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Good vintage CD player buys?

paulfromcamden

paulfromcamden

Baffled
I've been using the same Sony CDP-XB930 for 20+ years. I still really like it! But I sometimes wonder whether an ancient British players from Naim, Meridian etc. might be fun.

What are the good buys for under £400 that aren't going to die on me?

Should I be looking to buy a NOS laser at the same time?
 
My favorite vintage is a classic Phillips or its British equivalent the Mission DAD 7000. Real vintage warm sound, built like a tank and lovely look IMO.
Other options are the Linn, the Mimik can be bought with spare change and play music in a great way.
 
TBH my favourite has turned out to be the Pioneer PDR-509 Audio CD *recorder*! I got two of these many years ago to make CDRs of various analogue material and to suppliment my Nak cassette deck. They are very tolerant of the disc variabilities, and you can also connect their spdif to an external DAC if you dislike the 'Legato Link' they output.

Afraid my old Meridian transport was a PITA, although their DACs were OK. So using one of their DACs with the above can give the best of both worlds.
 
Jim Audiomisc said:
Afraid my old Meridian transport was a PITA, although their DACs were OK. So using one of their DACs with the above can give the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough I noticed on the Lampizator site last night that he described the 207 as one of the worst 'shed built' CD player mechanisms he's ever seen! But he rather liked the 506.20.

Thanks for the suggestions. Won't be buying anything this month but very interested to hear what people suggest.

P.S. Would a Naim CD 3.5 be a really silly buy?
 
Jim Audiomisc said:
TBH my favourite has turned out to be the Pioneer PDR-509 Audio CD *recorder*! I got two of these many years ago to make CDRs of various analogue material and to suppliment my Nak cassette deck. They are very tolerant of the disc variabilities, and you can also connect their spdif to an external DAC if you dislike the 'Legato Link' they output.

Afraid my old Meridian transport was a PITA, although their DACs were OK. So using one of their DACs with the above can give the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
I've got one of those - haven't used it for ages but it was always very reliable.
On the odd occasion I play a CD I use a Rotel RCD 965BX coax out to a Qutest but the Rotel's internal DAC is more then decent as well.
 
paulfromcamden said:
Funnily enough I noticed on the Lampizator site last night that he described the 207 as one of the worst 'shed built' CD player mechanisms he's ever seen! But he rather liked the 506.20.

Thanks for the suggestions. Won't be buying anything this month but very interested to hear what people suggest.

P.S. Would a Naim CD 3.5 be a really silly buy?
Click to expand...

The 206 / 207 mechanism works fine (a lovely piece of swing-arm engineering) but won't play anything outside Red book standard. Any CD longer than 65 minutes and it will struggle.

The 500 / 506 has no such problems.

However, if I was buying an all in one, I'd go for a 598 which has a mechanism that's more 'standard' (think PC DVD drive).

What can be picked up for under £400 (I have one) and which are very good are Lexicon RT-10 which plays all 5" disc formats: https://www.soundandvision.com/content/lexicon-rt-10-universal-disc-player
 
Loved my old 206 Delta Sigma. Built like a tank. However, you could easily end up with a doorstop. My Denon DCD1600 is way, way better than the Meridian and Naim players I’ve had (CD2 and CD5) and was £450 a few months old. Something like that is a much better proposition IMHO.
 
Jim Audiomisc said:
TBH my favourite has turned out to be the Pioneer PDR-509 Audio CD *recorder*! I got two of these many years ago to make CDRs of various analogue material and to suppliment my Nak cassette deck. They are very tolerant of the disc variabilities, and you can also connect their spdif to an external DAC if you dislike the 'Legato Link' they output.

Afraid my old Meridian transport was a PITA, although their DACs were OK. So using one of their DACs with the above can give the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

I have a CD recorder, a Tascam CD-RW7000, and its sound quality is excellent. It isn’t used for recording any more, due to a change in circumstances.
It might not suit everyone, but in the context of the system components ( Audiolab 8000A & Spendor BC1s ) it suits
perfectly.
And Tascam are very reliable, being used mainly in the prof. audio world.
 
I sold a CDX for £450, lovely thing & can be upgraded with a power supply. I don’t consider CDs to be vintage though.
 
I think anything over 25yrs of age is technically vintage,I had a Meridian 500 transport that lasted 22yrs with a NOS laser replaced after 15 yrs of sterling service, and probably still spinning away somewhere
 
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