How old is too old?

I suppose if it’s not very expensive you won’t be out much if it craps out on you, and I guess you could get lucky and get years out of it.  But I would definitely not buy an expensive player that’s 10+ years old.  That’s just stupid IMHO. 

I left the world of transports and cd's when my wonderful Mark Levinson No.37 (Phillips Pro mechanism) died. Spending big money on components with such finite lifespans not for me, purchasing used makes even less sense.

Could be time to treat yourself with something new?? 👍

+1 jl35.  any time someone asks for advice on a cd player you can count on ghd to offer nothing but his love of streaming....

The largest issue is parts availability. as the drives and optical sensors age they will die and need replacement. If parts are available no issue. but as many have learned parts are not really that available for disk drives, especially older ones. Good friend has owned a vintage audio shop for 35 years he wont even take them in on trade anymore, he's got a mountain of top quality cd players unusable due to drives.

Google tells me only these companies are making drives still and as you can see on the list most of them are computer drives. LG, ASUS, Pioneer, TEAC, and Sony. There is literally a handful of companies still making CD drives and all the others buy from them. So regardless of what CD/SACD player you buy its probably got he same drive in it. 

Teac/Tascam/Esoteric  maybe your safest bet, they still make their own drives and they make some of the best avail. Noting they are all the same company.