. I tend to hold out for better and cost effective options instead of jumping on the newest thing.

 

[Harry]

I've always had Sony CD players - and still have the first one. Like Rudy says, the drawer sticks a bit, or closes too fast on it, but as a player, it's never been equaled in terms of the speed of track selection. My later Sony is still in the stereo system, but rarely gets any use these days.

For recorders, I started back around 1999 or so with a Philips unit. It was the one that that had the "drawer trick" to it. Recall those days of having to use a "Music CD-R" so that we pirates would pay extra for our blank discs - those music discs cost a good bit more than the standard CD-R. The drawer trick enabled this unit to use a standard CD-R if you put in a music CD-R, let it do its little check to make sure it was a valid disc, and then you could pull out the drawer with your finger and substitute a cheaper, regular CD-R in its place. The only caveats were that the disc recording times matched, and you couldn't remove that disc and start again later - you had to finalize it then and there.

That saved a few bucks, especially early on as music blanks were ridiculously expensive. Initially, they retailed for almost $7 a piece, which made you think hard about whether you needed this recording!

That machine served well for a number of years - and made it safely through our move to Florida. Its remote however, somehow didn't make it, or it fell behind something, because when I went to use it down here, it was nowhere to be found. By then, I was pretty much just using the recorder to make rough recordings on a CD-RW, and then ripping that to the computer for clean-up.

About two or three years ago, that recorder began to fail. With music discs harder to find, the missing remote, and the occasional bad recordings, I decided it had outlived its usefulness and bought a Tascam professional CD recorder. This one allows the use of any kind of disc, but I don't do much fancy recordings on it. I'm still pretty much using a CD-RW to do raw recordings from vinyl - or whatever - and then ripping and cleaning on the computer for ultimate write-out to a CD-R for archive purposes.

The Tascam has the CD-Text feature that I like and is great for checking computer-recorded discs.

Harry

 

[Bobberman]

I've always had Sony CD players - and still have the first one. Like Rudy says, the drawer sticks a bit, or closes too fast on it, but as a player, it's never been equaled in terms of the speed of track selection. My later Sony is still in the stereo system, but rarely gets any use these days.

For recorders, I started back around 1999 or so with a Philips unit. It was the one that that had the "drawer trick" to it. Recall those days of having to use a "Music CD-R" so that we pirates would pay extra for our blank discs - those music discs cost a good bit more than the standard CD-R. The drawer trick enabled this unit to use a standard CD-R if you put in a music CD-R, let it do its little check to make sure it was a valid disc, and then you could pull out the drawer with your finger and substitute a cheaper, regular CD-R in its place. The only caveats were that the disc recording times matched, and you couldn't remove that disc and start again later - you had to finalize it then and there.

That saved a few bucks, especially early on as music blanks were ridiculously expensive. Initially, they retailed for almost $7 a piece, which made you think hard about whether you needed this recording!

That machine served well for a number of years - and made it safely through our move to Florida. Its remote however, somehow didn't make it, or it fell behind something, because when I went to use it down here, it was nowhere to be found. By then, I was pretty much just using the recorder to make rough recordings on a CD-RW, and then ripping that to the computer for clean-up.

About two or three years ago, that recorder began to fail. With music discs harder to find, the missing remote, and the occasional bad recordings, I decided it had outlived its usefulness and bought a Tascam professional CD recorder. This one allows the use of any kind of disc, but I don't do much fancy recordings on it. I'm still pretty much using a CD-RW to do raw recordings from vinyl - or whatever - and then ripping and cleaning on the computer for ultimate write-out to a CD-R for archive purposes.

The Tascam has the CD-Text feature that I like and is great for checking computer-recorded discs.

Harry

I use the CD-RW S Often myself for the same purposes making a rough recording and for later clean up and editing. My old sony only uses Music CDRS my laptop cd burner/ ripper uses All CDr s at some point i will probably have to upgrade to the professional Cd recorder that you mentioned. It will cost me more than the $260 my sony recorder cost me in 2007.

