Do You Remember Your First CD Player?

I held out for quite some time after hearing the best that CD had to offer ( Nak, ReVox, Kyocera ) in the early days. Even so, i bought a Sonographe model for next to nothing and that is the only reason that i bought it. If i remember correctly, this was really just a modified Magnavox unit. Conrad-Johnson took out the Magnavox DAC and installed their own, possibly doing a few other tweaks along the way. I think that one of my buddies is still using this unit in his bedroom system. From what he told me, it sounds better than the newer, cheap models that he's gone through. Sean
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PS... Isn't it funny how far "perfect sound forever" has come since its' inception??? : )

I had the same Philips CBD-650 as Nrchy (circa '86 maybe?). Couldn't tell you much about how it sounded, as I wasn't an audiophile back then and didn't have a particularly revealing system. I do remember my brother getting an inexpensive Panasonic a few years later with the "MASH" circuit (described as '18-bit' I believe) and auditioning them both through my father's system and coming to the conclusion it sounded better than my player. I gave mine away to a friend years ago, and I don't know if he still uses it or not.

Speaking of my father, at the time he was still using his original player, the first Mission, that I believe was one of the earliest models available (bought in '83?), which for some reason I recall as having been specified as a '14-bit' machine. It had a very attractively designed, smallish but unusually solid chassis, with (I think) some heat sink fins on the rear (!), but was also trounced by my bother's Panasonic. My father couldn't hear any difference.

After the Philips I got an Adcom changer, and then my current (well, not a term that really fits them anymore) Theta separates. For some reason, I can also remember the first CD I ever got: Thomas Dolby's "The Golden Age of Wireless", which sounded so bad I think I listened to it maybe twice before getting rid of it.

Yeah, we didn't use any protection and I was really excited and came
right away. It didn't really work too well after that so I threw the thing
out. It wasn't till much later that I discovered girls. For you younger
(male, heterosexual) audiophiles who may be reading this; trust me, skip
the CD players and go right for the girls! Y'all can thank me later....

Marco

A Sylvania-branded 2040, which of course is really a Magnavox, which of course is really a Philips. By whatever name it was barely listenable, and yet better than others of the same vintage. Truly the Dark Ages of audio.

Magnavox, My wife bought it for me for Christmas. I shook the box to try and guess what it was. Well that cracked the lazer lens and it never worked right. I still have it. I was too embarased to tell her I broke it. That was 1988 I believe.