Which Vintage CD Player To Use As A Transport?


I need a bargain CD player. Emphasis on bargain. One possibility is buying a cheap Schiit DAC and a vintage player to use as a transport. $100 or so for something described as “bulletproof.” Two questions:

—Is this a good idea?

—Which brand/model/year would be a good choice for a transport? 

Many thanks. 

paul6001

Showing 1 response by paul6001

I’d have to buy them both. The Schiit DAC is $115.00.

But this is Plan B and it seems like too much work. I think that I’m going back to Plan A and getting as much used CD player as I can get for about $200. The current frontrunners are the Cambridge Audio Azur 651C and the Yamaha CD-S300. Any preferences between them?

Other possibilities are a bit older: The Arcam CD72 and the Rotel RCD-951 (and various other Rotel models).

When it comes to electronics, especially digital electronics, I can’t help but think that newer is better. That’s certainly true with computers and aren’t CD players kinda alt-computers?

Someone is sure to point out that CD technology really hasn’t changed much since [whenever]. But there seems to be no debate that DAC technology has moved forward significantly so I question that premise.

Of course, the reason I’m in this bind is because my Denon 32 bit player died after only two years. (More bits! Better tech!) Talk about cheesy.