I had owned the first of the first. I purchased the unit in 1982. It was a Sony CDP 101. It was the most obnoxious, raspy, annoying, piercing, grading, non-musical component I had ever heard.
Also, at the time, the complete CD library that was available consisted of about 15 CDs.
Now? I listen to my newest CD rig more than I listen to my turntable. My, how times have changed.
What was your first CD player and when did you purchase it?
My first CD was Madona's Blue (something...) I remember that I cried like a baby on 12/31/84 while listenning to this CD...NO, it wasn't because of the CD..I was watching the news and saw a Hotel on fire and people jumping from it. Imaging the impact on New Years Eve. Several people died burnned and squashed from the jump. It was terrible, and YES , the CD player too.....
When I first heard a CDP I thought it was awful & held out until Beatles CD's came out. I bought something (?) that I had for about 2 days then took it back & got a Mission PCM7000. Next I traded that in for a Nak MB-2s (like Joe above) so I could make tapes for the road. I gave the Nak to my brother when I bought a MF & although I have since moved on to other stuff, I recently got back the Nak from my brother. It still looks like new & works great in the bedroom system.
H. H. Scott in 1986, I forgot the model #. Paid $200. I was one of those fooled by " perfect sound forever". However, I was listening to rock (full volume) at that time through Dahlquist Monitor 7s ( It must have made all my music sound bright anyway). I was using all my spare money to buy CDs and replaced many of my LPs (sigh).
I sold the player to a friend in 1989 for $100. She is still using it in a vintage system. I replaced it with a Nakamichi Changer CDC3 or 4A (can't remember which).
I bought a Sony 101 in the early 80's and very few CD's - just couldn't stand one or the other. A few years later I discovered Cal Audio's Aria II - it really fleshed out the music - but still didn't compete with Vinyl - I bought some more CD's. The I up-graded to the Cal Alpha/Delta - at last I had something that sounded like music - bought lots of CD's. Still have it.
Magnavox FD-1000. The original top loader, no numeric readout. Shortly, thereafter, Meridian modded it into the first "high end" player, the Meridian MCD
I had an early Sony myself. I experienced the same results as Buscis2, and could hardly bare to listen to it. One day, I had a CD playing, and had walked in to another room. Moments later I heard a horrible screeching sound, and ran back into the room to find the CD tray open and the disc 10 feet away on the floor. The machine had the nerve to spit out the CD. I guess it didn't like jazz.
Anyhow, I took it in for repair, and it was DOA. The model was no longer in production, so the store gave me credit towards a new one of my choosing. I took the opportunity to move up the ladder quite a bit, and settled on a Denon DCD-1560 which performed quite nicely. I sold that unit about 4 years ago, but sometimes wish I had kept it as a transport, as it had a really heavy duty mechanism.
I remember my first actual cd player and my first "good" cd player. My first was a Sharp that came with a rack system I received for xmass. My first CD was Cream...dont remember the album. My first real cd player was a Nakamichi MB2s music bank cdplayer with dig out and gold rca connectors. That was actually a great sounding player! Next question? Does anyone remember the ridiculous 1 foot long cd boxes that cds came in at first!! Wow how we have evolved... happy listening, Joe Custom Audio LLC
These are memories best forgotten. Those who do remember may need to seek treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder! I remember the first one I heard in Boulder Colorado through a pair of Acoustat 2+2s. I was friends with the staff there, and we looked at each other in disbelief. None of us could convince ourselves that the horrible sound we were hearing was the promised perfection, and that we just needed to get used to the lack of distortion associated with analog.
I then owned a high-end store during the early years and refused to sell those horrific things. I eventually sold the Sonograph because it was rolled off in the highs, relatively cheap and could be listened to for up to 5 minutes without complete audio fatigue. Those were dark (perhaps bright) days best forgotten. As recently discussed in Stereophile by Art Dudly, there are no classic early CD players. Seek treatment if necessary.
Yamaha CDX1 for me as well. Followed by a Magnevox 480 or 482, still buried under a layer of dust in my office at work, connected to a Sansui AU6500 integrated, still churning out digititus...
It was VERY early on for me, there were two CD's available when I bought my machine (1812 Overture and Peter Gabriel). It was a Yamaha Natural Sound CD-X1 (I think)... I bought it thinking the days of caring for vinyl were over. No more cleaning records, worrying about surface noise (clicks, pops, skips...), getting up to change sides, you name it. The "perfect sound forever" sure sounded like an awesome technological feat and I was first in line to sign up. Digital sounded horrible back then, I kept wondering why the sound was so incredibly bright and what the hell happened to the soundstage? No centerfill and certainly no depth to the sound at all. Fast forward to today and yes digital has improved but it still does not compare with a good analog set up. Happy listening, Jeff
It was a Yamaha. Bought it in 1984 or 1985. It cost $450 but that seemed like a deal since before that most were $1000 or more. I remember playing Yes 90125 at max volume and amazing all who listened. It started skipping at age 3 and I threw it away.
I still have mine. It is a Nakamichi OMS-7. It was a great CD player in the late 80s and still plays but skips on some CDs. It is in its orig. box in storage and I have seen what used price I can get for it; a measly $150 when I pair $1298 for it new. Now I own a Mark Levinson 37 and 360S. I bought them used--no more new digital for mw!! Analog again--never!
Still have mine in the basement. My brother still has his and my dad still uses his! Symphonic brand. All 3 still work. Bought them in 1983. We did side by side comparisons with a sony es about 12 years ago and they still held up.
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