Best CD players 2019: CD players for every budget

[What Hi-Fi?]

Don't let your pristine CD collection go to waste, make the most of your digital discs with our pick of the best CD players out there right now.

Best CD players 2019: CD players for every budget : Read more

 

[MrMeaning]

What about portables? (Or are they considered beyond the pale?)

 

[Dan Sung]

Beyond pale in the face of PMPs loaded up with lossless music files. Both the size of the discman and the need for carrying around CDs is just too impractical. Besides, some of these players sound brilliant - https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/portable/best-portable-music-players

 

[Sclafonz]

I paid $600 for a Marantz CD player and after 9 years it stopped reading CDs. The USB input still works great. I didn't expect the CD player to last forever, but at least 10 years. I didn't abuse it either. Once it was set up it never moved. It really wasn't used that often. A few times a week. I tried cleaning the laser, but no luck. Based on this experience I wouldn't buy a Marantz CD player. Perhaps it was just my unit and not a design flaw, but I wouldn't take the chance.

 

[sprachnroll]

I paid $600 for a Marantz CD player and after 9 years it stopped reading CDs. The USB input still works great. I didn't expect the CD player to last forever, but at least 10 years. I didn't abuse it either. Once it was set up it never moved. It really wasn't used that often. A few times a week. I tried cleaning the laser, but no luck. Based on this experience I wouldn't buy a Marantz CD player. Perhaps it was just my unit and not a design flaw, but I wouldn't take the chance.

Same thing happened to me and I think I paid far more for my Marantz CD player. Still love CDs and SACDs and have never gotten into streaming, though my receiver is supposedly capable of it.

 

[DELBOY14]

I paid $600 for a Marantz CD player and after 9 years it stopped reading CDs. The USB input still works great. I didn't expect the CD player to last forever, but at least 10 years. I didn't abuse it either. Once it was set up it never moved. It really wasn't used that often. A few times a week. I tried cleaning the laser, but no luck. Based on this experience I wouldn't buy a Marantz CD player. Perhaps it was just my unit and not a design flaw, but I wouldn't take the chance.

I have had a Marantz CD63 Ki for around 25 years, two years ago I put a new sled and laser in it and lubed the sled with dry PTFE, made an improvement and I am now using it with an Audiolab MDAC plus. Very pleased. Like all electrical components, some last some don't and it could all be down to the house wiring, the socket or plug or how stable your supply is.

 

[Peter Bailey]

I've eliminated the ones beyond my budget, and I've selected the ones with the features I need. I'd be interested in your preferences. Is the best at the top, or is the list somehow weighted according to purchase price? If it is how do I remove the weighting? I'd hope the best was No. 1, so the reader can work down the list based on budget.

 

[mbinz]

Any reason Audiolab doesn't feature? the older 8200CD was hailed as a top pick when it came out, performing way above it's price point... Have the latest Audiolab offerings gone down in performance compared to other manufacturers latest advances?

 

[leemccann1]

Seems like a pointless article just combining reviews already done.

 

[TimEverett]

After sitting on the sidelines for many years and watching What HiFi review and promote items from the same manufacturers, I had to write my summary.
Current setup: Highly modded Rega P3 with AT540ml cart; Musical Fidelity MS3i amp, B&W 686S2 Speakers. Quality cables throughout.
I have been looking to add a CD Player to replace a very old Marantz player that started skipping. My initial thought was the new Marantz that is praised highly. Due diligence was the order of the day and many onscreen reviews later compared the Marantz 6007, Arcam CD5 and the Rotel CD11 Tribute. Extended listening instore with various discs led me firmly to the Rotel. It was majorly ahead of the Marantz unit and slightly above the Arcam. The Rotel remains in complete control whilst lacking any bells and whistles, it does everything it is supposed to extremely well.

 

[TimEverett]

Don't let your pristine CD collection go to waste, make the most of your digital discs with our pick of the best CD players out there right now.

Best CD players 2019: CD players for every budget : Read more

After sitting on the sidelines for many years and watching What HiFi review and promote items from the same manufacturers, I had to write my summary.
Current setup: Highly modded Rega P3 with AT540ml cart; Musical Fidelity MS3i amp, B&W 686S2 Speakers. Quality cables throughout.
I have been looking to add a CD Player to replace a very old Marantz player that started skipping. My initial thought was the new Marantz that is praised highly. Due diligence was the order of the day and many onscreen reviews later compared the Marantz 6007, Arcam CD5 and the Rotel CD11 Tribute. Extended listening instore with various discs led me firmly to the Rotel. It was majorly ahead of the Marantz unit and slightly above the Arcam. The Rotel remains in complete control whilst lacking any bells and whistles, it does everything it is supposed to extremely well.

