CD player reliability.... good and bad.

Interesting topic. Lots of old cheap Sony Cd players (<$250), that are 20 plus years old, and still working great. I have one. Lol

Re Denon

Ive had their 4 head tape deck for almost 40 years now and it still works like it was new.

I’ve never had a bad CD player in 38 years.  And I’ve had quite a few.

arcticdeth : corrected.

articdeth

Rock On!

I feel like I am one of the unlucky ones here and SACD/CD players are garbage the more you spend.  It seems the more I spend on a player, the quicker it dies.

Sony CDP-CE215 ($300 bucks back in 1995?) still works, my first CD player, I still own it
Panasonic portable CD player from the 90's....  Still works
Sony BDPS.....  It doesn't matter its still working and was cheap.

Pioneer DV45A ($500 lasted a couple years.)

Yamaha DVDS-2500 ($800, lasted a year)

Yamaha Adventage BD-A1060 ($500) lasted 18 months

Denon DVD-5910 ($5,000) DOA

McIntosh MCD-550 ($6,000) DOA

Seriously?  What gives?

I'll say it again, in case anyone missed my first post.

Never leave them powered up with a cd in them, this actives the laser and chews up it’s life expectancy very quickly.

Cheers George

Shanling Tube output Player died after 2 years, Marantz 6005 has lasted and still going 4 years on. BUT has started to be fussy on which CDs it will play. I take care of my CD's as I do my LP's, but frequently played CD's often wont play on the Marantz but will play on the old Pioneer on the car.So I will say that the quality of CD's  themselves is a contributing factor, and I have well payed LP's 50 years old that play perfectly, but not CD's.

I've had bad luck with a couple of NAD CD players which broke after less than five years.  Have had a Sony ES and two Marantz players that have lasted for several years.   The Sony DVP-NS 999ES has a really cheap and fragile tray that occasionally swallows a CD.  I had to remove the entire metal case to rescue the CD.  Otherwise, the Sony and the Two Marantz players play fine and sound excellent.    

Just...got my simaudio 5.3 back from them after this thing sitting in the closet for at least 6+ years...I had some communication issues with them and was’nt pleased about it so it was replaced by an oppo 105d bought back in 2015 and has been in service faith fully since monday...few minor glitches but never sent back...The sim was sent back because of drawer issue and was replaced (at my cost) and i have to say i dont remember it sounding as good back in 2008-2015 <>...They did a really great job.Clean no damage shipping or otherwise (kudos simaudio,thx)...and yes my oppo 105d is retired as of monday and really have alot of admiration for the product.Sooo good to have the sim back in the fold.

I've bean listening to CDs since 1982. Most of the mas market units failed at one point or an other. The last CD player I bought  was a Meitner CD3 that I had to send out for adjustments. It did not ship well and I had to return the unit two times. At that point, they offered me one with a different transport for no extra charge, to witch I agreed. It still playing today. The less the moving parts, the more reliable it will be. Try getting one that you place the CD with a top loading CD player like Krell, Meitner, Rega, Micromega, MHZS, Sony CDP,CDC ext. 

Also Arcam, had one for 15 years and never a peep out of it!

My experience with cd players varies. Some have lasted some have not and some sound excellent some sound terrible. I currently have Onkyo that cost $700 with a metal loading tray and twin Wolfsen Dacs and a Naim cd player that  my ears enjoy it very much. Since I haven't heard the super high end players I'll reserve judgment. I've spent a ton of money components and sometimes the lower end stuff sounds better that the higher end stuff. At least to my ears. 

Maybe a year ago or a little more, I popped for a McCormack UDP PLAYER. 

 INTErnals are of Pioneer.  I know, when I use remote to power on, the pioneer elite dv-48av turns on also. :(

 She is a long in the tooth player, she does sound pretty good, display still nice and bright, but from the couch, hard to read.

