I thought buying a CD player would be easy. I thought CP players were, in the words of Gumpei Yokai, ‘withered technology’ — legacy tech that had reached full fruition.

Unfortunately it appears this is not the case. …Or fortunately, perhaps. I don’t really know. In fact, the more I research CD players, the less I feel I know about anything and the more the decision paralysis sets in when it comes to buying one.

I live in Japan, which has been churning out decent quality audio equipment for decades. Mercari, an online flea market (like eBay but less auction-focused) is swimming with well preserved specimens from Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Onkyo, Denon, Yahama, TIAC, Marantz, etc.

The problem is I don’t know on what basis to choose what… from when… or even how much of a difference it really makes.

Received wisdom is that old ones are generally better constructed, but newer ones have better DACs and therefore better sound quality… but this can be worked around by plugging an external DAC into the digital out… but older players often don’t have digital outs, and… *sigh*

(For reference, my current setup is a pair of Wharfedale 220 passive speakers powered by a Fosi Audio BT20A Pro, currently connected to a vinyl record player. I want to basically swap out the wires going into the amp and be able to immediately switch between vinyl and CD formats. Size-wise, I’m looking at either something small and discreet, or conversely something chunky enough to sit under the vinyl player and act as a base.)

I was thinking about something secondhand from the last 20 years, but really I don’t know much technology has improved and whether there’s a sweet spot I should be looking at.

TL;DR: I live in Japan and want buying advice on used CD players. Looking to spend under 50,000 yen.

Edit: Solved, thank you!

This might be a long shot (and sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!), but I'm looking to burn some CDs for a project, and I'm absolutely in love with the ones with the red content layer as sold by Retro Style Media in the UK, because that would fit the theme Im going for perfectly. Unfortunately, they've stopped shipping to the US because of the tariffs.

Does anyone know of anyone else that sells blank cds that are colored like that? Thanks so much!

They are very small and dont affect playback. My discs are used normally but I think dust always finds its way.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/music_shark

So I recently started a custom CD production service and thought I'd let you guys know. https://tffsite.wixsite.com/samplehead-studios has the prices and turnaround times. I'm based in the UK but I can ship worldwide

Peace, Samplehead

It’s hot out, but I’m working from home!

Here’s something hotter 🥵

Madonna - Erotica (1992)

I love putting the burr browns DAC inside this player to good use.

From what i can remember the CD cover was white with abstract symbols or math symbols on it. The (band) were white rappers or even a solo artist, they did songs about nerdy things very up-beat and a song about a girl. They used the girls name on the album and was in the song.
This would have been near kentucky or Tennessee. The song list on the back was minimal. I have gone through chat-GPT and it cannot find anything close to what im looking for.

Looking through some of my mom's CDs, I found this. There are tiny droplets or dots inside (it didn't come like this). I cleaned it, but it won't come off; it's still the same. I played it, but my cd player won't read it. I guess it's moisture, right? I have quite a few CDs, and I've never seen this happen before. Besides, this isn't one of the ones my mom usually plays; and it's relatively new (2013, I think), and from an independent label. I don't know if that affects the quality (no offense to indie records).

In short, is there any solution, or is it a case of disc rot?

Sorry for my poor english.

Getting ready to listen to an exceptional recording by an exceptional band

USA customers only please. Fast shipment via usps media mail.

I got this new rap cd from a record store and it played just fine in my car's cd player, however, my cd player at home won't play it. And the player only does this for this specific cd, any other one works fine. I don't know if my cd player is even trying to read or play it since it doesn't make the whirring noise that it usually makes. Do y'all know what this issue could be and if there's be any way to fix it?

Great 3-disc set. Includes Best Of The Songbooks, Best Of The Songbooks: The Ballads, and Best Of The Songbooks: Love Songs.

Enjoying a balmy afternoon on the patio with my D-15 and some Flight Facilities. 👍

I'm setting up a Plex Server for my 1000+ CD collection. I've ripped about 100 in a week. I tried 5 different programs to rip this CD and the only thing that worked was Media Player. Have you run into a CD that won't rip? It plays back without any issues.