 

[Gnik_Nus]

Thank you for producing this list. CD's still provide very good value and offer very high quality sound. It is good to know there are some good players still being made.
At some point sadly all CD players have to replaced.
I think even people who own good CD players are now finding that the lasers are dying and it is very hard, if not impossible to get them replaced. When CD players first came out, the public should have been made aware that the lasers was the equivalent of a stylus on an LP player, and would have to be replaced, and replacement lasers should have been made,or standardised laser assemblies should have been used to easily replace the worn out laser diode. Today many of the great CD players from decades past can't be repaired without a donor machine, and that is quite sad. My old CD player, which is part of a component system was so good but when the laser failed, it became useless. If the laser could have been replaced, I would still be using it today. This so also true for classic games consoles that used optical drives. With some of those at least emulation offers some protection, but not all systems have good emulators and downloading copyrighted software is not something many people would be willing to do. My old Sega Multi Mega was also a very good CD player but sadly the laser died a couple of years ago, and though I got a replacement laser, I can't replace it. And the few places that seem to offer repair services never respond to my emails or calls, so a system that is otherwise perfectly usable is now less useful than it used to be.

Of course, today people are more knowledgeable about this so going forward, where possible, anyone buying a modern cd player should buy a replacement laser or other parts that are likely to wear out. If it is a good piece of equipment that could last years, it is in the owners interests to buy parts if they are available. I know this is not always possible but in cases where it is, owners might be able to get many more years of use out of good equipment. Some replacement lasers are surprisingly cheap, and you can still get them for some stereos and games consoles so getting a few is not a bad idea, given the low cost of these online. They probably won't be made forever.
In any event, I found this list helpful, and when I replace my CD player, I would be going through it again.

 

[kawmic]

Several Chinese companies comes to mind, not even mentioned here. Denafrips, Shanling, Musicnote just to name a few. They would wipe their as... with those products you mention here!! And.... they're cheaper, at least compared to the quality.

 

[Ian AV]

I paid $600 for a Marantz CD player and after 9 years it stopped reading CDs. The USB input still works great. I didn't expect the CD player to last forever, but at least 10 years. I didn't abuse it either. Once it was set up it never moved. It really wasn't used that often. A few times a week. I tried cleaning the laser, but no luck. Based on this experience I wouldn't buy a Marantz CD player. Perhaps it was just my unit and not a design flaw, but I wouldn't take the chance.

Agreed. I have a Marantz Blu-Ray player that overtime has suffered reliability issues with Blu-Ray movies, but fine with audio only discs!
Yet, my 1980's Philips CD player worked flawlessly for 34 years and using it's digital out into a modern DAC, just as good as any modern day player but with far more useful features. My favourite was FTS, Favourite Track Selection. It played the tracks in the order you wished and remembered for next time. I added Slippery When Wet in the 80's when I bought it and it still remembered it in the 2020's until it stopped reading discs.
Japanese built in obsolescence it would appear to still be a thing as my Pioneer receiver began to have various faults over time and had to be replaced in what I would consider a short space of time for a £1500+ device.

 

[manicm]

This is a hopelessly dated list.

No review of the Hegel Viking.
No review of the Marantz CD60, which seems to be the de facto replacement of the CD6007 albeit more expensive.
No review of any CD player later than the Arcam CD5 in fact.
No leftfield review of the very attractive, functionally, Shanling CR60.
Hardly any reviews of more recent Audiolab CD transports.

I could go on and on.

 

[DougK1]

This is a hopelessly dated list.

No review of the Hegel Viking.
No review of the Marantz CD60, which seems to be the de facto replacement of the CD6007 albeit more expensive.
No review of any CD player later than the Arcam CD5 in fact.
No leftfield review of the very attractive, functionally, Shanling CR60.
Hardly any reviews of more recent Audiolab CD transports.

I could go on and on.

It is, after all, a resurrected thread from 2019...that might be one of the reasons it is dated