 

[Harry]

The current version of my recorder is $349.99 on Amazon: Amazon.com: TASCAM CD-RW900mkII Professional CD Recorder: Musical Instruments »

That's exactly what mine cost nearly four years ago.

Harry

 

[Bobberman]

The current version of my recorder is $349.99 on Amazon: Amazon.com: TASCAM CD-RW900mkII Professional CD Recorder: Musical Instruments »

That's exactly what mine cost nearly four years ago.

Harry

Not quite as expensive as i thought i should probably plan ahead and save up for it and get one later this year just in case. Thanks for the Tip Harry.

 

[Rudy]

A higher quality, less expensive and future-proof route is to get a portable digital recorder (like the TASCAM DR-40), which can record at both CD and high-resolution to an SD card, then you are able to take that over to the computer to transfer the files and burn a disc. DVD-R and BD-R drives can still burn CDs and they are cheap in comparison. Editing at CD resolution is usually not a good idea due to digital rounding errors and the resulting rough sound. (If all I have is a CD 16/44.1 source, I will upsample to 24/88.2 (or higher) to do the work, then downsample back to 16/44.1 to avoid the rounding errors.)

The DR-05 and DR-40 are very popular among needledroppers, and with the built-in stereo mics, they can have multiple uses, such as live on-location recording. And a computer drive is far cheaper to replace when it burns out, as opposed to a separate audio component. (Disc burners are commodity items; the TASCAM CD-RW is a throwaway when it breaks down out of warranty, as parts and labor would cost the same or more than what it cost to purchase it, and today's electronics pretty much dictate replacing entire circuit boards due to the many unrepairable tiny components used.) The only special thing you'd need is an attenuating cable to go from a stereo component to the recorder's line input. For straight CD copying (no, I didn't say this publicly ), it's better to just rip it to an ISO file on the computer, then burn it right back out to another disc using a burning program capable of processing ISO files. (That ensures you are getting an image of the disc, as originally written.)

Many ways to do the same thing! I considered a DR-40 but had other needs it couldn't cover, and alas, only the DA-3000 has everything I need on it (and then some), and all in one component. The Zoom H4N is another popular and very similar recorder to the DR-40.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I've never had a CD-R component - always used the computer. As for players, I was always a Pioneer guy for home and car units, but since we got out of the music business my current CD player in my vehicle is a JVC. I stopped liking the Pioneer controls on their car players; that one-knob-does-it-all design of theirs is kind of irritating. Although the JVC isn't a ton better -- I have to press and hold a button, then press another button, then manipulate a couple of knobs just to adjust the bass. I think there should be a law that every car stereo must have a bass control, considering that's the thing that needs adjusting the most often (for me, at least).

I don't have a CD player at home anymore, which is a phrase I never thought I'd type! Most of the music I listen to there comes from my computer's speakers --- I do about 99.9% of any "serious" listening while driving. I'm kind of a throwback to the '70s that way -- I still enjoy driving around aimlessly, listening to music.

I feel like I need to "update" myself more, technology-wise, but my big problem is time. I have a lengthy list of "projects" that I'll probably never get to, so I guess I'll wait till retirement (if that ever happens!) and revel in the amazing new gadgets then.

 

[DeeInKY]

Wondering if I can play an old portable CD player - sort of a CD Walkman deal - thru my tuner/amp without blowing anything up? Haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

 

[Bobberman]

Wondering if I can play an old portable CD player - sort of a CD Walkman deal - thru my tuner/amp without blowing anything up? Haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

You should be able to do that simply get a Y shaped cable two RCA jacks on one end for your stereo reciever/ amplifier and a single connector for the headphone jack on the other end for plugging into whatever portable device you want to use. Depending on the headphone connector you may need a one fourth inch adapter to attach to the single connector side. Ive used them for years and still do i use them for audio from my tablet and audio from my laptop going into my stereo system.

 

[Rudy]

@DeeInKY

Like Bob says, you need something like this:

About $5-ish. Just watch the volume control on the player--if it's too high, it might overload the input on your amp, or just be awfully loud. Keep it around midpoint and it should be fine. I've done this for years through my old CD boombox that the player died in.