I let most all CDs play through anyway,as with my albums, nice the needle drops, the entire LP yes’s through both sides. 
  Plus, I’m too lazy to get off the couch to swap CDs. 
The past 2 years....
 Bought a tascam CD player with the iPod dock, sounded um...... no bass, guitar was not crunchy as It should have been, treble was. Ok returned it, had some skips only after a month. 
Then a Denon professional unit, features galore, thought being a Denon, it would be awesome.sounded great, but the tray arrived and it must have been off track on the inside, I could hear rubbing and it woooullld not Close completely. ReTurned her. 
Then a Integra cd 5 carousel, mechhanically great, nice unit, skipping on 2 out of the 5 CDs loaded.  Liked this player, as ha a a vvi5 CDs at once was great. - side note, still have my Sherwood 5 cd carousel as a present from my old friend(RIP MY BROHER)
only play once in a while. But the close button must stick, as when I gently press “close” it does close, then immediately opens up again, must repeat this process 2-3 times to keep tray closed. :(
Then the Yamaha cd s300- the best of the bunch, and best CD player I’ve heard in a long time. A very nice open airy sound, loved this uni, and the looks were cool too. The strange “only opening about 3/4 of the way” and having to slowly load the CDs by tilting it towards the cd tray and ,.....pain in the butt, 
sfter a few weeks of warming up, loved this player. But the strange way it went through tracks, it would interrupt the music and go to next track, like an 8 track switching from 1, 2, 3, & 4. Then some skipping started. Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s just the luck of the Irish, as John Lennon has said. 


Then onto the McCormack UDP player........as mentioned, she is an old unit, but plays flawlessly. 
 Must be my luck!  
 Will keep using this one til it starts to skip. Hopefully get a couple years out of her!,

two best I had was Onkyo dx-7500 and the Acurus ACD-11.   Both failed also after a couple years. Acurus lasted maybe 3-4 years. Onkyo was demo unit. 

Ayre👍👍

the shop told me that Sony or Philips made just about all the mechanisms, lasers,

Correct there were a couple of Panasonic as well.
Later on Sanyo started doing them too, all reliable as well.

Here is a major list of just about all cd player and cd transports and dacs.
 showing dac chips and laser mechs and lasers
http://vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm

Cheers George

When I bought the Luxman DZ 122, circa early 1990s, the shop told me that Sony or Philips made just about all the mechanisms, lasers,  and chips for CD players on the market at that time, including a lot of  the pricier esoteric players. 

I believe my Denon and Luxman both had Sony internals, or at least a lot of the internals were Sony. 

My issue with CD players is a bit different.  My first player was a Sony something or other about 37 years ago (+/-).  It was about the deadest sounding music I had ever heard although being free of cleaning vinyl and the associated clicks and pops was wonderful.  A few years later that was followed by a Philips CD80, which a year or so later was modded by Wavetrace Technologies out of Tampa. The Dual 1219 and Shure V15 Type III cartridge were now toast as was the rest of the album collection as I moved to all CDs.... and added a PS Audio Ultralink, then an Ultralink II.  That was eventually replaced by some $4K Marantz player that couldn't keep up with my 45 year old Sansui TU-9900 modded by Radio X including a Burr Brown chip set.  The Marantz went and was replaced by a Sony XA 5400 ES CD/SACD which is still here for the very few CDs I can't get on Tidal. I stream from a Cambridge CXN (V2) to a Benchmark DAC3 b and find that very satisfying.  If the Sony blows up I don't think there is much reason to replace it other than with another transport feeding the benchmark.

I've been using 2 Denon DCM-390's for more than 20 years. OK, so they aren't the high-end single disc Oppos or Brystons, but they work well. After all, they're for listening to CD's...There has been a glitch on occasion, they are 5 disc carousels. All in all, for what they cost, a bargain at twice the price.

I've had 4 CD players in last 33 years. 

First was a Denon, back in days when they rated them by "oversampling." 2X, 4X, etc.  It played beautifully, but crapped out early.  
I was young and moved several times, which probably did not help. 

Second was a Luxman DZ 122, lower end for that brand, but also played beautifully to my ears. Five year warranty. Lasted maybe 10-11 years. 
Also had a cross country move. 

