CD Player failed.

[Asylum Seeker]

I hate to post this...especially because CD use seems to be vanishing. All of my collection is CD's and I have used a
pedestrian Sony CDP-291 for 30 years! It finally bit the big one last night. The generous use of nylon in the tracking
mechanism was the failure mode...it is binding due to the Nylon changing shape over the decades and cannot be repaired.
It needs a new drive. I ordered 2 new players. A Yamaha 300 and a Tascam CD-200BT professional unit. The Yamaha has better
specs than my old player and the Tascam has similar or lower specs. I will post my impressions of both but the tascam will
arrive first. The Yamaha is on backorder. I find the dearth of good CD players somewhat depressing. I hope others here will
post what they are using and how they like or hate them. CD's...I feel like a dinosaur posting this!

I figured players was the forum to use. Sorry if it is not the best place. Thanks all!

I should add I used the drive in my computer to play some CD's last night and was appalled by the comical bass boost
that was applied...ridiculous. And I can't change the response curve! I don't want to use the PC anyway but holy cow
is it lame!

Rip them all and store them in a container of this size. It's 2020, man...

 

[cistercian]

Rip them all and store them in a container of this size. It's 2020, man...
View attachment 77211

No. I remember 8" disks. Storage changes. So do OS.

 

[Asylum Seeker]

No. I remember 8" disks. Storage changes. So do OS.

Yes. What does that have to do with ripping your CDs and getting rid of all that clutter?

 

[mkt]

Some of my oldest CDs from the 90s have turned out to be unrippable. https://cdm.link/2017/02/a-generation-of-cds-is-already-rotting-and-dying/

 

[Robin L]

Some of my oldest CDs from the 90s have turned out to be unrippable. https://cdm.link/2017/02/a-generation-of-cds-is-already-rotting-and-dying/

I've gone to used CDs stores so many times, looked at the surfaces of so many old CDs. I've rarely observed CD rot. Yes, some will oxidize, or screw up some other way. But compared to the goat rope of used LPs, this is trivial.

Of course, this is all a great argument for making back-ups early and often.

 

[cistercian]

Zero failures here so far. Fingers crossed!

 

[Asylum Seeker]

I had a handful that bit-rotted...

 

[viewcart]

I personally listen most of my music on CD, I grew up with them, they are more convenient, etc.. But I understand the trend for vinyls, gorgeous objects with nice artworks, the gimmick of spinning a record on a turntable is pleasant. I own some records myself and I do listen to them. I guess it's just a question of taste and if you have a good equipment (and only if) it's absolutely understand that you like vinyl sound more (I prefer CD sound personally which I found the purest but others thinks it's too "cold" , nobody have the same tastes) But where I do agree with you is when a big part of indie artists prefer to release their album on vinyls rather than on cd's (or if they do so the package is just miserable cardboard). No more choice, the price is way higher (even tho the artist probably earn the same amount of royalties), and cd's are neglected by local music stores. It's like a gentrification of physical music. Good aspect of that trend: second- hand cd's are cheaper.

 

[anmpr1]

But where I do agree with you is when a big part of indie artists prefer to release their album on vinyls rather than on cd's (or if they do so the package is just miserable cardboard). No more choice, the price is way higher (even tho the artist probably earn the same amount of royalties), and cd's are neglected by local music stores.

For the average 'indie' band, how much royalty revenue are they getting in any format? I'm just asking because I'm out of that loop. One thing's for certain, you can't share a record in the same way as with digits. Back in the day we used to make LP cassette copies for our car and friends, but those were a long way from being 'bit perfect' and probably didn't really affect album sales much.

I don't know about file sharing--how prevalent it is, I mean. I read an interview with one of the Pink Floyd band members (it was actually in a car magazine since the guy was a race car collector)--he claimed it's impossible to make any money with recordings anymore--real money. At least not like the analog days. He said that in order to make money you have to go on the road--sell tickets and t-shirts. With the lockdown, I don't know if bands can even do that these days.

 

[SegaCD]

Hi! I'm late to the party but I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents for anyone who comes into this thread looking for tips. I play CDs periodically... Actually, extend that to pretty much any optical media. In fact, last year, I made a post asking if anyone had an "ultimate" CD transport (since external DACs make the analog circuitry irrelevant). Nobody had super good answers.

I ended up purchasing an Oppo BDP-103 due to its extensive format compatibility (CD, DVD-A, SACD, BD-A, etc) and it's ability to be one of the few players that can output raw DSD with a mod. It is quite affordable on the secondary market compared to the other models and replacement lasers should be easy to come by for years to come if the need be. It is fairly slow to boot though.

Some runners up (and rationale why):
- Cambridge Audio CXC: Common & reliable. Decently fast. Supports CD Text on the front panel! Expensive and kinda large for it's limited functionality. The Yamaha CD-S300 seems like a comparable, if not superior, choice here especially for the money.
- Sony PS3: Plays every format under the sun (SACD only supported on the first few models). Very cheap. Early models highly unreliable. Long boot time and requires a TV (No front panel display).
- Pro-Ject Audio CD Box DS2/RS/RS2: Small, nicely-designed transport-only boxes with interesting features. Very expensive.
- Olasonic NANO-CD1: Small! Very small! Expensive and slot load (so it won't play odd sized CDs). Looks kinda cheap.
- Late-80's/90's-era Philips/Magnavox/Sylvania with CDM-9 or older transports and digital out: CDM transports use a magnetic swing arm laser which is practically indestructible; much less prone to mechanical wear than the Sony-based linear skate mechs in all CD players these days. Overall, very reliable with the exception of loading belts. Most units late enough to have digi-outs look kinda cheap in design though. (I have owned & will always own one of these as back-up )
- Classic 90's high-end Sonys (CDP-X series, some CDP-C changers): Very fast & responsive players. Some lasers and mechs are failing with age and require maintenance. Needlessly large.
- Any old DVD/BD player: Abundant & EXTREMELY cheap. Reliability and format compatibility can be a crap shoot. Boot times can vary from slow to extremely slow. CD interface is usually an afterthought on many brands.
- Shigaclone Kit: Pointed out by @restorer-john in my old post. Make your own transport with off-the-self parts! Ideal for a hands-on hobbyist, who wants bit-perfect output and a maintainable transport until the end of time...but making a nice-looking kit required tooling/woodworking tools I didn't have the space/time for.

