Since the thread was resuscitated, I'll add my own.
I've said here before that I choose to sustain the ability to play CD's in real time, because that is the right that I purchased when I bought the CD.
I agree with much of what Restorer-John writes in this thread, but I have higher regard for some of the Philips mechanisms than does he.
Generally, I have found that CD's that are hard to read cause the servo mechanism to apply high accelerations to the disk, and therefore the disk must be reliably clamped to work reliably. One of the problems of bad belts is that the magnet clamp is not always fully dropped down onto the disk, which results in read errors, which causes those accelerations, which causes the disk to slip even worse. I've never had a problem with a laser, but as John says, all the flaky lasers from overused vintage players are long since in the landfill. I'm always having to do something with the loading mechanism.
My fleet:
Magnavox CDB-650, from the middle 80's, which I bought new. This was a rebadged Philips unit, very good on the inside but cheap on the outside to hold the price point down. Philips CDM2 transport and TDA1541 4x-oversampling DAC. This was known to be a good-sounding player back when they weren't all such. Needs a belt now--the drawer won't close all the way. Remote uses the Philips RC5 protocol.
Denon DCD1560--Sony KSS151a laser, which is excellent. The drawer mechanism is a PITA--it uses the tension on a fairly thick and wide belt to lock the drawer closed, and the drawer motor must have the power to stretch that belt enough to release the latch. It does not do so reliably. Burr-Brown PCM1701 18-bit R2R DAC. It plays CDRs with no issue, when the disk loads. The remote does not use the Philips RC-5 protocol.
Tascam CD401 (two of them), from 1990 or 1991. Balanced and RCA outputs, and intended for use in radio stations. A pair of Burr-Brown PCM54HP DACs, and a Sony KSS151a laser. The belts on these are easy to find and take five minutes to replace. No remote, and least I didn't get them. These will play difficult CD's pretty well. These have been my mainstays, but they don't have remotes, and their aesthetics are...radio station.
Cambridge Audio D500SE, from the late 90's. Sony KSS213 laser mechanism. Cirrus CS4391 DAC. Plays well, but the display is not overly informative. Remote does not use Philips RC-5 protocol. This one has a shuttle wheel instead of buttons for track selection and searching, and I can't say I'm a fan. But it plays well. This one would not play CDR's reliably until I replaced the belt--now it's solid.
Cambridge Audio CXC, from recently, though I bought it used off ebay. Display is dim, but it works very well otherwise. Sanyo drive. This is a transport only, so there is no internal DAC. I'm using a Topping E30 in DAC mode (not in preamp mode) and it works perfectly. Surprisingly, I suppose, this unit does respond to the Philips RC-5 remote protocols. The CXC plays well but will not always plow through difficult CDs.
Naim CD5, from 2002, which I bought recently from a reputable restorer. TDA1305 DAC, and Philips CDM-12.5 / VAM1205 transport and laser. The real advantage to this player is the drawer, which is a manually operated tray that rotates out from the front. The tray contains the transport and laser. The CD is clamped using a magnetic puck that is manually placed. Thus, there are no belts in this player and I believe this will be quite reliable and sustainable, as long as the laser diode holds up. This player really exposes the flaws of insufficient clamping with troubled disks. As arrived, it would not reliably play CDRs that shows much damage, though it would play it about half the time. The CXC couldn't touch that disk at all, but the Tascam could play it reliably. So, I ordered a puck for a CD5si, which looks the same from the top but uses a much stronger neodymium magnet. That locks the CD onto the spindle very solidly and the servo isn't fighting slippage trying to read poor disks. Now, it will read anything. The remote uses the Philips RC-5 protocol, which means that both the CXC and the Naim will respond to the same remote, and shuttling back and forth between them to keep music going (not a use case for me) will require front panel action. This is my only CD player without a digital output, but I don't need or use them (except for the CXC, of course).
On the more general topic of CD Players versus computer drive-based devices, it has already been mentioned that the better pure CD players were designed for real-time operation, not for buffering data at high speed. I am ripping most of my CD's because my car doesn't have one, but I still prefer to play the CD directly when I'm at home. For ripping, I'm using the tray drive in a laptop. It's most unsatisfying--I have to force the CD over the spindle so that it clips in place, and the whole drawer is clearly designed for occasional use for loading software. The desktop-computer CD trays are better, but still very clearly made to be cheap. The Sanyo in the Cambridge Audio CXC is in that category--the plastic mechanism and gears are rattly and loose, and don't give the impression that they will last the ages. John may think the Philips transports aren't as well-designed as the higher-end Sonys, but old ones still seem to work. And when I insert a CD into a dedicated audio-only CD player, I can usually be listening to music within five seconds.
