Can anyone tell me about the Cary CDP-302


It is a tubed cd player that i think was discontinued in the late 90's. it also has the pioneer stable platter, but i can't find any reviews anywhere. any info will be appreciated. thanks,Scott
raildog
Scott, the Cary 302 is a good cd player. Unlike the newer 303 and 306 players, this is the last machine that Cary did not build from scratch. Similar to the CD300, the 302 is based on an original Marantz player (I think, but could be wrong)and uses a Pioneer stable platter drive. Whereas the 301 was a single bit machine, the 302 uses 20 bit DACS. Both have tubed output stages. Cary introduced the player at the San Francisco High-end show in 1997 and discontinued production around 2000. I owned both the CD 301 and the 302. While the 301 was ok, the 302 is a far better machine. In a sense, the 302 is a more refined version of the 300 which was a sleeper among the big boys. Truly a big league machine in its day, the player featured a great midrange, solid bass, and decent dynamic range. Although not as good as the current Cary players, this one is still worth owning. I sold mine to an uncle who continues to be happy with it today. I believe there are no formal reviews on the 302. Hope this helps. Patrick