BUYING A CHEAP CD PLAYER WILL COST YOU 

I would be surprised of anyone who watches your channel would use a $34 CD player. between the cheap appearance, and poor user experience, surely that would be a non-starter. For me, there are many different things that I consider when choosing audio gear. Cost is always a factor, but your tolerance for price is different for each person. For me, when you are building a system, how things look and feel, is just as important as how they sound. The $34 CD player may sounds OK, but are you really going to put that Walmart CD player next to your other audio gear? Probably not.

Just get a great external DAC and the spinner of your choice.

I totally reject the idea that you need to spend so much on a disc drive.

Buy an old dvd player. It will do the job fine and it will cost you next to nothing.

Lenny!!! I want a blind shoot out!! Walmart blu-ray player vs Xbox vs transports all going through the same DAC. Thanks in advance.

Waste of good hard earned money! Don't have to pay alot for a good cheap cd player that will work just fine for most of us out here.

Desperately (slow) economic times require innovative sales techniques. Next up, $6K phono preamps. 😂

Let’s do a blind A&B test using the same dac. Stop fluffing

I still love a well mastered redbook cd, they can sound wonderful 👍

I love your channel, but there is just a little too much snake oil being sold in this video. Everybody should know that when it comes to sound quality, these are the most important factors, in order: 1. The recording you are playing (how it was recorded, mixed, and mastered) 2. The speaker system 3. The listening room and the room treatment 4. The amplifier 5. The DAC 6. Source components (such as CD players) 7. Interconnect cables and speaker cables Unless your CD Player/transport and/or DAC are complete trash (or malfunctioning), the vast majority of people will not be able to tell the difference (in double-blind A/B testing) between any two CD players that are level matched on the same system. The non-scientific counter argument is typically statements like "Your system is not resolving enough to notice the difference", or "Your hearing is not good enough to notice the difference", etc. But this argument has been going on for over forty years, and I don't see it ending anytime soon. I can see the point about things like build quality, reliability, and having high-end source components that "match" the rest of your system from a quality and aesthetic perspective. I don't want a $24 dollar Walmart DVD player next to the rest of my gear, and I don't like using Blu-ray players (even if they can play SACD and DVD-A) that don't have any visible display about what is being played. Personally, I like high-end "vintage" CD-players (from the late 1980s to the early 2000s) that have lots of useful features and look at home with the rest of my gear.

Just bought a $30 dvd player on Amazon to play cds. Digital out (coax) to my smsl dac, so really it’s just a transport. Sounds great.

What do you guys think of top loading CD players?I have a Rega Apollo from 2005 I really love it. It cost $1000 then.

So that $2500 Technics looks to be a CD player only version of my Panasonic UB9000 4K Blu-ray player that was only $900.

$37.00Cdn Sony Bluray played through a $250.00 DAC side by side with a $900.00Cdn CD "transport" and there definitely wasn't $863.00 in difference so I can imagine the diminished returns at $4000 for a stripped down cd player..err sorry.. "transport". Played on vintage Boston Acoustics A60s, vintage Bose 601 IIIs, KEF Q150s and Klipsch Sevens. Been in audio professionally years ago and as a hobbyist as well for almost 40 yrars so respectfully I must disagree.

2:23 and the first mention of sound quality. How does one transport deliver better sound quality than another?

Totally agree with you Lenny! Why would people by expensive Hi FI separates, which costs $100s and 1000s, of dollars and then buy a cheap CD player? It makes absolutely no sense!

In my defense, that Wal-Mart dvd player was connected to a very good DAC! Love you, Lenny!

Do what you prefer but I think a PS5, XBOX, etc. are good enough so I'd spend the money on the speakers as big towers with four 8" woofers are expensive. A $500 Chinese clone of an old $50,000 amp can't be beat. $500 more for dac/preamp and good to go. I prefer two 15" woofers in each speaker.

Hey buddy! Great video. I didnt really think there was that much of difference in sound quality through cd players unless it was a cd player integrated with a tube. But ya man You really have a dream job! Id love to test hifi equipment, review them, and help customers! And not to mention (THE HUNT) just hunting for something new in general! And sometimes not going by how it sounds all the time but how it makes you feel/vibes it gives you. Awesome stuff buddy. Thanks for another good one.

