Best Basic CD Player (no SACD, USB, etc.)

At your implied budget point : REGA APOLLO / APOLLO-R

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rega-research-apollo-cd-player

Just fyi. An SACD player would not cause you to resign buy your collection. It will still play regular cds as well. 

This is all you need! No need to spend much for a basic CDP!!

There are good players in every price range. Look on Amazon, a few very affordable name brand players that will sound really good. 

Thanks for the info!

Anything by Rotel is going to sound great and last you forever

+1 on the Rotel. CD11 Tribute is where I’d start if buying new under $1k.

Marantz CD60 should be pretty nice. Look for an open box at music direct or upscale audio, could be a good deal. I would stay away from old used players. Transports go bad and then you’ll be screwed. 

I agree with @yogiboy .  The Onkyo C-7030 provides good quality music reproduction and hits well above its pay grade.  

Rega for shure

+1 for the $300 Onkyo!

Out of your budget I know, but I was looking for a basic CD player too last year and ended up with the Bryston BCD-3. Fabulous player, but expensive.

They don't make CD players anymore, but I recently purchased a used OPPO and have been amazed at the quality of the build and sound. 

@cal91 Excuse me, check the archives.

Here`s a list of retailers- Audio Advisor, Crutchfield, Music Direct, and Upscale Audio.

+1 Rega Apollo.

Denon, and Rotel.

An SACD player would not cause you to resign buy your collection. It will still play regular cds as well.

SACD capability will add cost to the player.

i didn't see the OP providing the budget expressly. But $300 should get a nice CD player. What about the always thrown into the discussion Oppo 103 (?) that goes for $300 (used)?

Just before the holidays several dealers were offering the Denon DCD-1600NE for $899 (normal price $1499).  Couldn't resist at that price. I can highly recommend this player.  The price has gone up since but it is still a very good bargain.  Well built, nice looking but more importantly very nice sounding.  It will play all your normal CD's beautifully as well as SACD's.  No fluff.  Simple basic player.

Tonal quality is very nice.  Well detailed and balanced.  Nice spacious soundstage. Compared to my much more expensive Marantz Ruby I was surprised how nicely this player held up in comparison.

Good luck.

I’ve been using an Onkyo C-7030 for the past five years (light use each year), and it continues to work fine. It also sounds very good for such an inexpensive player. I purchased mine on Amazon back in late 2017 for about $175 which included an Amazon 4 year extended warranty. The first year of the warranty overlaps with the one year warranty from Onkyo, so the extended warranty really covers three years. However, the warranty at the time was less than $10.

The C-7030 also has both coaxial and optical outputs in case you want to use the C-7030 as a transport with a separate d to a converter.

The C-7030 is presently selling on Amazon for under $300 for brand new units.

In retrospect, the $175 price was ridiculously inexpensive at the time, and IMO the current price is more inline with the true value of the C-7030.

Best of luck with your search!

try to find an older Meridian G08 or YBA 1 transport/cd player

both of these were excellent players in their time  and can be purchased on the used market, with YBA  be careful  sometimes the Blue laser would fail  so make sure it is working order

Meridian players were built like tanks  so even if used as a transport  with external DAc that will be a great option for CD playback

Definitely check out Pro-Ject DS 3, which can also be used as a transport. Lots of terrific features not found elsewhere

$899 buys a lot of goodness

hth

If you are OK with buying used, the SA 800X series of Marantz players (now discontinued) sound very good and are durable. I upgraded my SA8005 player to a KI Ruby and I'll be selling it soon. They go for around $750 (original price was $1200). The SA 8004 is also an excellent choice (I had one of those before the 8005). Marantz made their own drives for these players and they are very reliable.

Players that only do Redbook CD are becoming more rare. You shouldn't limit yourself to this class of players. A player that does SACD always plays regular CDs so you don't have to buy any titles in a new format. Heck, you might even find an SACD or two that you want to own.

IMO the sound quality of modern players have become quite similar. It's hard to buy a player from the last 15 years that doesn't sound good.

Three resources I would recommend are Music Direct for new players, and Audiogon or U.S. Audio Mart for used players. People upgrade their digital gear a lot and with a little research (Google the reviews on particular models you are interested in) you can get a very nice recent vintage player for reasonable money.

