Repair my Sony CDP 608 ESD?

To those who posted, just thought I would follow through with an update. I found the replacement laser head for my old Sony and it was $850 just for the part! So that squashes any notion of fixing up the old bird. I am buying a Cary 306 that's 4 years old, hopefully it will last me a good while and it is reported to have that punch and slam I desire, along with just glowing reviews all over. Thanks everyone for the great advice!

Thanks, food for thought. You're right J135, that thought hasn't occured to me, probably couldn't find anyone to fix it. I've read up on that new Oppo 105, it is truly amazing feature wise, 30 years ago remote control was cool, now! Wow so many things and formats, sound quality aside.

But for any machine to last that long I guess I was spoiled, and was thinking I could buy something that would last that long again, but I guess that's not realistic either. Who knows what formats we will be listening to in 10 years? No sense in taking out a car loan on something that may prove obsolete in 10 years.

Thanks for the input. And yes RhlJazz voiced his opinion, nothing wrong with that, I asked for opinions. And while I cannot say I've had many CD players in my system over these years, I had listened to others, and did have my daughter's $800 Marantz in my system about 3 or 4 years ago for a direct comparison, and I found them to sound different, but it was not better. I haven't heard anything that made me want to upgrade, and that's why I haven't.

It's also true that I honesty don't need a multi format player. I own a DVD player I use for video, it is not in my stereo rack. I intend to use it for Red Book CD's, and maybe a few WAV file CD's of my own making.

Sure we all want detail, we all want to listen deep into our recordings and hear more than we've heard previously, don't we? But there was a quality to the Sony that made it my favorite, it had dynamics! Not bright, but certainly not smooth or laid back. It had bass slam, it was most effective on rock music, really delivered the venue, from studio to live concert halls, it was lively and envolving. I guess I'm from the camp who say, "if it works don't fix it", and that's why I have not upgraded it in all these years. In fact, the only piece of stereo that I have not upgraded in that time, many pieces 3 or 4 times in it's life. Perhaps the Sony 5400 is worthy of an audition? I also see in the listings a Cary 306 with a new laser, that has my interest, along with an Ayre 7, and two Esoterics. I'm sure it's a win/win situation, any of the above will make me happy, I can't see how they couldn't unless I got a lemon.

yes the Cary is fantastic! Maybe not as dynamic as the Sony was, and sounded kind of bland at first. But after listening to it all these months and really listening, its just smoother in the treble and is less fatiguing. but the BASS! wow such nice bass. clear, strong bass, I'm a bass player and I've never heard what the bass player is doing as well as I do now. Tight extended bass, but not bass heavy, of course the mids are beautiful, but I find that good mid range reproduction is not hard to come by, its the extremes that are difficult. It will be a long time before I shop for another CD player, the Sony lasted me 30 years! so i can't complain. 

And thanks Tony, I have heard many great things about the Oppo, it was up for consideration but I just got the price on this Cary, sometimes money talks. 

I looked at many modern models that play SACD, but seeing I don't own any SACD discs. And frankly, there aren't many titles that I like available in SACD, so, I really didn't see the need for a universal player. Maybe I'm just old school? 

It's the CD 306.200, I forget what's different about this particular model, over the other 306's. But I'm very pleased with it. Best digital playback I've had in my system so far! In fact, it has digital in and out on the back, I haven't attempted to use that function. Built like a tank, very heavy! Sold aluminum drawer, feels very rigid. And when the drawer shuts, it instantly displays the track info, in less than one second! But of course it sounds amazing, lots of detail and extension in both directions, excellent bass! Nice air around instruments, decent soundstage. I've always been an analog guy, and still am, but this CD player has brought my digital playback up to the same level. I'm enjoying my CD's again!