Best sounding CD player

Burmeister, is probably it, or at least really close.

Look used.

McCormack UDP 1  either the CJ champagne color or the McCormack silver  

pio elite dv-79avi

or drop coin on the Bryston  

I found a used pio elite dv-79avi on either the gon or Amazon, Or fleabay 

don’t remember, I just remember it was silver, so I jumped.

only PITA, ISwhen I use my other pio remotes, all o stuff goes on, off, opens, etc

udp-1 McCormack is built on the dv4? , so all remotes  work

you probably won’t notice much audible between players, maybe some extra treble, or bass

dont forget the Yamaha s-300, or the newer is the 303?

has a nice stadium airy sound, that’s what the wife said  

Meridian 808 

Probably the,pre and amps, ,….that Bryston CD player was wicked smooth, fast start, quality drawer, hefty, but it’s like 4-5K, way out of my,league.

I suppose I could, but the McCormack UDP-1 and pio elite dv-79avi, plus a less than,50:hours always,covered pio elite dv-58av in bedroom. ….
dv-48 used in family room for movies

i outdoor love the bryston, but the warranty is sheepsh**t, not like their amplifiers n,pre’s

@milby1 I'd love to hear the Playback Design CD Transport,

but my Jay's Audio MK3-CDT3 is superb, I vote Jay's Audio Flagship.

Electrocompaniet EMC1 mkV amazing machine under every respect...

You make a good point. 
 

the only thing that counts is how it sounds to you. We are all different with different likes and dislikes, regardless of cost if it sounds good then it’s good.

We use pioneer,elite,,dv-.47 or 48

rotel rdv-1040

sherwood cdc 509 or a something. 5 cd carousel 

bought so many cd spinners since 87-88. Always had bad luck, except for a j ci had for 10:years +

bought the yammy 300 , the sound was airy and open, even my wife commented,.l.and she hates my audio stuff. To her her earbuds are just as good as when. My amps worm u p for 24 hrs, and I pluck some great music, she don’t care. Happy with earbuds

I am sorry I said I have an Ayon CD5 and I love it, but in actuality I have a better version which is the CD10 Signature Model. Some of the Best Digital I have heard in many years. Superb Transport and the Dacs are First Rate! I still use Vinyl but, have soo many CD's not available on Record.

I stumbled upon a review for Audiobyte Hydravox and associated power supply. The one review was long and very detailed. It made the dac sound better than sliced bread. 
does anyone in the community have first hand experience with this dac and it’s sound?

Playback Design. Good as it gets

dvdgreco

Accuphase and AYRE are equivalent to AMR cd-77.

Happy Listening!

This is an embarrassing thread.  DVDgreco asked a pretty specific question and a lot of responses to it were irrelevant and downright insulting.  Stay on topic or create a different thread if you want to talk about something else.

Go with streaming. You'll rip off many more musicians much faster.

The MBL Cadenza is the best sounding player I have heard. Amazingly smooth, detailed, clear and dynamic.  

Second best is my Luxman D05, superb sounding.

The Marantz players are good but still noticeably digital by comparison.

I had Cary 306sacd on loan from my dealer, and I had two unpleasant surprises. High level of vibrations while playing CD's. When I had extracted CD it was very warm, almost hot to the touch. I had returned it back and I had opted for Marantz SA10-S1 instead. 

As a further clarification to my earlier post, the Device that made myself give the use of CD a permanent role as a Source in my system is a use of a Bespoke Built Valve DAC, that as part of the design had swap out custom built decoders supplied to offer additional options on tuning the sound to a preference.

The Valves used for a CD circuit idea become attractive after being loaned for extended periods, for use in my system, a few versions of modified CDP's, which were with a design to utilise Valves in various places in the circuit.

From my recollections of all encounters with CD in use, the most attractive to myself and indelible as an experience are those demonstrated with Valves in use.  

My Valve DAC has been Tube Rolled and has a Vintage early 60's Valve as the final selection, having the flexibility to fine tune the sound with easy to exchange components, such as the Valves and Decoders has really made the interaction with the Source a Joy and one that is not such a common option if other circuitry was in use.