If it's the rare portable that has a "Line Out" in addition to the headphone jack, use that instead. It will be at the correct level and won't pass through the volume control.

 

[Rudy]

I must have missed this one...

I don't have a CD player at home anymore, which is a phrase I never thought I'd type!

I technically have a "universal" player which handles CD, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD and BluRay. But given I have everything on a Synology NAS now, I use the player's network feature to stream the music or video from the server. (Been meaning to write up a how-it-works.) So I've had the player for over two years and have only rarely used the disc player, mainly for SACDs since there was no way to rip them to the server. (But now that there is a way to use this Oppo over a network to rip the SACDs to an ISO file, that's a moot point!) It's good to have the player there for the occasional disc, but it's even better to know I won't wear out the laser.

As for players, I was always a Pioneer guy for home and car units, but since we got out of the music business my current CD player in my vehicle is a JVC. I stopped liking the Pioneer controls on their car players; that one-knob-does-it-all design of theirs is kind of irritating.

Both of our Hondas take a standard double-DIN car stereo head unit. And coincidentally, I ended up getting a JVC for mine in 2012, and a Pioneer for the Civic last year. I can relate to the menus. I can find my way around the JVC easier than the Pioneer (but then again, I don't drive that car). What I find annoying is that both of these use glossy faces on them, and they both are hard to see in bright daylight; the Pioneer is worse since the display does not seem to be as bright, as it can't "punch through" the glare as well.

One other annoyance on the Pioneer is that when playing from a USB stick it seems to play back tracks in a random order. On the JVC, it plays in order of folder name/filename, so I have everything named appropriately and it works. Digging further, the Pioneer is one of those players which plays back files in the order in which they are listed in the thumb drive's FAT (presumably in somewhat the order they were copied to the drive). Thankfully someone wrote a program which can rearrange the contents of the FAT and now the tracks will play in order. You would thing something this basic would work properly, but the Pioneer, some other brands, and even some auto manufacturers' head units won't play back the files unless we do this trick!

I may be getting a third car here and for now, might get a cheaper JVC double-DIN, or, may get a touchscreen JVC for mine and move the older JVC down the line. Once I get a chance to upgrade to something bigger/newer though, I need a head unit that has Android Auto. And sadly, there are only two brands that do it--Pioneer and Kenwood. The Kenwoods are not well rated for Android Auto (some significant bugs, as pointed out by user reviews at Crutchfield and Amazon). The Pioneers are rated better but then I wonder if they've fixed the USB playback issue and can finally play the stuff in order as it should...

 

[DeeInKY]

Got a headphone connector, d/c power in and something called remote which is supposed to be for headphones with controls on them. Haven't had this thing out in a while - it's a Kenwood. If it won't work with the big system I can use an extra pair of computer speakers I have - those are powered so it should work with them.

 

[DeeInKY]

Thought for the day - never leave an unused pair of headphones in a plastic bag and forget about them. When you finally run into them again and take them out of the bag the foam will have disintegrated and will stick all over you and the floor. Ick.

 

[AM Matt]

Got a 2015 Marantz CD player which tells you the title of the CD, total time & song listing!!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

Got a headphone connector, d/c power in and something called remote which is supposed to be for headphones with controls on them. Haven't had this thing out in a while - it's a Kenwood. If it won't work with the big system I can use an extra pair of computer speakers I have - those are powered so it should work with them.

It should work fine with the big system.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

My first (in 1984) was a Phillips single-play unit. Replaced it in 1988 with a Sony 6-disc carousel that always screwed up. Pretty much stopped using it for pleasure listening and switched to in-car listening. My new wife has a Pioneer 6-disc changer of about the same vintage. It works, but we pretty much never use it. Apart from radio airchecks, I moved on from CD years ago. It's Spotify Premium now.