I wanted my CD play to sound like my analog play and I managed to get it close by ripping my CDs on a $40 drive via DbPowerAmp and then streaming the CDs. DbPowerAmp makes sure that the stored file is bit perfect. I have no idea what your system looks like but if you have a streamer, most streamers will stream off of a USB drive and many off. NAS. CD art gets automatically stored with the ripped file.

I resorted to this approach for both audio quality and convenience. My physical CDs are now in storage. I tried to find a CD transport under $1000 and just didn’t like the sound quality.

@shutupuface; Like your handle! Had an aunt who used to say that all the time.

I haven't been in the market for a "basic" CD player in 10 years or so. Back then, as I always do before buying anything of substance, especially HiFi, I did an awful lot of reading, research and, ultimately. serious seat-time with the (new) products available that intrigued me, within my budget range. I ended up buying a Marantz CD6005. I'm currently using it as a transport with a basic McIntosh DAC (DA1). Frankly, the DAC in the CD6005 sounds about the same, to my ears, (Pangea coaxial hook-up) as the MAC's DA1. My wife actually likes the Marantz's DAC a tiny bit more. Be that as it may, they sound remarkably similar, if not exactly the same.

During my serious seat-time ruminations, back then, I liked that Marantz a hell of a lot more than an NAD machine that was over a hundred bucks more. Like you, I have a rather large CD collection. Haven't counted them but I'm sure it's on the order of 5 or 6 hundred or so. I tend not to recommend things that I haven't heard, owned or spent serious seat-time with. I certainly haven't heard them all or, for that matter, a good many of them. As such, I'm sure there are other very fine machines out there, new and gently used, but of those I've spent serious seat-time with recently, as well as in the past, Marantz and Rega are those that consistently stand out, to my ears. My good friend recently purchased a used Marantz CD6006 and loves it. Sounds about the same, to my ears, as the CD6005.

About 3 years ago, I spent around 3 to 4 hours with a Rega Apollo A/B'ing 2 pairs of speakers I was interested in. That Apollo was around twice the cost, if not more, than my Marantz and I didn't think it sounded any better. To my ears, sounded about the same. There's only so much you can do with digital. When my Marantz craps the bed, I will likely go with a dedicated transport and, possibly, a better external DAC. If you want to squeeze the budget a bit, that's the direction I would go in. Regardless, no matter what I or anybody else thinks, as always, let YOUR ears decide what sounds best TO YOU!

Good luck!

+1 for Onkyo C-7030 - I've also owned one for 4 years or so. Light use hooked into a Gustard X16 Dac, easy to enjoy, but not for critical long term listening. 

I have had the Marantz CD6006 for about 5 years, pretty solid. I guess you can call it basic, not the cheapest but just one step up 

@simao 

+3 on Rotel spinners

great CD players. 

@ Corelli… +1 on the Denon. 
the upper end Denons sound really good, have excellent transpires and defent DACs

@oldaudiophile 

There's only so much you can do with digital. 

I doubt that you meant this as a guiding principle.  This statement is true, but I doubt that many of us will come close to the ultimate digital. 

-1 on the onkyo unless you have a separate dac. It sounds bright and hard on its own.  Yamaha would be more neutral. Absolutely didn't like the Marantz in the lower price bracket sounded synthetic. Outboard dacs are abundant, try a few.

Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, Sony... 

Or how about a Sony BluRay player... just have one machine dual-duty... their 700 model for less than $200 is a well reviewed player.

It's hard to find but if you can get an Anthem CD1 Tube CD Player.  The sound is fantastic especially if you upgrade the tube unit to a german one, plays far better than anything near its cost range. Holds 6 CDs, and gives the music such depth you'd think it was an album playing, it's that good. 

@curtdr right, Marantz is such an embarrassing brand, they pretty much invented hifi.... :)

Rotel CD 11 over on TMR 

NAD 568 on TMR

USAUdiomart:

Rotel 1570

Rega Apolo 

Rotel CD14

Shutupuface,

The Onkyo C-7030 is a great CD player at $300. I just replaced mine about 9 months ago with an Audiolab 6000CDT at $600, but it us just an amazing transport.....requires a separate DAC. 