Interestingly the EAR Acute is a Valve Circuit CDP, it was very impressive with stock tubes and has found a place of betterment using the same valves I selected as a result of Tube Rolling. 

The supplied info' on the positive impression Valve Circuit CD replay is able to make, is worthwhile noting and if possible, attempting to experience a demonstration, even better if able to be arranged in the home system.   

Also own the Ayon CD5s as well as CD35. Use both as Pre/CDP/DAC and sound incredible. 

Go for the Border Control Dac

I also own an Ayon CD5 tube Signature Player! Like a separate DAC and Transport. Have had Levinson 31.5 Transport and Blue Circle top DAC with separate power supply etc. There are differences in all the set ups in regards to warmth and detail and Soundstage etc. The Ayon is a wonderfully but expensive player with Streaming optional! I prefer like others to have the CD to look at the info etc. I also like the hands on experience! As we get older we get more lazy but I still like the sound better of CD compared to Streaming! Just as some prefer Vinyl to CD which I also use. It really boils down to Preference! I miss the 31.5 Transport that was built like a tank but progress marches on! There are so many other things that make a difference in the overall sound  experience that are highly overlooked  like the wiring in our homes! I had my Audio room rewired separate from the rest of the house and WOW what a difference that made! Speaker placement is also critical and I could go on and on but CD is the topic. I love my Ayon from Austria! Tubes all the way!

having owned the Cary 306 I can vouch for it's sonic beauty, on the other hand it's reliability is sub-par IMO. My current 'spinner', Marantz Ruby has been perfect.

i think imo, best cd player 1.Emm Labs Xds1v2-v3 , 2. Lector Cdp 707

The Nuprime CDP-9 (w/LPS 212 Linear power supply) is the best CD playback I've ever had; fantastic CD player for the money-

pawsman

I have moved on from CDP to CDT + DAC.

I have many of the above in my home system but have heard intentionally made the time to receive demonstrations of many of the Brands on offer in use in other systems throughout the past decade or more. 

In the past year an EAR Acute CDP that I can receive demonstrations in use regularly, on a system I am familiar with has proved to be an exceptional CDP.  

Nagra CD player. Separate transport and DAC which share a power supply. Musical and involving. The sound of analog.

The Nagra transport made Burl DAC sound better compared to using Oppo as transport.

DAC in the Nagra CD player as good as Nagra HDX cuz hitting the limit of what 16 bits can do.

* Ditch the power supply that comes with the transport for the Nagra MPS that comes with the DAC.

Pitily Nagra no longer makes this CD player.

Hi res streaming sounds better than CD but what if internet goes down? Also Qobuz has never made a recommendation that I like. It is gr8 to have that vast selection at yr fingertip.

@dvdgreco 

 Do you have a budget limit, and are you still considering a one box CD player? 

The Sparkler s515 I mentioned  is a two box set up, power supply in one box cd player in the other. About 2k

@beeswax , "Man, I am really SICK AND TIRED of people doing everything but answering the question."

You are spot on.

And honestly, if people think their $600 CD transport is the "best", and "punches above it’s weight", a "giant killer", "competes with players 10X it’s price" or whatever BS they want to put in there, well, they obviously don’t have a lot of experience with high-end CD players. They’re not even in the same ballpark with some of the brands mentioned here. But I guess if the rest of their stuff is at about the same level of quality, well then, how could they know any better? They're probably not going to hook up too many $10k CD players to their $1200 amplifier to actually see if they can hear any differences. Know what I mean?

This place can be a joke sometimes.

I like going the separate route myself and you guys should definitely check out the w y r e d 4 sound 10th anniversary dac, one of the most analog sounding dacs that I've heard, not cheap though $4,500 UD but in testing it beat up on much more expensive dacs and one of their viewers put it up against his VPI turntable with a $5,000 Japanese cartridge and he said that the 10th anniversary DAC was every bit as analog sounding, I bought it and I totally agree I absolutely love it and I use it with an esoteric P10 transport.

