[DeanA]

Recently I say a 10-year-old Sony D-555 portable CD player sell on eBay for $380. No accessories not even the original AC adaptor. Obviously someone felt this PCDP used was worth a lot more than any new PCDP on the market today. In fact, it seems to me that the only area in audio that declines with each new version is the PCDP. Even PMCDP and MP3 players seem to get better with each new version. Does a market for a hi-quality CD player no longer exists? Is the PCDP heading down the same path as the portable cassette player?

 

[dddmt]

yes.

 

[warubozu]

New PCDPs now concentrate most of their marketing on portability and the longest battery life possible. So in order to achieve this some sacrifices will have to be made, in this case sound quality. The D-555 you've mentioned and many other vintage PCDPs were made when the hype of battery longevity and portability wasn't all the rage. So the manufacturers at that time were still using electronics that wasn't so conservative when it came to extended battery life, but offered the best sound quality. When battery life and portability became the main selling points, gears were switched towards using electronic in the PCDPs that consume less power and were smaller in size hence sacrificing sound qaulity. Electronic shock protection only added to the dismal sound quality of current PCDPs in favor of portability.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeanA Recently I say a 10-year-old Sony D-555 portable CD player sell on eBay for $380. No accessories not even the original AC adaptor. Obviously someone felt this PCDP used was worth a lot more than any new PCDP on the market today. In fact, it seems to me that the only area in audio that declines with each new version is the PCDP. Even PMCDP and MP3 players seem to get better with each new version. Does a market for a hi-quality CD player no longer exists? Is the PCDP heading down the same path as the portable cassette player?

I have a D-555 which I've checked against another one to make sure it's working properly, and in all honesty it's no better (if not worse) soundwise than the better current PCDP's. Out of the optical socket, it's definitely worse in terms of quality. People here will tell you otherwise, but I doubt they've done a lot of testing against a large number of present-day PCDP's. True, it's the end of the line for PCDP's but will you be giving up that much with a current player, even with the oft-mentioned 'pseudo' line out? No.

 

[Steve999]

Bravo for this brave truth.

Thanks for this info. I've often wondered about, and in truth have been quite skeptical of, the claims made on behalf of the older Sony PDCPs, having been buying them and using them to the end of their mechanical lives since their introduction on the market many years ago.

Sony has really stepped up their game this year. My new $60 D-NE300 is my favorite PDCP I've ever owned (even though it has no optical out, comes with no transformer, has no line out, has no remote, does not recharge batteries, etc. etc.). The parametric EQ is killer, at least for my uses. But as you often say, the differences in sound quality among modern PDCPs are not night and day. I just like maxing out my PDCP sound quality as part of the hobby.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I have a D-555 which I've checked against another one to make sure it's working properly, and in all honesty it's no better (if not worse) soundwise than the better current PCDP's. Out of the optical socket, it's definitely worse in terms of quality. People here will tell you otherwise, but I doubt they've done a lot of testing against a large number of present-day PCDP's. True, it's the end of the line for PCDP's but will you be giving up that much with a current player, even with the oft-mentioned 'pseudo' line out? No.

 

[ampgalore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I have a D-555 which I've checked against another one to make sure it's working properly, and in all honesty it's no better (if not worse) soundwise than the better current PCDP's. Out of the optical socket, it's definitely worse in terms of quality. People here will tell you otherwise, but I doubt they've done a lot of testing against a large number of present-day PCDP's. True, it's the end of the line for PCDP's but will you be giving up that much with a current player, even with the oft-mentioned 'pseudo' line out? No.

Eagerly awaiting a vintage PCDP market crash

 

[pedxing]

D-NE300 is great modern day pcdp.

The other factor is price. Most people expect to pay only $50 for a pcdp.

Also, more expensive pcdp does not mean better quality sounding pcdp. They might be more expensive because of its ridiculously low power consumption.