Current two are still going strong.
Sony carousel SACD player. SCD CE 775, maybe 16-17 years old?
My office system.   

Marantz CD 5005. For the money, great sound and build quality. 
Maybe 5-6 years old? 

I'd say build quality has gotten a little better over the years.  I'd also say moving them around,  even carefully packed into their original box, does not enhance longevity. But of course they had to be shipped in the first place. 

I used my Rotel first as a CDP then later as a CDT for nearly 20 years and it was still in perfect condition at the end . I only junked it last year to get a better CDT (I now use a UDP-LX500 into a Rega DAC-R)

I don’t see the point in comparing cdp and tt reliability.  CD players, even cheap ones, are sophisticated and relatively high-tech devices.  Turntables, particularly manuals, are relatively simple.  Most of us could build one in our garage.  Sure, it would probably suck but that’s beside the point.  :)

A well built. Cdp should work with no issues for many years . It will have a sturdy and reliable transport good laser assembly.
Of course it will cost you money . But yourself a 200 dollar cdp works a couple of years . Then to the trash it goes as fixing it is to expensive . 
I have a chinese design and made Opera Audio Turandot . It weight is 30 pounds just to give you its construction . Sounds fabulous and I have had it for 15 years . Only problem was a broken rubber ring . 
By the way none of the cdplayers Ive had all were reliable except one , The Cambridge Audio Azur 640C . Great sound for the price (600.00) poor reliability 

Could the secret be in the drive that certain models were using?

I read somewhere, and some time in the past, about manufacturers of laser assemblies and that whole thing. If I understood it correctly, there was a limited number of manufacturers so companies/brands were using same ones. It said that relatively few of the actual CD player manufacturers ventured into making their own transports, etc. I think that Esoteric was among those few, but might have mixed it up by now.

Been running a pioneer elite for 25 years, never ever any problems. 5 year old sa8005 marantz, dead already. I use it use it as a dac now with my audiolab cdt transport. 

2nd-Esoteric DV-60 player.  Happy Listening!

arcticdeth
I was thinking about this very subject recently. Why can't a manufacturer make a Home cd / sacd player that lasts as long as a car(truck) cd player?Overall, I would like to think that most home spinners do hold up well in the long term. I had a Sony ES 520 that lasted from the late 80's until 2005.
Happy Listening!

Iv'e had my Esoteric DV-60 cd player for many years,with zero problems.

Back in ‘85, I sold stereo for (then) Magnolia Hi-Fi. 
ADS was coming to the US (Braun in Europe), and the reps alway had cool deals on demo gear. I had no CD player at the time, so I ordered the CD3. Around $800 retail at the time, and I grabbed one for the around $230. Best DAC then, and sound was exquisite, warm and clear. 
It’s still works today, but needs a runner belt that opens the slider that contains the mechanism. Short of that it still works and still sounds great. 
They only reason “retired” it was to make room for an Oppo unit. 
Sometimes you “get what you pay for”. 
Modern transports and laser sub-assemblies can be manufactured for $.39 it seems. 

@jdmccall56. 
We have a pioneer elite dv-48av.
used for a little while as CD player, didn’t think it sounded that good, seemed like it made the music have less bass, and just not a good sound.  Great for movies, I thought it didn’t play well with music CDs. 
 My opinion.

I have have owned 2 Lexicon RT-20’s for 15 years with no problems other then
having to replace a belt a few years back. I also purchased a Marantz SA-8260
to experience the then new sacd format. The player worked for about two years
then it stopped reading the sacd layer on my hybrid discs. To be fair, this was a
well known problem with this model as well as the model that followed it. I don’t remember, but it may have been the SA-8001.

My longevity champ is my 18 year old Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai.  It’s a “universal” DVD player so maybe that doesn’t count:)

I can’t think of one CD player I’ve owned that failed.  Maybe I’ve just been lucky.  My favorite is my current Denon DCD-1600NE.  It’s built real well...or at least gives that appearance, judging from it’s heft, looks and feel.

