Stand Alone CD player with remote volume control

[Seth=L]

I'm looking for both new and used CD players (the smaller the better) of decent to high quality that have integral volume control that can be controlled via remote.

I know some early Sony CD players had this feature as well as Adcom, both of which are typically on the larger side but I could manage assuming the price to quality ratio works for me.

The Parasound ZCD had appeal to me, although it has since been discontinued after a short run, and that's not encouraging.

The Tivoli Model CD player appears to also have remote volume control but reliability is a concern here.

I'm generally thinking the used market is going to yield the most affordable route, albeit the larger route.

I have a friend who has an older Sony ES single disc player I may try to get from him, but the drawback there is I believe it's variable output can only be adjusted from the front of the unit.

 

[slipperybidness]

I'm looking for both new and used CD players (the smaller the better) of decent to high quality that have integral volume control that can be controlled via remote.

I know some early Sony CD players had this feature as well as Adcom, both of which are typically on the larger side but I could manage assuming the price to quality ratio works for me.

The Parasound ZCD had appeal to me, although it has since been discontinued after a short run, and that's not encouraging.

The Tivoli Model CD player appears to also have remote volume control but reliability is a concern here.

I'm generally thinking the used market is going to yield the most affordable route, albeit the larger route.

I have a friend who has an older Sony ES single disc player I may try to get from him, but the drawback there is I believe it's variable output can only be adjusted from the front of the unit.

Parasound ZCD all the way! At least that is my personal rec, and granted that I have never even seen a pic of the other models you mention.

I have the ZCD in Silver. This model does not have the rack ears, and it is silver, but otherwise it is identical to the black model! I paid $225, used, from ebay.

I love it, great little player for my needs.

The manual will tell you that the hierarchy for sound quality on the outputs is Optical > Fixed RCA > Variable RCA. I'm not sure that I really buy into that, but I think it should at least be mentioned, especially if you want it for the variable RCA outs. I suppose the measurements might show that, but I'm not sure that my ears are convinced that I hear a big difference at least (maybe subtle).

When I use the variable RCA, I'm typically connecting it straight to a power amp for testing purposes (not critical listening, just functional testing). In my general daily use, I use the optical out to an Emo XDA-1.

I also like that you have 3 options for power on: Power Button, AC detection, 12V trigger.

I will also give you my 2 nitpicks after living with this player for quite a while.
1) It does get pretty warm on the top panel. Not too hot, but I've never owned a CD player that put out this kind of heat. I guess it is due to so many electronics packed into a tight space.
2) When you eject the disc, take it out immediately. If you let it sit there with the disc half hanging out, then after 5-10 seconds it will start trying to pull the disc back in, but it can't. Then, when you do manually pull the disc out of the slot, it will continue to try to grab the disk. It does this until you power it off or you manually feed it a disk to grab in the slot.

I did not realize that the ZCD has already been discontinued. Maybe that will turn up some clearance prices? I can say that I am VERY glad that I bought mine when I did.

EDIT: Odd! I just checked the Parasound web site, and it looks like ZCD is no more. The odd thing, it also looks like they recently discontinued the fancy (ie overpriced) Halo CD1. That thing didn't have much of a life span at all! Guess they decided that it was time to kill the CD player business, likely very low volume sellers.

 

[Seth=L]

EDIT: Odd! I just checked the Parasound web site, and it looks like ZCD is no more. The odd thing, it also looks like they recently discontinued the fancy (ie overpriced) Halo CD1. That thing didn't have much of a life span at all! Guess they decided that it was time to kill the CD player business, likely very low volume sellers.

Maybe I need to just skip getting a CD player and get a Sonos or something. Do any of these streaming/mass storage music devices function as a preamplifier? I've got a Niles SI-275 power amplifier sitting around unused because I don't have any way to feed it without gobbing up huge amounts of space.

 

[j_garcia]

Oppo 105 / 105D does and I used it as a preamp when my UMC-200 died and had to be repaired.

My old Sony CA70ES and my 222ES both had volume controls via the remote.

 

[Seth=L]

Almost bought this at a major reduction from MSRP.

Then I realized, they forgot to put a subwoofer output on it.

Yet somehow they remembered to put a subwoofer output on this thing. -_-

 

[j_garcia]

There's that Denon one that has a sub output too... and it is nice. I almost bought one. Let me find it. Can't find the one I was thinking of because it was a year ago, but found this one

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/dendm39sbk/denon-d-m39s-cd/fm-micro-desktop-stereo-system/1.html

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-DM40SBK-D-M40-Ultimate-System/dp/B00ZVBMF10/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447262284&sr=8-2&keywords=denon+mini+system


FOUND IT Looks like only white available now; used to have black.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denrcdn7w/denon-rcd-n7-wi-fi-networking-am/fm/cd-receiver-apple-dock-white/1.html

 

[Seth=L]

I liked the idea of the Harman Kardon because it had some extra oomph. Advertised as 65 watts per channel and with a 300 watt power consumption that's remotely believable. I have a Teac CR-H250 that has decent amplifier in it (25 watts per channel @ 6 ohms) and it pretty much works for all but the ceiling of my output requirements. I've been using a Teac A-1D (which I still refute does not sound as "good" as the CR-H250, likely due to age) because it has a meatier amplifier and since this system is mostly used for movies, games, and series it isn't noticeably lacking in quality.

I'm going to admit, I'm a bit all over the place with my audio equipment, so I'm sorry if this creates annoyance. Ideally I'd like a CD/Preamplifier of decent quality to run through the Niles or a one piece solution that eliminates all.

I looked at the Arcam Solo Mini in the used market, it goes for about $300-400 used which is a lot, but it might eliminate the need for pretty much all other equipment, but even if it didn't it has preouts.

The ZCD would be another fantastic solution as I could use it's audio input to connect to the television's audio output and then feed the amplifier with the ZCD.

If I had a house I wouldn't care, but apartment living is for the birds.

 

[j_garcia]

IIRC, that Denon RCD-N7 also had either 50W or 60W rating and it also has what appears to be an analog "aux out", though I'm not sure if that is preamp level.