I usually use Plex and an media server for my music these days but I do have a collection of CDs that were never available on other formats and a few CDs I just have nostalgia for and/or feel like are only appropriate to play from a CD (i.e. MTV Party To Go series anyone?) so CDs will always have a place in my home...next to the LPs, reels, cassettes, 8-tracks, VHSs, Betas, Laserdiscs, and many other obsolete forms of media I own.

 

[The Messiah]

First I would like to excoriate Tascam for using such a pitiful vestigial analog signal path...yeah,
why even have a headphone jack and RCA lines out with such trash driving them? FAIL.

Enter the RME...WIN, EPIC. I am using the coax out to drive the RME DAC and it is just fantastic.
Obviously over time the Sony was rolling off the highs...that problem is solved. The RME sounds
fantastic and the headphone amp is awesome. I took my rolls mixer out of line and the RME directly
drives the amp...and does so perfectly.

I am delighted with the RME. Best CD audio ever!!!

Devils advocate but maybe the Tascam sounds exactly the same as the RME and you actually have some kind of psychological bias to the RME ? You'd only know for sure thru blind testing ?

 

[Harmonie]

Some of my oldest CDs from the 90s have turned out to be unrippable. https://cdm.link/2017/02/a-generation-of-cds-is-already-rotting-and-dying/

I have no issues even with my earlier CD's dated 1984.

 

[infinitesymphony]

I'm sure OP has moved on, but if anyone else has an older CD player from one of the major brands, it's possible that you could replace the entire laser and mechanism for under $30. Many standalone CDPs used Sony KSS or similar assemblies that are still easy to find. Installation typically involves desoldering an antistatic protection bead and inserting a ribbon cable.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Old news. However, his suggestion to use tape must be taken as tongue-in-cheek as that medium also deteriorates. He does advise:
For digital media, hard disc failures are even more frequent than CDs (think under three years in many cases), and network-based storage with backups more or less eliminates the problems of aging generally, in that data is always kept in at least two places.
I have ripped all my CDs and I immediately rip any discs I buy. That works for me.

 

[Wes]

copy them all to drum memory

 

[threni]

For comparison, my own hearing starts going south past about 12.5 kHz and dramatically drops around 13.5 kHz, to be basically gone around 14 - at 20 years younger. I would get to maybe 16.5 kHz 10 years ago. Crappy genes... *grmbl*

Still, getting to 20 kHz in any capacity is generally reserved to infants and youngsters, particularly females. At 60, you're doing quite well if you make it to about 13 kHz.

http://www.pykett.org.uk/arhlandob.htm

I wonder how the people who don't hear above certain frequencies are performing the test. Do they have the right kit, capable of playing back those high frequencies; are they using really loud, pure tones and pushing their amp to the max; are there filters in place preventing it? Perhaps higher than a certain volume is cheating?! I wouldn't want to waste my money, or the time of a professional, getting my ears tested but I'm 51 and can hear 21khz. I'm curious to know whether, when you get up there, you're not hearing harmonics or some other artefacts. Perhaps, as a site which attracts people who really listen to music - or at least, equipment - there'll be a higher than average number of people here with better than average hearing?

 

[restorer-john]

copy them all to drum memory

Nah, that's way too modern. I use a stonemason's chisel and copy the bits, one at a time, into stone tablets.

 

[cistercian]

Devils advocate but maybe the Tascam sounds exactly the same as the RME and you actually have some kind of psychological bias to the RME ? You'd only know for sure thru blind testing ?

Well the complete loss of anything much below 400hz from the tascam analog out is obvious. It had no bass. It is like
having a midrange high pass filter. Anything outside mids is rolled off...a lot.
It works great as a transport though!

 

[Wes]

Nah, that's way too modern. I use a stonemason's chisel and copy the bits, one at a time, into stone tablets.

that works but you need big, big buffers

 

[Wombat]

Seriously, a decent computer with any reasonable DAC will easily replace and surpass even expensive CDP. Not to mention, seriously, rip your CD collection and get on board the wave that literally started a decade ago. Physical media offers Zero advantages and is so less convenient. I am likely older than you and grew up on LPs and then CDs as the transition happened. I used to spend $1000 without blinking on a CDP but I would never under any circumstances put money into a CDP. About 8 years ago I ripped my collection to my PC and invested in a DAC. I have never looked back. I was slow to transition but I can't help but be honest, refusing to transition is stubborn and equates to cutting off your nose to spite your face. You have so much to gain from moving to PC based music listening.

Sorry for being so adamant, but I really can't fathom why anybody would stick to using their physical media. Absolutely no advantage to doing so as far as I can see.

No software management, no OS redundancy, no menus, no PC quirks, no back-ups, no internet dependence, no ripping, remote from PC and I PREFER physical media.

The PC-based music evangelising and proselytising whenever a CD user posts is a bit tedious, guys.