Price Paid:  $300.00 from latvia

Summary:
There has been no reviews since I posted the last one a year ago, which means that this player probably have already been gone in history. Still, I am adding some comments after my unit has practically died after 3 years of quite a heavy (but respectful) use. As I said, the unit has practically died after 3 years. The process was gradual, the main feature being a large increase in tendency to skip tracks. The player had above average skipping tendency already from the very beginning, however the process started to become independent of cd's quality. Another feature was that it started to open disc tray at its own decision (not often, but it happened). And finaly it ended up by refusing (at times of its own decision) to play discs at all. However, probably of greater interest may be some observations about sound quality. As I already said in previous review, it sounded better than my previous cd changer. And afterwards I have heard a number cd players which sound considerably worse. At the same time, now I know that it also can not compare with real high-end players. Besides, the player tends to have two particular kinds of distortions: 1) sometimes you hear a strange "echoes", i.e., part of the sound tends to be spatially displaced from the main source. Actually I was convinced that this is a problem with poor recordings, however the problem dissapeared after the player upgrade. I guess it has something to do with channel separation. The problem did not manifested itself too often and apparently was associated with the content of recording. 2) some cd's were sounding generally bad (e.g. Mozarts Requiem, directed by Bernstein, Deutsche Gramophone edition). Also I had assumed that this is a recording problem, which turned out not to be the case. I have noticed this problem only on very few cds and it is interesting that it was noticeable throughout the whole cds - just a guess that it might be connected with some manufacturing or mastering peculiarities of the particular cds. Still, it is probably more easy to live with the above mentioned distortions (which you do not notice too often), than with a player which just sound generally bad. Besides that, I noticed these distortions only after a considerable speaker upgrade, thus these might be unnoticable in systems in which this player typically will be used. As an afterthought, I guess that I would not had chosen this player, if I have had this experience. Still I do not regret too much that I had it, and probably the player was not such a bad choice for a "quick buy".

Strengths:
Sounds better than quite a number of other cd players. Probably ok for up to $1000 speaker systems.

Weaknesses:
Durability (my lasted just 3 years). General tendency of skipping. Above mentioned two particular kinds of distortion. Still far from high quality cd playback (but what you can expect for $300 changer).

Price Paid:  $300.00 from latvia

Summary:
I went for it on the basis of quite positive reviews and so far feel quite satisfied with it. The sound is noticeably cleaner and more musical compared to my old Kenwood CD changer - I tried to play the same recording and switch between the two, so I am quite sure about this (but one have to listen to quite a long bits in a row to appreciate the difference, otherwise the sound of Kenwood may feel just "richer", which may appear as an advantage). However I never have had a really high-end CD player, thus I do not know how CDC-775 may compare with these. In general it plays CD-R and also CD-RW discs; I had problems with 80-min Boerder discs (the player lost the track when I tried to use fast forward button or just change the track), then I switched to Sony discs and had no problems with these. Still it may skip/lose the tracks on somewhat damaged CDs and refuses to play CD-Rs that are not correctly recorded (but are playable with some other players). However I never had problems with purchased new CDs. It also supports CD-text feature - however so far I have only one CD that has it.

Strengths:
Sound quality. Convenient disc change mechanism. Plays CD-RW disks.

Weaknesses:
May have problems with damaged and with some recorded CDs. Some important buttons (Random, Time, etc.) are just on remote (and, likewise you cannot select CD by its number on remote, you have just SkipDisc). The "randomness" of random play mode is not particularly convincing.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Modern Music

Summary:
I have enjoyed the sound of my Harman-Kardon FL-8300 for about four years now, but the changer's carousel mechanism got so bad about not recognizing discs that it became unacceptable. Lengthy research online and a bit of hands-on testing led me to the CDC-775 (I considered Denon, Rotel, and Onkyo as well, but the combination of cost and reliability helped narrow the field). The onboard DAC on the 775 is exceptional (I no longer use my receiver's DAC, which I did with the FL-8300). Great sound, good interface (unlike the FL-8300, which required you to reach below the open carousel to advance to the next disc when loading CD's), and a good solid feel made it an easy choice; the fact that it reads CD-R's flawlessly sealed it. I hope to have this player around for years to come.

Hardware:
Paradigm Reference Studio60v2 speakers
Paradigm Reference Studio CC center
Paradigm Reference Studio ADP surrounds
Paradigm Reference Studio ADP center surround (1)
Outlaw Model 1050 receiver
Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD player
Yamaha CDC-775 CD changer
Mitsubishi 27" TV

Strengths:
onboard DAC provides excellent sound, solid build quality, optical digital out if you want to use it

Weaknesses:
haven't found one yet

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer (2 6-disc magazine changers), Sony (friend's 5-disc carousel), Harman-Kardon (FL-8300 5-disc changer, which put the Pioneer and Sony players to shame until it's carousel got flaky)

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Auction

Summary:
I bought this cd changer for my second sound system (home theater) and because I wanted a multiple disc system. At that time, I was thinking I was getting a So-So cd-player that would never replace my Roksan Caspian... I WAS WRONG!! In fact, at first listen, I immediately felt in love with this warm sound! Even if the look don't fit with the rest of my system (Roksan caspian), I used the 775 for my Hi-fi system and my Roksan is now in the living room! HEY, this little player beat my Roksan that have a value of 1300$!

Another good point of the 775 is that it can read Cd-R and Cd-Rw!!!

God I'm glad I got this cd player!

Strengths:
Rich sound, Precise and fast mechanism, Play-Xchange, Cd-text, build quality... READ ALL CD-R AND CD-RW

Weaknesses:
Most functions on this confusing remote... Don't lost it!

Similar Products Used:
Denon, roksan, arcam

Price Paid:  $280.00 from mercado electronico

Summary:
pro-bit system used in high grade yamaha cd players is a nice improvement in order to obtain a natural sound from CD´s.

Sound obtained using pro-bit is more analog, more natural and detailed.

cd text is a nice feature in order to see CD information, but i can add both names and information of ordinary cd in player memory.

especial functions are in remote control, this is a bad idea, if remote control is lost you can not do anything.


digital servo is nice when i play a scratched cd´s ,the skipping rated is less than ordinary servos systems.

in short cdc-775 is a great cd player.

Weaknesses:
the majority of funtions are in remote control,can not be programed during playback

Similar Products Used:
sony cdp-345 with 1 bit D/A converters, onkyo with 1 bit d/a converters