CD Recorder

I have used a Philips 880 for about 5-6 years without a problem. Not having used any others I can't say its superior to any other make in reliability, features or quality of output. Pioneer made some well reviewed units if I remember correctly. I think mine sold originally for about $450, and I've seen a few in the classified for about $200.

I bought it primarily to make vinyl to cd copies, and didn't want to have to move my computer into my listening room and invest in a high quality soundcard. Of course that meant I couldn't use some of the "denoising" software to eliminate 'pops' and other anoyances in the vinyl. But I did experiment with taking the cds made by the Philips and running a few through such software on my computer, thus generating second generation cds. My trials suggested that I lost some sonic quality in the second gens, so I later skipped that step.

I have owned many cd recorders and recommend that you buy a professional deck (NO SCM and will record on any CD blank). I have both marantz models (CDR631 single and CDR500 dual). They both work great. They are available from pro dealers (GOOGLE: MARANTZ CDR500 or CDR631).
Consumer decks are a pain in the***.

Now to confuse you....There is a CD burner made by Pioneer called the PDRW-739 that makes slightly BETTER sounding copies than the original. I know this sounds impossible, but there are valid technical reasons for why this is happening. Unfortunately, this particular burner is known to have a higher than normal break donw rate on it's cahnger mechnism, so it may not be your ticket. I managed to find a brand new one on ebay for $200 (list price is $700), so I'm not really concerned if it dosn't last. I've managed to archive over 400 burned discs, and they all sound better than my originals!

BTW: Whatever burner you buy make sure you use Mitsui CD-R's. I compared 8 different brands, and Mitsui's are by far the best sounding.

CD-R reliability-- that's a tough one. What it boils down to is "you pays your money and you takes your chances". I've owned/used 5 CD recorders:
1. Pioneers 739-- excellent sounding copies, very versatile and pretty easy to use with good manual. No reliability problems in 2+ years . My daughter liked it so much I gave it to her.
2. Pioneer 609-- a single well recorder (not dubbing) and too big a hassle to use, IMO. Returned it.
3. Pioneer Elite W37-- almost identical to the 739, and loaded with features. It malfunctioned right out of the box, and build quality was disappointing for what they call their "Elite" series-- returned it.
4. Phillips CDR 885-- made nice copies, but malfunctioned after just two; flimsy appearing build quality-- I returned it.
5. I'm presently auditioning a Marantz Professional CDR500 dual well dubbing recorder and like it a lot. The build quality is much better than the Pioneers or Phillips, IMO, but then it costs more (MSRP $850, best street price about $675.). This is my choice as "best" of those I've tried. An A'Gon friend has this recorder too, but it's in the shop for repair-- however, he thinks he may have caused the problem. The Marantz manual is not at all clear on how to set Record Level for compilations, but otherwise it's easy to use--their Tech Support was very helpful with this. All functions have worked well so far, but I've just done 3 CD-Rs. I also like the professional features, and plan to purchase this machine. Good Luck. Craig