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What was/is your favourite CD player

Naim CD3. The most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Yes so true I bought my CD3 in 1994 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very foot tapping and I still have it stored in its box but still working.

Currently using a Naim CDX2.2 and found it harsh initially. But with a bit of tweaking found that it smoothed out nicely without losing its dynamic sound. A heavy spiked Target stand focussed it up. I hated the DIN outlet and experimented with different RCA interconnects. Mogami 2534 star quad smoothed it up and produced a soundstage, gosh. I have a TXPS but prefer it bare, the TXPS is stored along with an old CDX2 for emergencies.
 
Only a few for me:

Pioneer PD4300 - not bad but typical of the late 80s.
Meridian 200/203 - now you're talking but the transport failed after 27 years so...
Naim CD5 XS - blows the Meridian away. Added a spare olive HiCap that I had lying around but can't discern any difference in SQ. Is it just me?

I have a CD5 XS to which I added a Flatcap and the difference was very subtle, human voices being just a bit more natural but you need to listen very attentively to notice it.
The Siltech cable I did put between the CD and my Supernait brought a much more discernable difference.
 
Naim CDSIII with Teddy’s XPS.

Almost as good as my SME 20 with the 5arm but not quite.

I still smile at the memory.

mmmmmm

good luck and stay safe. It’s still out there.
 
Cal Ikon Mk.II (gf at the time asked me if it also gave head, considering it cost a whopping $600)
Then various NADs, Denons, etc. while lost in the wilderness
Rega Apollo-R that I sold, and got complaints from the buyer because it started flaking out (not spinning up reliably). I offered to buy it back, but buyer decided it was worth keeping. I liked it, too.
Currently have a NAD 568 C that I bought when I needed a player quickly, which I find a pleasure to listen to, which surprised me.
Ultimately, an Audiolab 6000DCT+BorderPatrol DAC is what I prefer to listen to CDs with.
 
Teac VRDS 7 Never rocked my boat and was barely used.
Musical Fidelity Nu Vista 3D must be over 20 years old, would never part with it.
Only thing I've heard better was 32K and a horrible looking two box affair.
 
My current Rega Apollo-R as transport and Deltec PDM3 DAC is the best I’ve owned by far, and being two ‘shoebox’ sized components take up no more space than a single unit. By saying that it won’t play SACDs, and I have a surprising amount of those, so I have a Marantz SA8005 upstairs for that. I do toy with the idea of buying a serious high-end SACD, Luxman, Accuphase, Esoteric or whatever, but I’m nervous about dropping that sort of cash on something where if the transport becomes unmaintainable it becomes scrap. I do certainly like CDs/SACDs and would only swap to streaming if I had to move somewhere very small in retirement. I just like the ‘collection’ aspect of it, some CDs really are beautiful items.

Go on, treat yourself, yu know you deserve it... an Accuphase would out liv you.
Mac
 
Densen B400xs. Knocks streaming , and probably nearly every other CD player ever made ( although I have not heard them all) in to a cocked hat.

The 400XS was the first and only CDP that stopped me looking for vinyl copies of music I wanted to buy. For the preceding 15 years, I grudgingly put up with:

Mission PCM7000 - least analogue sounding CDP in my experience
Musical Fidelity CDT - a pair of triodes provided some novelty for a while
Naim CD2 - nice player, but still not a patch on my LP12
Naim CDS2/XPS - not much better than CD2, and vastly overpriced for the performance

My 400XS was replaced by a 440XS (for which I have a spare OEM transport) after 12 years of sterling service. I've been entirely content with Densen CDPs, and thoroughly recommend them. Just make sure you buy a separate Gizmo remote.
 
My first which was a Philips CD104 when they first appeared and my current and last one I shall ever own which is a superb Pioneer PD-91.
 
Maranz 63.
Naim cd3.
Teac vrds 25.
Naimcd 5xs.
Naim cdx 2.2.
My favourite Naim cd 5xs.

Good to know..........
I just wrote a note on a post it saying : don’t ever sell me idi.. and I am just about to fix it on top of my CD5XS with dock tape to avoid any mistake I may regret !
 
My 400XS was replaced by a 440XS (for which I have a spare OEM transport) after 12 years of sterling service. I've been entirely content with Densen CDPs, and thoroughly recommend them. Just make sure you buy a separate Gizmo remote.
Use my 440xs as a dac/CD and it's great for both. The GIZMO has been crap. To Densen's credit they have always sorted it. I have a Harmony which I use most of the time now. :)
 
and on the topic:

Only 4 disc spinners and the first three I cannot tell you the model: A Pioneer from the early 80's, A Denon from late 80's, A Yamaha from the mid-90s which was a multi-disc spinner. Sounded better than anything I'd had and now the Densen which is in another universe.
 
My favourite CD player at the moment is the Philips CD300. It is just beautiful to behold and it can play music just fine.
I also like my Quad CD 66 and a Beogram CD5500 for the same reasons.

The first two are a little soft around the edges, but remain thoroughly enjoyable.

I use something else when I need 3D imaging, that is for classical music.
 
Favourite can mean several things. I still have a rose tinted view of a Meridian 506.24 from many years ago and wondered whether a 508 or G08 were much better.
Next up a Simaudio Moon Nova - good looking and sounding
Loved my Krell KPS 20i - what a beast. I sold it whilst it still had value as it was heading towards becoming a massive doorstop (CDM9 Pro mechs impossible to get)
The Rotel 965bx is seriously good for the money
 
Not favorite for sound necessarily, but B&O Beogram CD 4500. That with the matching Beomaster 4500 looked like some alien technology back in the early 90's. I still have a full set boxed up waiting for a space to put it. It was my dream system in grade school but I couldn't afford to buy one until after university!

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How does the pioneer sound on its own?Always been curious about the stable platter players. I had the Nad a few years ago. Nice player for the money.I think NAD are a fairly underrated company.
To be quite honest I don't know as I have always used it as a transport.
 
I have a CD5 XS to which I added a Flatcap and the difference was very subtle, human voices being just a bit more natural but you need to listen very attentively to notice it.
The Siltech cable I did put between the CD and my Supernait brought a much more discernable difference.
Hmm...I'm still using a grey SNAIC so perhaps a bit of cable investigation is called for?
 


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