Hi Lenny, Would love it if you could demo the new Technics and Yamaha cd players. From the reviews I’m hearing about their sound is really good

So if I rip a CD to a FLAC or WAV file on a drive, the same kinds of noise and/or special sauce that comes from a good or bad CD reader should be imparted into the DATA in the copy I make. Are there similar differences in the sound of a file ripped with a lesser or better CD ROM drive? If I burn an audio CD using files that I ripped with a cheap CD Rom drive, will that CD sound different than the origional CD when I play it on a high end cd player or transport?.... Are lossless file formats no longer losses if they are copied using a cheap CD ROM drive?

CD players UNLIKE vintage Pioneer SA/SX receivers are unrepairable and quickly obsolete, and therefore completely disposable junk. Spending lots of cold cash here is the epitome of 🤪😱🤭🤔

the difference between an expensive turntable and a cheap one is much greater than an expensive CD player and a very cheap one. That really is a world of difference. a CD player costing more than 500 euros is nonsense!

I bought recently a nice Onkyo 6 carousel CD deck for around 300 bucks new. Since running it to a good quality DAC, I simply doubt a thousand$ transport will make a jack bit of difference. I guess if I had money falling out of my ass I am sure I could justify 🤔 wasting that much money to impress all those people who couldn't care any less.

Thank you for the brief explanation of why it's called a "transport". I didn't know there was an actual difference where a transport doesn't include the DAC portion.

Hi Lenny! I always enjoy your teams product presentations. I learn something every time. As a consumer, I struggle with how different CDT's and CD Players "clock" quality can be judged based upon looking at specifications. I Understand the concept; I believe it is to minimize jitter, I guess I have more studying to do. Anyhoo, GREAT JOB!!

I have a CD player from 1983 ish, it cost me very little second hand online, it sounds better than almost any cd-player I've seen new, and has both digital and analog output stages. The answer is not buying a NEW cd player.

What about the Cambridge AXC35 or CXC? Good video my friend. Keep it up. Thx.

Slightly confusing video. Too far into the video before you clarify that you were talking about transports and not CD players in the first section.

Hey all - I went to the Higher Level with more Sound than I ever thought possible, The TEAC VRDS 701 and do Don't Regret it at All! Keep Rockin it Crazy and Tom!! Good One

I’ve seen both cheap “CD” players and gaming units used by some RU-vidrs. When run through a good DAC, they’re pretty happy. If your CD collection isn’t vast, it’s a viable option. Same as buying a $300 turntable if you don’t listen to that much vinyl. Or, having a WiiM mini if you mainly listen to vinyl.

Last question here.. Pls give a review on the Lampizator or an Audio Note Dac.. Or how the MSD dac has relevance. I Love and own Luxman but the Dac has not made waves... Sorry to bother..

I think your awesome! I would rather have fun than worrying if my equipment is the best of the best!

TALKING weight etc and not speaking dac chips or or other...Im battling the reasoning to the Kick Drum.. Sorry to bother. What clock is it and why?

I have a brand new Pioneer pd-10ae cd player, it cost around 250 usd, and considering the brilliant sound-stage it creates, I wouldn't trade it for anything. 4000 usd for a digital source is a robbery, in my opinion..

I guess my question would be whether there's an advantage aside from the DAC compared to secure ripping the CDs and putting them on a server?

A Fair position, but if someone IS just getting into the hobby, they are likely on a budget and have no reference at these price points for comparison, so a 300 buck CD player is certainly a great place to start, not to mention if they can find a very good vintage player for 100 to 150 bucks. To my mind, this is an add on purchase. I'm all for it, but no hobby really suffers from the law of diminishing returns more that audiophile hifi.

I currently have a Nakamichi cdc4a 5 disc changer with other Nak gear. As someone who has lots of cds it’s just so easy to put those discs in and hit random….. and then just enjoy that warm and musical legendary Phillips TDA1541 S1 internal dac Of course a streamer is the best option but this just represents another fairly good music source

Jay's Audio makes some of the best CD transports in the business.

