Audiophile jewelry - most beautiful Cd players, turntables and other gear

[JeffS7444]

As a follow-up to my 2021 post, I acquired a Sony ICF-506 portable radio. Although not a premium product like some of the shortwave sets from the past, it's a more tactile design than expected:

Notch in the carry handle indicates best balance point.
Radiused sides and bottom are pleasing to the touch.
Scooped-out section on the rear is a comfortable hand hold if you don't want to use the handle.

 

[EERecordist]

Product photography and industrial design in the 1980s and 1990s. Most is not audio, though I'm sure that survives somewhere.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[Jokke]

 

[EJ3]

MBL


View attachment 121948

JADIS


View attachment 121946

I like top loaders. Based on the aesthetics alone, I like the MBL. A touch on the gaudy side, perhaps
Jardis: for me: ostentatious with the aesthetic of a gilded crab...

 

[EJ3]

Goldmund

View attachment 121967

Perhaps a different color for the main body? Even then...

Always thought this B&O to be a great piece of design.
View attachment 121960

Beautiful: No. Cool: YES

 

[Waxx]

This is how a preamp should look. I don't know about the quality of this thing, but on looks this is 10/10

The Carver C4000 from 1982

 

[SoonToBeRetired]

Proton 320. I don't know what happened to mine. It was functional, sounded great, two alarms, something called a "Schotts Tuner", and yes, Proton shared corporate DNA with NAD

 

[Robin L]

Love simplicity? Think black is beautiful? My favorite "audio jewelry":

 

[tineared]

This is the Rega Apollo CD player that Stereophile convinced me I needed that cost $980 almost 20 years ago.
It turned out to be a very average player for an silly price. I canceled my subscription to Stereophile shortly afterwards...

 

[Puddingbuks]

Back in the days I thought tthis was the pinanacle of hifi design:

 

[tmtomh]

Back in the days I thought tthis was the pinanacle of hifi design:

View attachment 512630View attachment 512631

Never saw that one before! I think there's approximately a 100% chance that Hitachi designed this to try to get the market segment of folks who longed for Bang & Olufsen consoles but couldn't afford them.

 

[Sal1950]

I like top loaders. Based on the aesthetics alone,

This is the Rega Apollo CD player that Stereophile convinced me I needed that cost $980 almost 20 years ago.
It turned out to be a very average player for an silly price. I canceled my subscription to Stereophile shortly afterwards...

I always thought they were very Kool looking. Very vinyl like in their usage routine without the snap, crackle, and pop.

 

[egellings]

View attachment 512597Proton 320. I don't know what happened to mine. It was functional, sounded great, two alarms, something called a "Schotts Tuner", and yes, Proton shared corporate DNA with NAD

I think that "Schotts"(sp?) was the name of a designer who came up with the tuner's front end design, and it was superlative.

 

[Puddingbuks]

I always admired the Akai Clarity stereo set of around 1984-85. Not the black / silver fronts, but with an all black front. Can’t find many pictures? Rare?

They had these big square soft buttons with pictograms and all units had about the same look and buttons.

They looked like this, but this is the simplest version, there are versions with eq, tangential record player, double cassette, timer. Anyone knows what series that is?

 

[Descartes]

I always admired the Akai Clarity stereo set of around 1984-85. Not the black / silver fronts, but with an all black front. Can’t find many pictures? Rare?

They had these big square soft buttons with pictograms and all units had about the same look and buttons.

They looked like this, but this is the simplest version, there are versions with eq, tangential record player, double cassette, timer. Anyone knows what series that is?

View attachment 512657

View attachment 512658

Used to have an Akai portable tape player

 

[tineared]

I always thought they were very Kool looking. Very vinyl like in their usage routine without the snap, crackle, and pop.

I like the uniqueness. I hate the cost/performance ratio.

 

[tmtomh]

For some reason, top-loading CD players have never appealed to me, functionality-wise or design-wise. No offense of course, to each their own.

 

[tineared]

For some reason, top-loading CD players have never appealed to me, functionality-wise or design-wise. No offense of course, to each their own.

As a rule I feel the same way. It removes the option of stacking components. The thing is Stereophile promised audio nirvana and it wasn't so

 

[jjk1]

I love the look of this headphone amplifier. I mainly use it as an iPad DAC for redbook Apple Music these days in bypass mode.
It’s an MFi mobile port that charges any idevice while allowing idevice volume control. I’ll never give it up until it dies.
It will also feed 2 preamps in bypass mode. And that screen is awesome.

 

[EJ3]

Back in the days I thought tthis was the pinanacle of hifi design:

View attachment 512630View attachment 512631

Design, perhaps. Sonic accuracy? Probably not.