Vintage CD player buyers guide

This article is based on a lot of trial and error on the vintage CD players market. A lot of units were bought with my own money, tested, opened up, serviced and I also interviewed professional electricians. It all started with a Marantz CD5003, which I thought to be a reasonably used middle aged gem, but turned out be bust. This article presumes that the player is to be used for listening to music, ignoring potential value as a rare collectible.

The problem with old CD players is the age. Reading the discs with laser optics requires high precision, but they all include fine mechanics and electornics that inevitably wear out over time. Many players have rubber band belt drives for the tray operation, which are very prone to fail at this age. Still, back in the old days the CD players were generally manufactured to endure and some units have worked 40 years without interruption. Many of the faults are serviceable and there are spare parts available even today, but repairs are costly unless you DIY.

The times have changed, unfortunately

I paid good money for a Marantz CD5003 (2007-2010) thinking that a device that is "only" ~15 years old would be less likely to give me problems, but I was dead wrong. They player started skipping due to failing laser pickup unit. A Marantz technician told me, that nobody has been manufacturing high quality CD components in years and therefore the cheapest and the most expensive high-end player from ~2010 onwards tend to have the same 5$ laser pickup (usually Sanyo). They last about 5-10 years, depending on mileage. The more recent Marantz are infamous for laser failures. The issue is apparently industry wide, so it is best to avoid the used but not vintage players altogether. This also makes brand new players somewhat players undesirable, as the standard rack sized units from reputable brands start from 300 euros and up.

With the lesson learned from Marantz, I started digging deeper into the vintage CD player markets.

They all sound the same

First thing to understand is that the Compact Disc is a digital format introduced in 1982. It is ones and zeros. Therefore all correctly operating units, that are not flawed by design, sound more or less the same. You'll need extremely high resolution setup and a trained ear to hear a difference in between two decent players. Of course there are inferior products and extremely low quality cheap models, but in general it is nearly impossible to hear any difference. The biggest audible difference is the output voltage from the RCA-jacks. If one player plays just a tiny bit louder than the other one, you are likely to perceive it as better. Unsurprisingly, some manufactures have boosted the output voltage over 2V to make a difference. Therefore in blind tests the output volumes are carefully matched.

I have a stack of different players which I have swapped them back and forth. I have also compared the audio from the player to the internal DAC of my AVR. I simply can't hear a significant difference. I have pretty decent bookshelf speaker setup, a quality Marantz amp, and decades of listening experience – I have also owned Genelecs, Magneplanars, electrostatic speakers and have high quality calibrated headphones as a reference, so I have some idea what good sound quality should stand for.

Earlier models from the 80's have more variance in sound signature due to the way they were implemented (analog filters, inaccurate DACs, etc.) - in other words, their performance is lacking, which colors the sound. Some may find this pleasing and of course true vintage classics have extra appeal. They are valuable collectors items and pieces of audio industry history, but that's it.

So if you are looking to change or improve your sound quality, spend your hard earned money elsewhere (speakers, room acoustics) and skip pricey high end units and vintage classics. Snake oil merchants will try to prove you otherwise, but you will only burn loads of money for little, if any, benefit.

Target the mid-1990's

The 90's can be considered as the peak era of the CD format. In 1982, when the it was released, the digital age was just starting – the original IBM PC was released a year earlier! It took roughly 10 years for the CD technology to mature. These ten years also mean ten years less of active usage, wear and tear. Units from the 80's often need professional servicing (laser pickup, mechanics, caps, belts), if they have not already been replaced. This is very expensive, unless you have the skills and tools to do it yourself.

Towards the turn of the millenium a new problem arises - cost reduction. In the 90's the CD players became an every mans commodity and manufacturers did everything they could to cut the costs. The CD format also started to see competition from digitally distributed music (MP3-players, iPod..) and later streaming (Spotify and others). The physical Compact Disc became an audio technology of the past.

Some of the 1980's vintage models have a legendary reputation for warm, analog or smooth sound, but that is mostly BS. The fact is that good players from the 90's have a more accurate digital to analog conversion, less distortion, lower noise floors and often better mechanics. The 90's models may feature a digital output, SPDIF or TOSLINK, which greatly adds to their versatility. A digital out allows you to connect the player to an AV-receiver or DAC enabling the use of their advanced features, such as room correction or equalizer. As the signal is transferred digitally, there is no loss of audio quality. In this scenario the CD player works as a so called CD transport, only extracting the bits from the disc.