I enjoyed the Yamaha cds300 a 2 years ago, has a great sound, but the skipping, and the audio silence between songs, if i remember, if a song flows into another, it will have a silence between songs,...it was strange, but was a great sounding player.

Hi old dude -

I have a lot and I mean a lot of CDs.  I would guess I am in the 5000 or more neighborhood.  I am also officially a senior citizen and have stockpiled a few cd players, so I will be able to play my music until I can't anymore.

I have not have had much luck with basic Onkyo and even less with basic Yamaha.  Mostly breakdowns after a few months.

So, two players that I own are the - 

- Music Hall CD 15 - on sale for $390, list $650 at Audio Connexion

- Emotiva ERC 4 - list $650, direct from Emotiva; sometimes run sales

If you want to spend more, then go for the Rega Apollo at a grand.

All 3 are excellent spinners.  

Rich 

Music Hall

Emotiva ...

If you have a separate DAC, don’t forget to check out, or consider, the Audiolab 6000CDT. But, a transport only. Simple, straight forward, and sounds great for the $. It will also spin SACD’s, but passes them as Redbook.

Hey Old Dude....just another Old Dude.  I think these guys have sold me on the Onkyo 7030.  I've read nothing but great reviews on it.  I'm still using a 20 year old JVC CD/DVD player I picked up at a garage sale.  Figuring it might croak soon.  Hopefully before I do!

Lector cdp 707 is most analog cd palyer ever!

If you want the best bang for the buck, look for an old Harman Kardon HD 7600. The 7400 is pretty much the same  but with less features on the remote control etc. Saw a 7600 on EBay a few weeks ago for $175. I've got a 7600 and a 7400. They sound good to me and I've never had a problem with them. They were new in 1990.

I regret my Onkyo CD purchase from Abt outside of Chicago. Skips clean CDs that my old CAL Icon never had issues with. It sometimes, not always,  sounds bright n hard as an above poster mentioned. I'd like to upgrade as well, without breaking the bank. 

Any CD player, regardless of price, can have issues. You may be better off not spending too much, on a new player. Brands such as Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, and Rotel seem to make decent units for the money.

I`d be careful about spending too much on a CD player. Personally, I would not spend north of 2 grand for new player, because the cost of repair may equal the price of a lower level CDP.

+1 Rotel CD11 Tribute.  For the money it has been terrific for me. 

Marantz CD6007.

Thanks. For the info!

Best regards 

Rob

Denon DCD-600ne is a great basic player. (I have the DCD-800ne I bought last year because I did want USB for FLACs and DSD).  +1 for the Rotel CD11 Tribute as well. Whatever you buy make sure it is gapless so all your CDs play like they are supposed to do. (Just like players did in the 1980s and 1990s). The Emotiva reviewed by cheapaudioman and some Onkyo are NOT gapless. That would drive me crazy. Would it you? Depends on the kind of music you have.

Marantz stuff is great, but the models definitely haven’t had a refresh in looks in a long time, but I think they are finally addressing that.

Thanks, for the info!!  I really appreciate it! 

BTW  How can you tell if it is gapless or not?

Best regards,

Rob

@shutupuface sometimes (but not that often) they’d mention gapless playback on the spec sheet or in the advertizing blurb. I know Cambridge Audio mentions it in their ad copy. That’s another brand of basic player many people seem to love even if on paper it has "average" specs.

I ended up having to search through customer reviews, Q&A sections, or ask questions on vendor sites like Crutchfield, B&H, and others. For the Onkyo I enlisted a rep on their own website who was at least honest with me about it not being gapless after I explained why that was important to me.  

For those who listen to live albums, concept albums, classical, prog rock, jazz, and even EDM, having gapless is very important.  Others who listen to mainly pop or rock that consists of only separate tracks might not be bothered by players that add in 3 second gaps between tracks like computer drives do. 

The advantage you have of buying from a vendor with a 15 to 30 day trial period is if you find something not to your liking you can send it back.

My Denon are gapless, so I was happy. Good luck.