My Pioneer Elite BDP-05 has been in service for many years; I leave it on 24/7, as the boot time was always maddeningly slow, but rarely (if ever) with a disc loaded if I'm not playing it.  I have an Audio Research CD-1 in storage that no longer retracts the disc drawer, although it still works if closed manually; that drawer failed after about 10 years of use.

CEC Transports are top loading. Rarely have an issue. CEC transports only read "Red Book", but they do it very well.

I was quite surprised to find so many broken CD players up for sale on eBay.
At all prices.

It's also disappointing to see so many Arcam players on there with faults as I'd generally taken them to be a reliable make.

As it was pointed out earlier the fact that they are such complicated machines leads to a high probability that some kind of malfunction will occur at some point.

It could be a transport issue or more likely a problem with reading discs. I've found this to to have happened with a couple of budget and midrange Sony machines (plus a PS2). Perhaps that explains why the prestigious ES machines are held in high regard?

It's always been a mystery to me as to why some players seem to be far more forgiving when it comes to reading less than perfect specimens.

A few early machines were said to have a real time error correction display, but this seems to have been universally dropped nowadays.

A real pity as it could have provided useful information in regards to the condition of the machine. An even better option would have been to make it switchable just in case we didn't want to get overly distracted with the mechanics of the machine.

No problems here, all three of my players/transports work just fine...some 5 years or older...they are not my first choice to listen to music however. That would be one of many many turntables and cartridges I own.

If treated with respect they can last many years, they do wear out but maintenance costs less than of other parts in the system.
Only my SCD1 had an issue with a bearing change (the only fault that could never happen) but that was covered by warranty. Now my SCDXA9000ES even being in use for 16+ years passes the track test CD with flying colours.
So not a bad investment.

G

My Marantz CD67 (1997) still working fine! Albeit with some years spent in storage.Plus the other old players I have (Denon, JVC, NAD, Sony) are also working well. The Pioneer needs lube on the rails.

I own the Audio Research CD 3 which is a  top loader CD player manufactured 2001 list price $5,000.. just replaced laser and motor cost $200. didn`t have to replace motor is was still in good shape but its best go all the way don`t have to worry for another 20 yrs. 

Back in the day, some found that inexpensive DVD players had better sound playing cds and lasted longer than inexpensive CD players. That said, they still require periodic dusting and lens cleaning no matter what the price.

Good tips George.I have a MF 3.2 still going strong ,a Denon 3810 which died due to the cat peeing on it and a Bluenote Stibbard which is due for a laser replacement.I also have a Yamaha which still goes albeit with a little bit of encouragement.These are all oldish and still play well.Not super cheap or super expensive but would rate them as reliable.

Are any top loading CD+SACD players currently made?

Ayon had a top loading SACD player a few years ago.  It may not be currently in production but it looks like USA Tube Audio still has it.

Interesting news about leaving a CD in the tray.  My Rega Planet was purchased used about 15 yrs ago and still going strong.  It stays on 24/7 and there is usually a CD left in it.  Maybe I'll start taking the CD out after use so I can get another 15 + yrs!

i wish my DBX players had lasted. 

Yes correct, leaving the player turned on with a disc inside, also turns on the laser, and will take the same amount hours of read life off the laser life as it does playing the disk.
So those who "think" that to leave it turned on 24/7 because they "think" it sounds better, just make sure you haven’t left a disc inside.

Cheers George

Got a rega Apollo that’s 20 yrs old. It’s perfect. Love it. Had denon, Sony es, carver. All of them broke. Rega’s are solid. 

+ Simaudio

I've owned several CD players...still have 3. 

A 20+ year old NAD that works the same as it did new.

A 20 + year old Proceed CDP that works as well as it did new.

 A 10 + year old Marantz SC 15si that is my current go to unit.
 
Only problem CD player I've had in the last 20 years was a Sony SCD 1 which had a failed SACD laser after 18 years of use.

I don't know what CD players you had or how you treated them, but my experience is that decent quality units work well for a long time.