What is a "professional" CD player?

[Joe Schmoe]

Musician's stores (eg zzounds) sell "professional" CD players. How are these different from regular CD players?

 

[3db]

Musician's stores (eg zzounds) sell "professional" CD players. How are these different from regular CD players?

They have proffesionals inserting the CDs into the drive??

 

[sparky77]

About the only real difference I know of is how fast they start playing after you hit the play button, and the types of connections they have on the back, in stead of rca's they usually have balanced connections or trs connectors.

 

[fmw]

They get paid to play cd's while the amateur ones do it for free.

 

[Seth=L]

Audibly, probably none.

 

[stratman]

If they're used for DJ duty in clubs the difference would be connectors in rear and the platter would be sturdier, they might also have cueing like a turntable, pitch control for mixing and more shock dampening since it's in a volatile enviroment.

Wait I found this: http://www.numark.com/cdmp3dvdplayers

 

[brulaha]

They get paid to play cd's while the amateur ones do it for free.

They have also lost their collegiate eligibility.

 

[supervij]

. . . not to mention their eligibility to compete in the Olympics.

 

[patnshan]

Audibly, probably none.

Yep! They may just be uglier, just like those giant ugly amps in carpeted boxes they call professional

Pat

 

[Hi Ho]

My expectations for a professional CD player would include balanced outputs, rugged build quality designed to a beating, very fast startup time, and cuing.

There's really no need to use a professional CD player at home unless you want balanced outputs without spending significantly more money on a high end esoteric player.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Musician's stores (eg zzounds) sell "professional" CD players. How are these different from regular CD players?

May have features not found in consumer players? Can't they play it backwards like a vinyl?

 

[stratman]

May have features not found in consumer players? Can't they play it backwards like a vinyl?

Yup, they have large jog wheels that let you 'scratch'.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

There's really no need to use a professional CD player at home unless you want balanced outputs without spending significantly more money on a high end esoteric player.

It was while looking at powered monitors that I ran across the pro CDPs. A super-simple system I have been considering is powered monitors connected directly to a CDP, using the monitor's gain controls to adjust volume. Would the balanced connectors be better for this?

 

[jonnythan]

A professional CD player is a CD player actually designed for use by audio professionals.

 

[frostbyte]

Probably the same thing as a "Transport". Just a fancy name to make you open your wallet a bit more.

 

[landonspop]

professional cd player

They use artificial components (steroids and hormones) to play at a higher volume and perform longer. But be careful buying these, as they are being watched by congress. Also, be careful, as they may hold out and not play for awhile. There sure to be a hit or even better a home-run.