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Should I still buy a CD player? Suggest one?

I just read that Best Buy is discontinuing CDs. This seems like a bad omen for CDs in general. I had a system I liked and lost most of it in a fire this summer. Insurance will buy me a replacement, but is it unwise to buy a CD player now? What are high end people doing now for source?

And, my players was a Creek CD-43, CD-53, bought in about 2002. What would be an equivalent quality now? Insurance doesn't care that they are more expensive now, they just want an equal replacement. If I buy a player, which is the most popular good CD player now? It's important that is it a popular one, because I don't want to get saddled with something hard to sell since things are in flux.

Thanks.


river251

Showing 4 responses by lalitk

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 
@river251,

I am very sorry to learn about your loss. If you don’t have a large collection of physical media (CD or Vinyl), I would suggest to invest in a decent streaming system. 

You can get CD or better quality playback through streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz for a monthly fee of $19.99 or less. 
Let us know if you’re interested to learn more about streaming setup. 
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 
Jim,

Picking up from your post above, the cost of Vinyl and setup varies. I don’t own Vinyl so I would defer the advise to someone else.

If you’re not ready to give up on CD’s yet then like other have suggested, buy a CD player and continue to rebuild your collection. I would highly recommend a Marantz player.

Before you re-invest in a CD player, visit a friend or a store for a demo on streaming setup. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how good digital streaming has gotten not to mention the accessibility of all of your favorite tunes at your finger tips.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 
I 2nd the recommendation by @soix for Zen mini MKIII with separate PSU.  It’s the best streamer / DAC / CD Ripper currently available around $2K. I would go with at least 2TB storage. 
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 
@river251 

The Zen Mini already comes with a built-in high-resolution 24bit/192KHz Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). 
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