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Which CD player is worth buying?

telemike

telemike

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Looking at new players these are the ones I am looking at:

Teac CD-P650. Burr Brown DACs, USB port for iPod and thumbdrive mp3 playback. $170

Sony CDP-CE500. 5 disc changer, USB Port, unknown DAC and it's a changer $114
$
Onkyo DX-C390 . 6 disc changer, No USB, it's a changer, good DAC. $140

Onkyo C-7030. Best DAC, no USB. $180 (might be over budget)

Right now, I don't have but a handful of CD's left. I will eventually be rebuilding a collection of used CD's from the local used bookstore. I can make MP3 CD's too. I like the Teac since I can plug my ipod into the unit's DAC.

Any thoughts on the best direction?
 
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Personally, I'd stay away from the changers. Just another thing to go wrong. And yes, I speak from personal experience.

Of the two left, I'd take the single-disc Onkyo in a heartbeat, unless you have to have USB. If you do, the TEAC isn't a bad choice, given your budget. But give the Onkyo some thought.
 
The Teac's convenience of plugging in my ipod or usb thumb drive and using the players DAC instead of my PC's soundcard is the only thing keeping me from begging the wife to buy the Onkyo.
 
Wife gave a budget of $160. Any refurb Onkyos out there?

Need to pock between Teac or Onkyo.....
 
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The Teac cd-p650 is what I can afford new. I can get the onkyo used for $145, customer return to Amazon.
 
Based on Amazon reviews, sounds like the Onkyo is the way to go. Think buying a return item for $145 is worth it?
 
I don't see anything in Amazon's listing about a warranty. If it still carries the original Onkyo warranty (probably one year), then it's probably a good deal...providing you can live with "minor cosmetic imperfections". Bear in mind, most gear is returned with nothing wrong with it except buyer's remorse.

However...

I sold Onkyo at retail a while back, and we would get refurbished stuff whenever we could. But, IIRC, stuff refurbished by Onkyo only had a 90 day warranty instead of a year. That may or may not be true for Amazon.

For $35 I'd get the new one. But if money is truly critical, your chances are probably good with the refurbished one.
 
I can say that I am satisfied with my new Onkyo C-7030. The DAC is what I think makes the difference. I notice more of a difference on older AAD discs than newer ADD
discs in the improvement of the sound quality. Many older recordings are limited by the recording technology used BITD.
 
Accessories for less price for a refurbished Onkyo is the same as a new one at Amazon. They do have the teac for $99 + shipping @ AFL.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2
 
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I'd ask yourself if later on you plan to buy an external DAC. If so, make sure you get a CD player with digital outputs. External DACs are fabulous because they generally upsample better than CD players will and some come with USB capabilities so you can hook up a computer.

That's the way I eventually went and I'm very, very happy I did. Even if you don't think you're going to do it now, it might not be a bad idea to get one with digital outputs anyways just in case you do go that way. DACs aren't very expensive and add a lot of value to the stereo.
 
Just got a text from wife, I can buy the onkyo new! Woohoo.

Now to burn my FLAC to CD's and make some mp3 Cd's.

Then off to the used CD store and re-stock what I sold years ago during the hard times.
 
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1tumbleweed said:
Personally, I'd stay away from the changers. Just another thing to go wrong. And yes, I speak from personal experience.

Of the two left, I'd take the single-disc Onkyo in a heartbeat, unless you have to have USB. If you do, the TEAC isn't a bad choice, given your budget. But give the Onkyo some thought.
Click to expand...

I have that Onkyo and it sounds very nice but since I finished ripping my CD's to FLACs I haven't even turned it on. Doubt I ever will again. Wasted money.
 
The Teac Cd-P650 signal to noise ratio is better than 83 db. The Onkyo C-7030 is 107 db. signal to noise ratio. I couldn't live with myself using a Cd player with that much noise. The signal to noise ratio of the Teac compares to many of the Cd players from the early 80's.
 
sm19422 said:
The Teac Cd-P650 signal to noise ratio is better than 83 db. The Onkyo C-7030 is 107 db. signal to noise ratio. I couldn't live with myself using a Cd player with that much noise. The signal to noise ratio of the Teac compares to many of the Cd players from the early 80's.
Click to expand...


The Teac is 100db on CD and 85db for USB.

Not too bad.

My PC sound card is 92db s/n
 
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