 

[Rudy]

I tried for several months to get an early CD player, looking at mostly grey-market imports. After changing my order a couple of times, I ended up with the Hitachi DA-1000, after having the identical Denon DCD-2000 on order for a month or two with no status updates as to its availability over here. Here's a photo of both--mine was the bottom unit, although they are easily mistaken. (I'd heard the Denon at an audio store called The Gramophone in Royal Oak back then.)



(From: A l’atelier... (page 60) - vintage-audio-laser.com » )

Kind of ironic that just off to the right of the two players is a black player labeled "OMS-7E". That is a Nakamichi CD player, and I replaced the Hitachi with the original OMS-7. It was still one of the best sounding players I'd ever owned, yet it was troublesome and I ended up selling it.


I replace this with a Magnavox 6-CD changer that used the magazine-loaded discs. It still works fine. Sounds decent for being a rather inexpensive player at the time. In the late 90s I bought a Pioneer 100-CD "jukebox" changer and that also works nicely. I just don't have much use for it anymore. If I do hook it up as part of a rec room system, though, I will be loading it completely with CD-Rs that are primarily anthologies or hits collections.

 

[Rudy]

I missed this...

I archived my tapes and vinyl on CDR well over a decade ago but i am more than willing one day to archive everything ( including CDS) to a device with more than 75Gb which my old laptop has and i need much more capacity than that but it will be a very pricey proposition.

Thankfully, storage is cheap. A hard drive in a USB 3 external enclosure probably doesn't cost too much, in the grand scheme of things. A 1TB drive is inexpensive these days (, so it is a good means of backing up data. A 1TB drive in a USB enclosure is ~$60. 2TB is still under $100.

Normally when we rip CDs, we save them to FLAC files, which are lossless (no data compression of the music, like you get with MP3, WMA, etc.). A typical album is probably 250MB or so, depending on length. A 1TB drive could hold over 4,000 CDs in FLAC format, just to put things into perspective.

 

[Bobberman]

I missed this...



Thankfully, storage is cheap. A hard drive in a USB 3 external enclosure probably doesn't cost too much, in the grand scheme of things. A 1TB drive is inexpensive these days (, so it is a good means of backing up data. A 1TB drive in a USB enclosure is ~$60. 2TB is still under $100.

Normally when we rip CDs, we save them to FLAC files, which are lossless (no data compression of the music, like you get with MP3, WMA, etc.). A typical album is probably 250MB or so, depending on length. A 1TB drive could hold over 4,000 CDs in FLAC format, just to put things into perspective.

Wow thats not very expensive at all 1TB just might be sufficient enough to put all my collection into. I have at least 2000 Cds and Cd-r s in my library. Everything from digital albums. & needledrops to my old cassettes and mixtapes etc. The only thing i have to do is avoid repetition because i have multiple copies of quite a few of them but so far my laptop has 10.693 songs in it just a small sample of my cd collection but its a start.

 

[Rudy]

If you do rip them, it's usually best to rip as lossless (to FLAC files, usually)--you can always convert them to MP3, WMA or whatever from the lossless files, and still have the originals which are at full quality. To really play it safe, backing up to a second drive is a good suggestion.

For commercial CDs (or CD-R copies of commercial CDs), some ripping software can go online and retrieve the tags for the files, which will fill in the artist, album title and track titles. I use a paid program to do this (dBpoweramp), but there are some freeware ripping programs out there that should do the same.

 

[Bobberman]

As mentioned elsewhere I bought a new tablet to replace my 6 year old worn one it's 15 GB by itself but I added a 60GB SD card which expanded my storage space greatly as I transferred all my photos from my old tablet and copied my 10.600 plus songs from my laptop and after that I still had 20 GB Left to spare so I've been adding to my music player thru the SD CARD I'm happy to say my mega mix is almost complete I recently added All The download versions of The TJB ALBUMS and The Beatles and many others and I have just enough room left to top it off with a few special songs I use the shuffle mode to give it a more continuous radio like Feel to it so for me there is no need for outside streaming services like Pandora or anything like that. Now I have over 12.000 PLUS AudioTracks on my mega mix it took 3 years to put this together but we'll worth the work I wanted to make a permanent virtual collection of sorts.