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First New CD Player in 30 Years - Onkyo C-7030

jocko_nc

jocko_nc

Super Member
On a whim last week I plunked down 199 bucks on a new CD player. I had been wanting to upgrade from the collection of Goodwill and thrift CD players I had gathered over the years. None were ever exactly right. None were ever particularly good. Many years have passed and I realize I hadn't been spinning album format music, as in CDs, for many years. I dabbled with a decent turntable, but alas gave it to my daughter. She has many of my best LPs anyway.

Onkyo C-7030 showed up this evening. I suspect it will be superior to what it is replacing.

Now, I need round up all those old CDs.
 
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"Build quality starts from the ground up with a highly rigid, 1.6 mm-thick, fully flat chassis" - it is always nice that the chassis is flat, not crooked. I thought it was a given.

A comment on Amazon says that the customer received several faulty ones before getting a working one. Then the laser burned out just three years in. He had to replace the transport. He still likes the player and says it is built like a tank (a transformer on one side and a single circuit board on another). Go figure. It seems the price has risen from below 200 to 230 and even 300. CD comeback? ;)
 
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I bought one several years ago brand new.
Great player and great value.
In case you can’t find your old cd’s, I have been buying them at thrift stores for about a dollar apiece.
Enjoy
 
I bought one some years back and liked it so much I got a second one. Second one was bad, so I sent it back and got another one. So those reports of getting bad ones out of the box are true.
They are really good for the money, they were around $150 back then, if you waited for a sale.
I have one in my main system currently and use both outputs, RCA uses the deck’s DAC and coaxial cable uses the preamp DAC. Did that to compare the two. The pre does sound better but it is supposed to, much more expensive.
 
It was $199 new off Amazon. I usually despise Amazon but made an exception here.

I was collecting CDs by the lot off Ebay maybe 6-7 years ago. Usually a lot of a particular genre or artist. A load of Neil Young, Doors, and Floyd. Finally, a copy of Purple Rain. That was a personally important album that somehow I never had on CD. There were tons of CDs being off-loaded at the time. Looking forward to listening to albums again.

As far as the output to choose... I am thinking analog. Upstairs I am running a dated AVR for 3 or 2 channel setup. Home theater is now downstairs. Mostly 2 channel, but they are Heresys powered by Adcom 545 II. Dual subs. It can crank. I am guessing the DAC and line level amplifier within this CD player is probably better than what is in the AVR. So, would analog out versus optical or coaxial digital out to the AVR be a superior connection?
 
Found the CDs in various stashes. Some I know I sought out. Others, no idea how they got here. Tossed anything that was CDR or otherwise copied. Limited shelf life.

So now, what is the best soft case or folio to store these in and have reasonable access? Most of the hard cases are long gone, and a PITA anyway. I had a 200 CD Sony changer for a long time that accelerated their demise. How to best store and access maybe 200-300 CDs that I want to play?

When these were "put up" I cleaned them all and stacked between coffee filters. They stayed clean.
 
Now that's it. American Beauty, which I have played a bazillion times over the years every possible way, sounds fresh. Each new technology, I used the latest connection. Coax digital. Optical. This analog is noticeably superior. Wow. It is like someone injected these Klipsch with some Vandersteen. Or the Vantersteens got a little "horny".
 
Does it play MP3 and WMA seamlessly, without gaps?

Too bad custom playlist cannot be programmed from the main device. I wonder if you program consecutive tracks, like 1, 2, 3, does it make a pause between them or plays seamlessly as if it played them without a program?
 
I just played the albums start to finish. I don't want any programming or playlists. Lol, I am trying to get away from all that. Screens. Menus. Interfaces.

I tossed all my MP3 discs away.
 
Indigo Girls. Again, an album that has been played forever. This copy is from 1991, if I had to guess. Not like it is a reissue or a remix. I am hearing more detail than ever before. Damn. What a pleasant surprise. With all the combos of equipment, I never had a decent DAC in the chain.

Which reminds me... Rumours is next.

EDIT: Need to replace this disc. Fatally scratched.
 
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