My personal favorites

1. Reliable workhorses: Technics, especially the SL-PGxxxA-series. The "A" is significant. These mid-90's Technics are built to last and feature the accurate 1-bit MASH DAC. They have low distortion and noise floors. Another important factor is the Philips CDM laser pickup, which are as durable as they get. The SL-PG series looks a little dull, but it works. A downside is that many of the models do not have a digital output, at least not in their European variants. Technics is my absolute favorite and if I see one cheap, I buy it. HifiWiki.com has all the model variants listed. NOTE: Based on online sources the "A" variants were for the European market (220-240v). The non-A variants seem to utilize Panasonic/Technics RAE -mechanism, rather than Philips. The available data suggests that the Philips CDM has higher durability and much better spare parts availability.
2. Hidden gems: JVC-XL-series. The Victor Company of Japan is a bit of an oddball. It's reputation has later eroded as the company shifted their focus to low-end cheap electronics, but the 90's models are appreciated by collectors. Back in the day JVC was also a part of Matsushita group (Technics, Panasonic), but still invested in their own RnD. The JVC proprietary OPTIMA laser mech is considered to be reliable. The DAC chips vary from model to model, including Burr-Brown PCM, MASH and JVC's own chips. The JVC XL-Z331 (Z335 is the U.S. variant) was a particularly good model. This model combines JVC's proprietary OPTIMA-5 laser pickup, rock solid mechanics and JVC's own 1-bit DAC implementation. The result is an exceptionally good player that gives a run for it's money to any player of any age. The Z331/335 has excellent measurable performance, despite being a rather old player from 1990. The Audio Science Review has an interesting write-up on this player that is worth a look. I was lucky to get a unit in near mint condition for 35 euros and it's a keeper.
3. Boring, but potentially OK: Sony CDP-XE series. The XE-line is Sony's budget offering from late 90's, so the are relatively new. The age is an important factor, as immaterial digital formats started to replace CD players in the 2000's, so there is a chance that these more recent models have seen significantly less mileage. Sony also offered the ES-line as a higher end option, but these units are very expensive on the aftermarket. Sony made solid 1-bit DACs, which were used by several other brands as well. The XE-models feature an optical TOSLINK digital output that adds versatility. It is worth noting that the Sony KSS laser mech has a mixed reputation. There are plenty of reports of high failure rates of, but it was also the most common laser pickup at the time, used by various manufacturers, including the high end offerings from Accuphase. I have had a few (Sony, Pioneer) and they have performed well. The CD-XE also has a unique Jogdial interface for jumping in between songs, which I find handy. Overall the Sony CDP-XE series are kind of dull players, with no special technical or vintage style appeal. They are however in good availability and cheap on my local market. The performance is solid and digital output is a plus. Just make sure that the drive is in full working order before pulling the trigger.

Final words

So, I am a Matsushita guy, with a soft spot for Technics and JVC. Feel free to disagree with all of the above, but you can trust that I have made the legwork for this. I have currently a stack of different CD-players that I have bought, opened, serviced and researched online.

The work is not over though, as I am yet to find a good Kenwood unit to have a look at. Some people like them as a good vintage option, but they a scarce on the local market. Philips is another interesting manufacturer that innovated the technology and made excellent mechanics, but they were also one of the first to focus to the budget market, pushing the cost down everywhere they could. I may pick one up some day, if I get it dirt cheap. Perhaps I should also mention one brand that I especially dislike and that is Pioneer. Their build quality, construction and mechanics just can't match the Japanese, even though they have nice looking face plates and some interesting innovations. I might some day give a spin to a Pioneer PD-S unit that features the upside-down Stable Platter mechanism and Legato Link DAC, which both are supposed to be high performers. But in general I like players that actually work.

Disclaimer

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that this article deals with gear that is 30-40 years old. At this age any player from any manufacturer is likely to fail sooner than later. Many vintage CD fans tend to have a spare player handy for a reason. Luckily they are cheap, so there is no problem in acquiring a few. This may actually be a smart move, as the ongoing CD revival may cause a hike in the asking prices. The market supply is also going down, as old players eventually break up and many people are also dumping them to the bin as obsolete.

Another challenge in researching vintage CD players is the fact that the information available online is limited and scattered in various discussion forums and databases maintained by hobbyists. It is digital archeology trying to find the bits and pieces of information for a complete picture.

For further reading:

HifiEngine.com database for specs, manuals and more.
RadioMuseum.org is another hifi-database
Dutch Audio Classics is a great resource for identifying CD-player components. Also has a lot of good reading about the history of Philips/Marantz
Audio Science Review forum has a ton of technical measurements made by enthusiasts, also of vintage models.

Word of warning: There is conflicting and also wrong information in all of the databases above regarding CD-player components, so always cross reference before making purchases, in case you are looking for a specific DAC model etc. Units with same model names can also differ geographically and even vary during the production life cycle.