Rick "finding that the old DACs--even the 16-bit DACs--make music just as well as the current state of the art" Denney
I've said here before that I choose to sustain the ability to play CD's in real time, because that is the right that I purchased when I bought the CD.
I agree with much of what Restorer-John writes in this thread, but I have higher regard for some of the Philips mechanisms than does he.
Generally, I have found that CD's that are hard to read cause the servo mechanism to apply high accelerations to the disk, and therefore the disk must be reliably clamped to work reliably. One of the problems of bad belts is that the magnet clamp is not always fully dropped down onto the disk, which results in read errors, which causes those accelerations, which causes the disk to slip even worse. I've never had a problem with a laser, but as John says, all the flaky lasers from overused vintage players are long since in the landfill. I'm always having to do something with the loading mechanism.
My fleet:
Magnavox CDB-650, from the middle 80's, which I bought new. This was a rebadged Philips unit, very good on the inside but cheap on the outside to hold the price point down. Philips CDM2 transport and TDA1541 4x-oversampling DAC. This was known to be a good-sounding player back when they weren't all such. Needs a belt now--the drawer won't close all the way. Remote uses the Philips RC5 protocol.
Denon DCD1560--Sony KSS151a laser, which is excellent. The drawer mechanism is a PITA--it uses the tension on a fairly thick and wide belt to lock the drawer closed, and the drawer motor must have the power to stretch that belt enough to release the latch. It does not do so reliably. Burr-Brown PCM1701 18-bit R2R DAC. It plays CDRs with no issue, when the disk loads. The remote does not use the Philips RC-5 protocol.
Tascam CD401 (two of them), from 1990 or 1991. Balanced and RCA outputs, and intended for use in radio stations. A pair of Burr-Brown PCM54HP DACs, and a Sony KSS151a laser. The belts on these are easy to find and take five minutes to replace. No remote, and least I didn't get them. These will play difficult CD's pretty well. These have been my mainstays, but they don't have remotes, and their aesthetics are...radio station.
Cambridge Audio D500SE, from the late 90's. Sony KSS213 laser mechanism. Cirrus CS4391 DAC. Plays well, but the display is not overly informative. Remote does not use Philips RC-5 protocol. This one has a shuttle wheel instead of buttons for track selection and searching, and I can't say I'm a fan. But it plays well. This one would not play CDR's reliably until I replaced the belt--now it's solid.
Cambridge Audio CXC, from recently, though I bought it used off ebay. Display is dim, but it works very well otherwise. Sanyo drive. This is a transport only, so there is no internal DAC. I'm using a Topping E30 in DAC mode (not in preamp mode) and it works perfectly. Surprisingly, I suppose, this unit does respond to the Philips RC-5 remote protocols. The CXC plays well but will not always plow through difficult CDs.
Naim CD5, from 2002, which I bought recently from a reputable restorer. TDA1305 DAC, and Philips CDM-12.5 / VAM1205 transport and laser. The real advantage to this player is the drawer, which is a manually operated tray that rotates out from the front. The tray contains the transport and laser. The CD is clamped using a magnetic puck that is manually placed. Thus, there are no belts in this player and I believe this will be quite reliable and sustainable, as long as the laser diode holds up. This player really exposes the flaws of insufficient clamping with troubled disks. As arrived, it would not reliably play CDRs that shows much damage, though it would play it about half the time. The CXC couldn't touch that disk at all, but the Tascam could play it reliably. So, I ordered a puck for a CD5si, which looks the same from the top but uses a much stronger neodymium magnet. That locks the CD onto the spindle very solidly and the servo isn't fighting slippage trying to read poor disks. Now, it will read anything. The remote uses the Philips RC-5 protocol, which means that both the CXC and the Naim will respond to the same remote, and shuttling back and forth between them to keep music going (not a use case for me) will require front panel action. This is my only CD player without a digital output, but I don't need or use them (except for the CXC, of course).
On the more general topic of CD Players versus computer drive-based devices, it has already been mentioned that the better pure CD players were designed for real-time operation, not for buffering data at high speed. I am ripping most of my CD's because my car doesn't have one, but I still prefer to play the CD directly when I'm at home. For ripping, I'm using the tray drive in a laptop. It's most unsatisfying--I have to force the CD over the spindle so that it clips in place, and the whole drawer is clearly designed for occasional use for loading software. The desktop-computer CD trays are better, but still very clearly made to be cheap. The Sanyo in the Cambridge Audio CXC is in that category--the plastic mechanism and gears are rattly and loose, and don't give the impression that they will last the ages. John may think the Philips transports aren't as well-designed as the higher-end Sonys, but old ones still seem to work. And when I insert a CD into a dedicated audio-only CD player, I can usually be listening to music within five seconds.
Rick "finding that the old DACs--even the 16-bit DACs--make music just as well as the current state of the art" Denney
BDA-1 plus DVD-1730
