Audiolab 8200CD rivals?

[Fenton Beasley]

Does the Audiolab 8200CD have any rivals at it's price point? Are there any CD playerDAC combos under £1000 that sound as good?

My out of warranty Audiolab 8200CD has been has just come back from a firmware update and is still displaying the fairly common "Reading Error" message when inserting any CD's. I'd rather not have to by another one of these players despite its obvious sound quality so I was wondering if at £800, it has any rivals.

 

[Reijer]

Maybe TEAC PD-501HR? In Holland it cost you 800 euro.

 

[Esra]

Just hook up a silent blue-ray player via digital out to your 8200CD digital input.If reading errors with certain CD´s use the other player,problem solved.Easiest solution.

They couldn´t fix the random error readings fault with 8200CD till now as it seems and as I know the CDQ or V12 do not have this problem.You could also try to upgrade to one of these for little money via your service partner.It´s obvious there is a problem with the 8200CD-Series.I have gone this way after I send my 8200CD two times in for fixing the reading error issue few years ago.I got replaced it with a CDQ,never had a reading error except with certain labels of rewritable cds.

 

[Kefref]

Thats a little concerning to hear that there are so many issues with the 8200.

I was actually contemplating buying one..

my current player (an old philips cd723) has been rock solid reliable, and if I was to spend that sort of cash on a replacement id be looking for another 10 years+ from it. Is the 8200 really that unreliable?

I may have to rethink..

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[steve_1979]

£1000 buys you a nice computer and an audibly transparent DAC with distortion well figures below what your ears will be able to hear. Just rip your CD's to the computers hard drive and you're guaranteed a 100% perfect data read every time.

Alternatively if you want a physical CD player just buy a cheap bog standard DVD or bluray player and pair it with an audibly transparent external DAC. The vast majority of the fancy overpriced audiophile CD players use the exactly the same mass produced disk reading mechanisms that are found in DVD and bluray players anyway. The difference being you care less when a £30 DVD stops working.

 

[Fenton Beasley]

Thanks for your comments.
I'd rather not buy another Audiolab product again so it seems I may have to upgrade my Bluray player and use that with the Audiolab DAC. I'd be interested to find out if the transport on the 8200CD is comparable to any old transport