Using a Sony DVD player as a transport to a Geshlli Labs dac, the sounds fantastic. Any added improvement I would receive from an expensive CD player would only benefit my dog, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to notice the difference.

I have done the Blu Ray player as transport thing (and it was a good Oppo player) but moving to a Jay's Audio Cdt2 MK3 improved things significantly. Having said that, a cheap dvd or Bluray player with a decent DAC can sound excellent and the law of diminishing returns is very real. Another option is buying used. I picked up a Denon DVD-2900 recently for about £100. It was their flagship DVD, CD, SACD player from 2003. Beautiful build quality and sounds fantastic with its own DACs or as a transport.

Owned a Marantz 6006 good for the price. Just upgraded to a Simaudio cd player absolutely phenomenal. What about the rare Denon S1 series from the late nineties a two box solution with seperate transport and dac build is out of this world with absolutely amazing sound.

And finally I realized this review channel is linked to a store. Thx

Well personally I like my Yamaha 5 cd changer and cds303 both as a transport to a Bryston BDA 1 DAC. I would never buy a slot load and make sure to use copied cdr in my car. I highly doubt my solution would be bettered by some transport.

13 years ago I bought two Sony CD DVD players from Walmart on clearance for 35 bucks they both kick ass yeah did I mention that the same laser used in the Sony models I bought is in the same laser as a $1400 luxman CD player isn't that interesting have a great day I worked on some very expensive CD players in my 60 years of fixing Electronics some of this high-end stuff is just junk cheaply made flimsy Whimsy I have an old NAD CD player it's all aluminum the drawer the tray the whole thing it's wonderful way over built for the time I think it's from 84Just cuz it cost a lot done minutes good like most new cars they're just junk

Honestly.. cd players in the 3-500 range can be quite good... no need for nosebleed prices on these but if you have the expendable money and your house is paid off, go for it and enjoy the tunes .

My $34 Sony is great!

I bought my OPPO BD105 Blu-ray player 10 years ago (not cheap ) and it does everything but dry your clothes 😅 I bypass its internal DAC to my Exogal external DAC I also use its pre-outs to drive my 2 subs in stereo mode as I have old school tube amp & tube pre amp system It also has an RCA sub out plus so much more

But do they play gapless?

Well,i didnt buy a cheap cd player but a cheap dvd/cd combiplayer,upped the output stage quality and voila nice sound.

Buy an old high end dvd player for cds from the thrift store 👍

I have one of these “audiophile” PS1, not because it’s a “end game” option but because it’s fun for cheap in my second setup. The tons of mods you see online clearly highlight its limitations. I feel like the main argument of a new premium cd player would be the ability to play SACD and other digital sources that cannot be played on a 20-year-old one. You would have made a better case IMHO by playing some killer SACDs and do a blind test vs. cheaper options that can’t read such formats, and potentially don’t have the same quality transport.

The whole streaming argument I get but what about the fact that most streaming networks now offer FLAC uncompressed Spatial Audio? I have the Nakamichi Dragon 11.4.6-Channel Dolby Atmos Home Surround system(I know not the traditional audio type system, but I love it) it has 32 speakers quad subwoofers and when streaming that uncompressed FLAC format it sounds brilliant. I just think that because we now have the FLAC uncompressed format, with one small monthly subscription you have so much music at your finger tips it shouldn’t just be counted out anymore. Of course having a dope cd player is going to give you that unparalleled sound when playing older music because there is still quite a bit of music that isn’t FLAC supported on streaming networks so for those albums, cds are the only choice. Things are just changing and there are more options now for audiophiles.

It’s all in the dac. End of the day the cd player or dvd drive whatever you use outputs 1’s and 0’s and anyone that says the transport makes any difference is either lying to you, trying to sell you something or has to much money and trying to justify the stupid money they’ve just spent. At my age take into account I can’t hear about 13000 hz and I’ve had a burst ear drum I’d rather spend my money on media or rather I’ll say records and enjoy the music 🤷🏻‍♂️

I'm happy with the Rotel CD11 Tribute

I have a Cambridge Audio CXC and it delivered a much better sound than my BluRay player. I don’t understand it but I was glad to spend the ~$550. I was a doubter for years and this was a great investment for my 600+ CDs I already own.

