Older CD players?

[Farmhand]

Here's something I'm wondering about as I look for a new (to me) CD player.
Is there a general cutoff date of manufacture for machines that will play all CD's, including CD-R and -RW? I'm looking for an NAD or similar quality, but I'm challenging myself to stay within a certain budget which means I'm looking at older players.
Thoughts?

 

[fiddlefye]

I think it really depends on the specific player. I have a couple of really early players, Denon DCD-3300 from 1987 and a Nakamichi OMS-7 from 1984 and both play pretty much anything. I can't say I've tried the RW as I've never used them, but apart from that no issues.

 

[moinau]

Recent and extremely good quality CD players are available now at very affordable price.
People nowadays are looking at other avenues to play their music now, so people like you and me, can now afford the high quality CD players.

Also, don't limit yourself only to CD players, lots of DVD players will also do an excellent job reproducing music. Lots of them are SACD capable.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Vintage NAD had decent D/A converter chips but the rest was bpc. Set your sights higher with Sony ES, Pioneer Elite, and certain Yamaha CDX models like the 1000U and 930. If the laser is in good shape, most will not have any trouble with CD-R/RW.

 

[SoCal Sam]

...Also, don't limit yourself only to CD players, lots of DVD players will also do an excellent job reproducing music. Lots of them are SACD capable.

Agreed. Denon makes a line of so called DVD "Universal Players" that can handle all sorts of formats. The DVD-3910 is a very good unit that has HDMI out and DVD upscaling to 1080i. Look for the CI suffix models which upscale to 1080p. Some are silver faced as well.

 

[rlisin]

CDPs that use DVD laser pickups (and most DVDPs) will usually play CD-RW without issues. Many CDPs that use CD lasers (like KSS-213c) from the last ~15 years will play CD-RW, but will have issues with some discs, especially discs burned many times and discs with scratches, sometimes they will not play CD-RW even if specs say they should. Depends on laser wear and calibration.
Older CDPs will usually not play CD-RW. Some older CD lasers can be adjusted to read CD-RW, but that often shortens the life of the laser.

If the laser's in a good shape, almost all CDPs will play CD-R without problems (regardless of age). Even the 1st gen players from 1982. Some higher end players are exceptions (there were Sony ES players designed not to read CD-R).

 

[Kingshead]

Never tried with mine but Sony claims the DVP NS900V will play both CDR Aand CDRW discs. And as this player retailed for $1000 new and now can be had on eBay for around $80 it's a no brainer.


It also comes in black which is more prevalent.

 

[boza]

Arcam cd73 will play cdr and rw discs and can be had for a good price now or you could get a probably get a yamaha cds300 for around the same money

 

[Inscrutable]

If you are getting an old CDP, be careful about which laser assembly it uses, as they are potentially ready for failure and many are unobtainium. I think the major suppliers for most brands were either Sony or Philips, and some of each are still findable, but many are not. I don't really know specifics, but would bet either here or on diy audio you'd find some threads/info.

If you do have one fail, I heard a tip that it's often not the laser, but caps that have drifted out of spec and with the tight tolerances involved can simulate/cause a laser failure, but eminently more repairable.

 

[J English]

Most of my vintage players do play CD-Rs just fine, as I have a LOT of burned disks. NAD, Onkyo, Sony, Marantz, Nakamichi are ones that I know work well. I can particularly recommend the Marantz CD-63II and Onkyo DX-1400 as very reliable, single disk players. The DX-1400 is my oldest unit, bought new in 1987, and it's never given me a lick of trouble.

 

[J English]

Yeah, per advice above, my rule of thumb is don't pay too much for a vintage player, as failure may happen any day and then you have to evaluate whether you really want to try and fix it. The only one I have that I'd go out of my way to keep running is the Marantz, as lasers are still around and the street price of these seems to stay high. I bought mine for about $50 but I regularly see them on eBay for $200+.

 

[Inscrutable]

For a specific recommendation, my modded Pioneer DV563a plays pretty much all formats - certainly everything I've thrown at it - sounds pretty good, is reputed to be among the most reliable, and appears to have both replacement assemblies and whole units on that auction site for $20-30.

 

[mhardy6647]

Here's something I'm wondering about as I look for a new (to me) CD player.
Is there a general cutoff date of manufacture for machines that will play all CD's, including CD-R and -RW? I'm looking for an NAD or similar quality, but I'm challenging myself to stay within a certain budget which means I'm looking at older players.
Thoughts?

It often amazes me to find really ancient CD players that happily play burned CD-Rs. Here's an example.

Sony old CDP by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Conversely, my luck with (relatively) more modern Sony DVD players & CD-Rs has been abysmal. Apparently, though, it's just me (i.e., my - bad - luck with foundling Sony DVD players).
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=550638&highlight=Sony+players

 

[ditchdrift]

Both of my older cdp's play cd-r's just fine. Actually better than my modern denon does.

 

[DougMac]

Old vs New

I'm looking for an NAD or similar quality, but I'm challenging myself to stay within a certain budget which means I'm looking at older players.
Thoughts?

What's your budget?

If your budget is $100-$150, I think new players with the latest DAC chipsets would be worth considering along with vintage units with older chipsets.

 

[bare]

Personally I'd Avoid any Used CD playback machines Typically these ALL 'time out' Not If but when
Hunt around places like Best Buy for a Cheap New DVD player Often these will run a lot of formats . Sometimes (often ;-) doing a far better job of CD playback than a lot of CD players of yesteryear.

 

[Hifirob2]

I only have experience with NEC vintage CD players, and the first and second generation players will not read CD-Rs, but every generation after that will play them just fine. The third generation players have a trouble prone transport (that fails 95% of the time), so I would avoid them as well.

 

[Farmhand]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! It's really interesting to know that the old Sony and such will still play newer CDs... I must stop at GW on the way home tomorrow....

 

[lorne]

I agree with SO-CAL on the Yamaha CDX series. These were serious machines with top quality build -- dampened sleds and so on. I have a CDX 1020 that plays CDRW.

One approach is to buy earlier generation TOTL players and use them as transports. Yes, as said above, they do time-out. So be sure to get your price and then invest in a modern DAC to hang out the back. In that way, you get the best of both worlds. And, you may get lucky and get a transport that is a real survivor.

I've had transport deaths in newer, cheaper machines that otherwise had good chipsets and sounded great. I've had hi-end vintage players I bought cheaply that just died. But my old 1020 and Sony 333ES are still rock solid. I have a DIY Paradise 'Monica III' NOS (Non-Over-Sampling) DAC on either of them. (I had to box the module and build a 24 volt regulated power supply — maybe not your thing, but it saved a lot of $).

It's just one way to get great results without spending huge money. Personally, I am in favour of very robust transports, but you can buy a slimline Toshiba DVD player for beer money and the onboard audio is very good.

 

[Kingshead]

Personally I'd Avoid any Used CD playback machines Typically these ALL 'time out' Not If but when
Hunt around places like Best Buy for a Cheap New DVD player Often these will run a lot of formats . Sometimes (often ;-) doing a far better job of CD playback than a lot of CD players of yesteryear.

I find this odd as ALL of my older units (15-20yrs) still function just fine. The newest units (5) have all failed. And as these older units are so cheap if it does fail in 5yrs just buy another one. And why buy a CHEAP new model when it's possible to buy TOTL or near to it with a used one? Many of these players saw very little use and will still be going strong in another 20yrs.