Price Paid:  $280.00 from Ebay

Summary:
This is the best solid state CD player I've ever heard It's absolutely incredible I'd buy this over any $2,000 player. The sound is amazing. Perfect music tones. The music sounds alive with guts & balls & is just right- not overbearing or laid back. It is easy to isolate the instruments on a CD when you play it on the PD-59. I play alot of remastered blues & blues rock recordings & they sound awesome on here. Stuff like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers Crusade gives Mick Taylor's guitar incredible bite. I can;t say enough how great this sounds. I actually prefer it to the more heralded PD-65. I have this connected to my Denon 3801 Receiver by fiber optic cord which to me gives it a better sound then analog cables no matter what people say. This player is awesome. I love it. Don't let the price fool you, it's better then any costly higher end player for 60/70's blues rock, rock & blues. It turns up on Ebay once or twice a month. Get it!

Strengths:
Perfect absolutely perfect sound that makes the nmusic come alive. Neither laid back or forward, just right. You can hear the layered sound of the instruments. The bite on lead guitar is awesome.

Weaknesses:
None

Summary:
Excellent CD player/transport. Stable platter works real well, and It's DAC's and Legato link are state of the art. Produces incredible high end sound,,,I love this unit. 5 stars all the way.

Price Paid:  $330.00 from Reference AUdio Video

Summary:
In agreement with other posted reviews. The stable platter transport gives you a good digital read and far less mechanical noise than most transports.

I tried two other implementations of the stable platter transport -- by Acurus and EAD -- and both produced great detail, but painful high frequencies, when hooked up to an MSB Link DAC via an MSB cable. The PD-59 by contrast was detailed but caused no listening fatigue in the same setup. Its DAC is also very good -- not far short of the stock MSB Link.

The only complaint is that the lower price seems have to have been achieved through a much flimsier case than the PD-65, and minimal internal damping and shielding. But for now it sounds better than gear weighing four times as much.

Strengths:
inexpensive way to get a stable platter transport; good DAC

Weaknesses:
flimsy build

Similar Products Used:
Marantz, AMC, Acurus and hi-end Denon CD players, Rotel and EAD dedicated transports

Price Paid:  $300.00

Summary:
My Sony CDP-XA1ES was giving me too much headache and destroyed so many disks that I finally returned it back to Bryn Mawr Stereo and asked them for something better for a change.
As usual - they offered me player that was $500 more. It was Pioneer Elite PD-65. I asked if they had something more reasonable and they offered the discontinued model for much less.
Enter the Elite PD-59.
It is basically very similar to Elite PD-65 - just less bells and wistles. $500 less, to be exact.
Same built quality, same DAC.
Sound is very warm and clear and the unit does not have any character whatsoever.
Paired with decent amplifier and speakers (Yamaha CX-1/MX-1 and Mission 754F5 in this case) it produces very good sound.
Good cables are very recommended though.

Strengths:
Built quality, separate power for digital and analogue parts.

Weaknesses:
None that I can think of.

Similar Products Used:
Similar CD players by Sony and Marantz.

Summary:
This cd player is excellent. It makees the music come alive--good detail and not to harsh. I like the stable platter mechanism. Nice simple remote that has direct track access. It has a very good D/A converter plus it has digital outs in case you want to buy an even better one. Although it was discontinued, if you can find it used somewhere it is an excellent choice.

Strengths:
User friendly, Nice looks, excellent transport

Weaknesses:
-

Similar Products Used:
sony cd player