Wadia S7i. Not made anymore. The the new Wadia company nothing like the original. Best CD PLAYER I KNOW OF.is the WADIA S7i

For those of us for whom cost is an issue; would appreciate if the posts and replies would indicate budget/costs. Thankyou.

p.s. - very happy with my Bryston BCD-3, but there are definitely quality control issues with my unit. Tray errors often.

I also would recommend CD upgrades available from LCAudio in Denmark if you can get someone to do them. Class A stage output (to bypass opamps) and a good clock.

Man, I am really SICK AND TIRED of people doing everything but answering the question. dvdgreco asked about CD players and a bunch of you come telling him/her to go into streaming. It's ABOUT CD PLAYERS. Stick to the topic. You're not getting a commission so stop being a know-it-all. Sheesh.

it's not cheap, Project RS2T transport (red book only) and then add a linear power supply, with upgraded  power cable. Put it against anything out there,  BAR NONE. Of course a good DAC is necessary to complete the package. Robert TN

I was considering Esoteric also before my Luxman purchase. But the bad vibes I was reading about in concern of their customer service issues deflated that idea...

Best I've ever used is probably Esoteric. It just does everything "right".

I think with all of them there are pros/cons. I've yet to find one I think is perfect.

I`m still using and enjoying my Theta Prime & Pearl with a Time Linque unit. It`s not SOTA , but it sounds as good or better than my Yamaha sacd player.  

I love my McIntosh MVP871. To my ears it's very musical. 

There are some extremely good ones eg Consonance, Audionet Planck, Edelweiss.

The Esoteric K01 XD is a superb player. Sound wise, it simply sounds more natural than anything else I've heard from standalone players.

I get the impression that Esoteric doesn't have as much market presence in the US as it has in Europe and Asia.

i like my upsampling CD player i got 2 decades ago. i also like the apollo made by rega, a nice mellow-sounding unit that is a good match for the equally mellow-sounding brio-r amp. 

@mbmi  - I was reacting to your comment that a $600 Audiolab transport coupled with a quality DAC will get you the equivalent of "+10K big boy" ; that hasn't been my  experience.  Folks understate the SQ impact of quality transports.  CEC is well known for the quality of its transports so I am not surprised by your listening experience. Enjoy!

@facten .....Yes you are correct but at what price....I'm using the CEC-5 Transport from Japan...belt drive...Like Jays' but more cost effective.....the playback is flawless with the Audio mirror tubed DAC.....the sounstage is really Deep with this set up.....Live sounding.

Just wanted to throw my .2cents. 
I absolutely love my Pioneer Elite PD-65 modified by Musical Concepts.

It's an old 90s CD player that has some awesome components, a ton of copper use, and super solid platter transport.  The DAC chip set, higher end components, and "Legato Link*" make all music sound pretty amazing.  *Legato Link is a filtering/EQ treatment that varied some over the years.  Some thought it harmed sound, some found it enhanced.  In my system it greatly benefited detail and presence along with massively enhanced the sound stage vertically and forward.  
It always sounds better than streaming thru a really good DAC.  Just sounds "more".
 

Jay's cdt2-mk3 with Gustard X26 PRO is my rig. Top value for the money. 

+1 @soix separate dac and transport, will get you well into the future. 

@vthokie83 

👍

Charles

@dvdgreco

I would recommend at least a reach out to @bigkidz (Vu Jade Audio). I believe that they could modify and markedly improve your Cary. Just a good alternative for consideration.

Charles

Sparkler Audio makes a great sounding reasonably priced CD player. I have been using the s503 for the last few years and only recently added a Mojo Audio Mystique X SE. I’m very happy with the combo. The s503 has been replaced by the s515 (+/-$2K), a two box set up that sounds better than the s503 and as a transport bettered a highly modified 47Labs Flatfish. If your budget allows, the Human Audio Libretto II CD player ($10.5-11.5k depends on finish) would be on my short list. Off the grid battery powered, nos Dac, and one of if not the finest transports I’ve ever heard! 
Good luck hope you find what your looking for.

http://www.sparkler-audio.com/portfolio/S515_en.html
 

http://charneyaudio.com/libretto-ii.html