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CD player reliability.... good and bad.

Since the mid late 80’s I have gone through probably 15 + CD players, some lasted me many many years, some were non working out of box, some lasted a week, some months, and as said some lasted years.
Is the shipping process causing some jolting of the unit, and innards get jolted and the tray or a small piece gets damaged? Or just the way they are made?

We take great care of our CD players, dust cover when not in use, don’t drop them, hit them, shake them.....yet they just stop working or things go bad, skipping, display goes out prematurely, tray rubs on something, or any number of issues...!! ??

BUT,....my cheap pickup truck CD player still works after 13+ years , dust, bumps, filth, exploding pops, lots of dust in my truck from my profession, dash, floor, everywhere, years of dust, caked all over, yet I put in a cd, and the darn thing still works.

But , recently it has started to act up, it plays everything I put in it, but sometimes won’t eject,...


anyway, why is it most CD players have a reliability problem. NOT all of them, but there seems to be a %10-15 of new players that arrive in non-working, or only last a short time.

Any thoughts......
128x128arcticdeth
audioclint
17 posts
 
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. 
glupson
7,842 posts
 
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.
mcmvmx
108 posts
 
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 

jdmccall56
73 posts
 
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.  :)
wqgq_641
56 posts
 
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)
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