CD Player Recommendations…

The venerable Yamaha CD-S1000 is a well built and good sounding CD/SACD player. Not the most immediate sounding player but it’s presentation will always serve the music. Think sum of the parts rather than individual parts.

I like emotiva cr3 but they have a newer model the cr4.

I have a Sony DVP-NS999ES with ModWright modifications that include a tube output stage.  It's a nice unit that sounds very good and doubles as a DVD player.  These can be found for about $1K in the used market.

Hi,

I’m also in the market for a CD player, haven’t owned that many of them over the years.  
Here’s my cd evolution for the most part:

AMC CD6 (1 bit player)
Proceed PCD2 (shoulda never sold)
Audio Alchemy DDS3
Oppo DV 970 (owned the longest)
Rotel RCD855 
Cambridge Azur 840C

Of the last 2, the Rotel was really smooth and enjoyable.  I felt the Azur was too clinical sounding in comparison but I was not using it with XLR’s which they recommended.  I later came to really enjoy the Azur.

The Azur stopped reading discs :( so I just sold it.  I loved the fact that I could hook up my Bluesound to it & use the upsampling DAC on the back of it.

I’m moving overseas to Israel next week & will be bringing a Linn Majik I (orig shoe box sized) and a Meridian 551 (to match my 504 tuner) with 2 pair of small Brit monitors (ProAc Super Tablettes & Monitor Audio R700 MD).  Anyone have any experience with Meridian CD players?  I wonder how they stack up?

There’s an Israeli retailer close by to where I’ll be living who wants $21-2300 for a Meridian 507, that’s worth like $750 everywhere else in the world.  Probably cheaper to buy something in Europe & have it shipped?

I also will be looking for a DAC for my Node 2i.  A friend of mine really likes this Maverick tube DAC even though it’s only 24/96.  I dug the Rotel which was only 16 bits too :) 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts

A 2nd hand Meridian G08.2 is a wonderful player. I found mine for approx. €1150 in 2014.
Slightly matte (but hifi sounds often too bright compared to the concert), and laid-back => should match your needs.Very good D/A conversion, renders a full-bodied, natural sound. Rips the CD on-the-fly, stores the bits in a ROM, then converts them brilliantly.

The only snag: uses a slot-loader. That ugly thing had been introduced by Steve Jobs on the MAC, so all the hifi industry jumped in the bandwagon. The slot produced extremely tiny micro-abrasions on the poly-carbonate layer of my CDs (not "scratches", sthg ways lighter that could be seen only under the light of desk LED lamp, under a particular angle).