Price Paid:  $200.00 from sound advice orlando

Summary:
This is a 'review' for the dcm280.It is what you might call a ';exit' review.I always thought the unit sounded fine on my set-uo.I ,as so many do i guess,am always looking at reviews of audio gear,and wondering if i am missing something that a particular unit of gear might deliver.Well I finally fell into the 'trap',and 'upgraded' from the DCM280,to a Rotel RCD1072. Well, what I hoped would indeed be an upgrade,turns out to be no such of a thing,that is in sound quality.Yes the Rotel is somewhat 'prettier,more 'fancy',and more expensive,(by 500 dollars).However it sounds no more 'airy,spacious,lifelike,live,warmer,brighter,engaging,enveloping,detailed,or any of the other myriad of adjectives I have read in other people's reviews.It is absolutely no better or worse than my DCM280.I know my cds quite well,thank you,and I heard just as good sound on the Rotel as I heard on the Denon! Which I guess one could say,means the Denon sounds like at least a 700dollar unit! I am sure some might think,and even write that I am one with less than excellent hearing capacity.I assure you I have excellent hearing,and am a serious fan of music.BTW,I have had no problems from the Denon whatsoever,mot one,and it has logged many hours,at considerable volume levels,and of tray operations without a single hitch.I hope I have learned a serious lesson here,as I really think my set-up sounds quite good with either cd player.Time will tell.

Strengths:
inexpensive,sounds as good,absolutely as good as Rotel RCD1072,no mechanical pproblems as yet.

Weaknesses:
I can not think of any.

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RCD1072,heard several other brands,some connected to same speakers as I own,Sony,other Denon,Krell,etc.

Price Paid:  $230.00

Summary:
Used very infrequently and treated with kid gloves. CD began to stop/start spinning in play mode. Cost 40.00 for a repair estimate which was 140.00 to replace Optical PU. Unit will go into dumpster. Stay away from this garbage.

Strengths:
Looks good in stereo rack

Weaknesses:
Noisy and poor quality

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Dumoulin Electronic

Summary:
A resume of the problems I got with my Denon CD reader CMD-60: 1) The CD skipped sometimes. I had to replace the laser module which is very expensive. Good news, It still skip. 2) The caroussel is making a lot of noise when the disk change process is operating 3) The reader smoked while not in use. After investigation, I found that two (2) components blew-up within the power supply. The Thermal cut-off fuse built-in transformer blew-up because a transient search protection device got short-circuited. When I bypass the Thermal cut-off fuse, The CD reader is operating back. Conclusion: The power supply design is very bad.

Strengths:
The name DENON is printed in the front panel

Price Paid:  $120.00 from Ubid

Summary:
I bought this as a refurbished unit from ubid at a fair price. It performed reasonably with my only complaint being the noisy drawer mechanism, both opening and closing and changing discs. After about a month or so the player would not open the drawer. I took the unit apart and could not find the cause, but did get it working again. It worked normally for another 3-4 months and then went completely dead. It has been replaced with an AMC cd8b which has been totally reliable and sounds great.

Overall this is a good, but not great player, with some reliability concerns.

Strengths:
Reasonable price. Good sound quality

Weaknesses:
Build quality. Noisy mechanism.

Summary:
Bought this almost a year ago and it has worked nicely in my audio setup. Haven't experienced the buzz as others have reported but time will tell, I guess. Great player if all you need is a disc changer. Nothing special....gets the job done!!!

Strengths:
Good price. Works effortlessly.

Weaknesses:
Only basic feature, upgrade if you want luxury.