Everything matters from the power supply to the mechanism itself in the player or cd transport. I enjoy the Audiolab 6000cdt and other fine cd players like the Yamaha Cd2000 s. The better players have a quality dac that makes a huge difference. Having played with many budget cd players early in my hifi experience of decades and getting better ones it all matters. Same with cartridges on turntables and phono stages.

I'll stick with my JVC i bought in 1988 new. Still works and sounds great. For a fraction of the cost

Like that Accuphase.

The list price of my Mark Levinson No.512 was $12.5k. I got mine used for $4k. And it sounds bloody great incidentally... Got hundreds of discs I've yet to listen to; so I have zero interest in streaming and all its necessary foibles. And of course it doesn't sound as good anyway🤷🏻

Mine was ofered to me in second half of the 90´s, i remenber a friend having bought a rega cd player saying it was the best ,well by comparing the specifications all my 4 cd players were better in all senses ,meaning mine still look new today the rega seems a piece of garbage and mine was a new CEC belt-driven ,the first ,i had a Sony that cost me what today is 7.000€ because i had bought a very expensive Esprit series components system it was separeted ,the transport and then the fiunctions in a second component it said that the electric system was made of gold instead of copper ,only the turntable had first ,because it sounded amazing the 74 turntable from the ES-2000 system from Pioneer using it´s original cartridge the PC-30 ,it was what sounded better(later in 1996 i bought a thorens TD2001) ,in second the better sounding component was the TC-K950ES having already a 555ESL and a DAT deck that it´s amazing the only sony component that never went bad a ES only one when released ,the other day i got curious because i had never seen other cd player from CEC belt-driven andwas talked in hi-fi main publications and i remenber one coment in a U.S. magazine saying "the most analogue cd player" but in the site of CEC chuodenki it was still there for sale having a price of 36.000€, i couldn´t belive it, and what about macintosh owners saying my cd players from Pioneer weren´t good even being the most expensive ones and like 20 years ago a friend asked me if i could fix is something for audiophiles brands that cost a foprtune, the first thing i notice was that the display was just like the pioneers when opening it ,inside was just like a PD-101 the early 90´s cheapest cd player it costed 110€ at the time and for years my sony and pioneers ,the PD-73, the PD-9000 and PD-S901 were horrible sounding and the prices were more than a 1.000€ today,at the time with had escudos our coin in Portugal,1€=200 escudos, i remenber buying dollars when travelling to the U.S. it was 1 dollar costed 324 escudos in the second half of the 80´s, again today it seems all is oil snake except the speakers that are fine but expensive as hell as some amplifiers that do not sound especial also sold for almost 10.000€ to meet the 350€ to 1.000€ of the best in the 90´s and wages didn´t increase ,like i received 109.000escudos in 93 and today i receive doble that as a independent worker as i am already retired from civil servent, militar and worked in a pharmaceutical laboratory and after retrieve samples of three main cultures in my region in the agriculture area of preventing deseases ,olive trees, orange trees, and vines ,as the wine if made by old man it tastes better than the most expensive botled wine and in some regions are so warm that the sugar can´t completelly turn into alcohol but if one smells it it smells like vodka and very smooth in the stomac and makes one laugh not a heavy wine that only makes you drunk, it´s like grapes juice with a high level of alcohol ,not legal to be sold in stores but natural no Quimical in the mix, either than this recorded demos and albums for local bands mainly, and fixed some components ,as hobby´s i colect hi-fi and cars ,women i stoped when i made 50 ,i felt bad walking around with 18 years old girls from Germany or Netherlands, the main reason why my actual better half was the 5th wife, the first i was only 24

I really don’t care for this channel. I know. You don’t need me and the feeling is mutual.

Cyrus CD-t or Tent labs B-drive (if you can find one. Not likely because everyone is holding on to them, but you can't take them to the grave with you).

Got me with this clickbait. Y’all know better that what you’re hearing is placebo effect.

