Audio CD Players for home audio (not theatre) arrangements

We have an old Sony CD player which has some type of mechanical fault which causes it to skip every so often. I am investigating upgrade options...

I had a look at the big brands and it seems CD players alone are not something that they deal with much anymore (not really surprising). Pioneer have a few that look decent with multi CD stacker type interfaces. Does anyone know if there are CD players that also play data CDs with MP3s on them? Or CD/DVD players that play DVDs with MP3s on them?

Obviously the easiest replacement would just be a standard stereo CD player but if we're going to upgrade I figure going a big step up to something that can play more than just audio CDs would be cool.

We don't want anything that is for a home theatre system and requires a screen to be attached - this is for audio only. It doesn't need an amp either because we have one of those separately, as long as it has standard RC output ports (I think that's what they're called).

mp3s - definitely
dvd of mp3 - i beleive so, but may be a bit harder to find locally

Got any ideas on brand names? I haven't ever bought stuff in this market so I am literally starting from nowhere.

How much money you looking to spend?

*Edit* Theres a good list HERE with some of varying prices.

I don't know really because I have so little idea what's out there. This isn't some kind of studio like what so many of you guys here have setup for production or anything so we certainly don't need top of the range. It's all connected to 2x 30+ year old speakers and 2x small ones anyway.

If we can get something between $250 and $450 that would be cool.

Being able to play MP3 CDs is more important than features like a multi disc stacker though to be honest.

Ah Cheers for the list natho!

Something like the Onkyo DX-C390 looks like it would do the job. Now I just need to find a local price for it... Seems it isn't sold in many places here.

let me know how you go Oli i am in the same situation with me stereo.

I reckon your best bet is to cruise around to all the electronics/audio shops in Adelaide, see what they have and don't listen to a word they say. Oh but don't go to Grenfell Hi Fi unless your willing to part with much much money. I went in there to check out a Hi Fi set-up. The cheapest amp and speaker package they had there was upwards of 2000.

natho, I prefer to do my research online and find out what I do want rather than spent time travelling around (no car at the moment anyway) and find out what I don't want.

Been browsing around and reading about other options, and I reckon one of these might not be a bad idea. Makes the stuff on my computers more accessible anyway and helps to move away from the older formats. Can convert all those CDs to FLACs and listen to them as well...

Going to keep investigating for a little while but at this stage a Squeezebox type device seems to be making more sense.

$250 - $450 for a glorified cd player? You're joking right!

Surely you can get a dvd player that will read mp3 and output stereo rca for between $50 and $100.
And that will come with a remote control.





OK check this. I may be way off the mark here, but:

http://www.strathfield.com/images/cats/p1_170308.jpg

That (left hand side, half way down) is a dvd player that can play mp3's, I'm sure it has an lcd screen on it so you can see what ur doing, and it's $48.

ipod and ipod speakers FTW

CDs are so 1995

I'd personally just go for a pioneer CDJ - 100 for just audio cds or a cdj - 200 for audio & mp3 cds.......

bit expensive but I'd just rather have those; they do what they do very well; good quality, multiple outputs if you want to upgrade to optical later, very rugged, and who knows, If you have a house party your almost there???

http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Sony-CDP-CX455

Holy s**t, 400 disc cd changer