Hey Lenny I Am Off Script I Just Bought a Bryston 3B Power Amp And Bryston Pre/Amp Both Pre/Amp and Amp Have The Pig Tail Power Cored and I Heard of The Bryston “” POP”” When Turning On and Off Well This One Has The Bryston “” POP”” It Was a Garage Sale and This Amp and Pre/Amp I Liberated From This Garage Had Been In The Garage for Over 30 Years So I Paid $100 Bucks Got It Home Turned It On And WOW 🤩 This Guy Sounds Great What’s Happening is All This Old Stuff is Sufficing As People Die And Go Up To The Big Concert in The Sky

I have close to 4,000 LPs so you clearly know where my true love lies. I am not anti-CD. And I found your presentation interesting and informative. but I think a lot of viewers are interested in that $350 - $400 price point and you total bypassed that. I have about 200 CD's so I am not prepared to spend $3,400. I WILL spend that and more on a turntable. I have a 40 year old Linn Sondek LP12 that has gone through clinics and upgrades (Cirkus, Lingo, Trampolin, Cables just to name a few) but it may be nearing either significant expenditures or a newer version or a different table altogether. I am bothered that the Audiolab players are transports only. Then they are dependent on the DAC in the amplifier you purchase.

For me, streaming is my main source, and since I only have maybe 40- 50 CD'S a high dollar player doesn't make much sense. I'd budget 400-800 dollars at most. Now if I had hundreds of CD'S, I'd probably go more up scale. Great video though.

Wow, this coming from one of my favourite youtubers hurts. For starters, do not talk about sound quality with a cd transport, they decrypt a signal from a cd, the dac is what dictates the sound quality. Also, who cares if a cd player has a good dac anymore. Practically everything in the audio area atm is digital, so whats the point of getting one component that can play digital well when you can get a dedicated dac to play all your digital signals. You are buying a cd player for its features and looks, nothing else. Im very disappointed.

I don't even use a CD player anymore. I copied my CDs to my NAS and stream my music from there through a high quality DAC. Sounds fantastic (add whatever audiophile superlatives that move you).

Own a $6700.00 CD player myself. I do enjoy its sound. Regardless other than an obsessive-compulsive Audiophile, something like the NAD C 538 is all the player normal sane people would ever want. Especially those that are getting their audio equipment from a Sam's a club.

Beard Fight! Go!

Naaaaaaa… yo uso un play 2 para reproducir mis cd’s, un viejo numark dj con mp3, y un portable cd player Sony atrac2 y estoy encantado con ello… será por mi miserable condición económica por no poder comprar algo como lo que están mostrando, pero con lo que tengo estoy feliz, todo lo escucho en forma análoga sin usar convertidores digitales y ni se que tanta cosa que haga que se tenga que comprar los accesorios para poderse escuchar… de todos modos se escuchan los discos al final en un equipo de ustedes que en un ps2 o un modesto cd player… ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️Saludos a todos y excelentes videos…

Go second hand.

I bought a Sony XA7ES for £300 nice transport.

Roksan blak , fine cd player

All i hear is its more its more its more

TRAY.. no.. Let's just get those older CEC and other type top loaders

$34? That's too much. Get a $20 USB DVD burner, plug it into your computer, rip your CDs with Exact Audio Copy, and then listen to them on your streamer. Checkmate.

A cheap CD player WILL cost you… …about $10 bucks. 👍

Hate slot loaders. They like to scratch CDs. Also it seams that modern cd players put gaps between cuts. That is completely stupid.

I'm pretty happy with my vintage Sony X33 es, although buying a super cheap player is not a good idea, you don't need 600USD either.

Didn’t convince me

I take it Moses hasn't seen God yet...his beard is still black.

Buy an LG bluray player with built in wifi and loaded apps.. it will play anything . Movies and spank any cd player..period..wake up

Again man, you don’t need to spend that much money. There will be no sound difference between the cheap on and the expensive one as long as you use an external DAC. Sure you sell these, but it does not make sense. You are better off with a good quality Blue-ray player with digital output.

Wasted money just like hi end turntables??😂

Check out the GeerFab D. BOB.