mikejz84

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $85.00 from ebay

Summary:
I had originally wanted to get a Pioneer PD-65, however I managed to find this little number on ebay and picked it up for cheap. This Cd-recorder is an audiophile secret! I manly use it for CD-playback and it does a great job! I had originally planed to just use it as a transport, however the internal DAC is better then the one in my receiver. The build quality is excellent and sounds better then any other CD player I have owned. Many of these go for under $150 on ebay--Yet I find it on par with $300+ used CD players. I also have used it to record old family reel-to-reels to CD, for which it did a great job.

Strengths:
Great Sound Stable Platter Dirt Cheap Good internal DAC

Weaknesses:
Remote is not very good Controls are hard to figure out without manual only does Audio CD-Rs without mod

Similar Products Used:
Just DVD player as transport to H/K AVR-525

mikejz84

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $85.00 from ebay

Summary:
I had originally wanted to get a Pioneer PD-65, however I managed to find this little number on ebay and picked it up for cheap. This Cd-recorder is an audiophile secret! I manly use it for CD-playback and it does a great job! I had originally planed to just use it as a transport, however the internal DAC is better then the one in my receiver. The build quality is excellent and sounds better then any other CD player I have owned. Many of these go for under $150 on ebay--Yet I find it on par with $300+ used CD players. I also have used it to record old family reel-to-reels to CD, for which it did a great job.

Strengths:
Great Sound Stable Platter Dirt Cheap Good internal DAC

Weaknesses:
Remote is not very good Controls are hard to figure out without manual only does Audio CD-Rs without mod

Similar Products Used:
Just DVD player as transport to H/K AVR-525

Price Paid:  $280.00 from savinglots.com

Summary:
Wow! Patience has its virtues. Pioneer.com says this unit has a retail of $1970. I paid something like $270. It is a beast. I bought it originally to record LP's to CD's. What I did not expect was that it would become my reference CD player as well. It has a rock-solid stable platter mechanism -- imagine a turntable-like set-up to play CD's. It allegedly reduces jitter during playback and recording. Jitter = edginess, harshness, digital sound. I'll tell you what -- I inserted a Monarchy DIP anti-jitter filter just for kicks -- and I could not notice an improvement at all over the stock sound. This thing has boogying bass, clean highs, still can't touch the sweet sound of vinyl but it does a great job at digital. For $270 it is a world beater. I also prefer the analog out on this thing more so than using the DACs in my NAD T700 (Burr Brown 18 bit DACs). Maybe it has better op-amp circuitry?? I noticed better bass and beter resolution of the little things. Audiophiles call it "air".

Strengths:
Killer construction (Japan), killer CD playback, nice separation of the analog out connectors on the back of the deck, and oh yeah, versatile CD recording with auto fade and all the other goodies.

Weaknesses:
Does not record CDRW's. When Costco is selling 30 pack CDR's for $20, who the heck cares?

Similar Products Used:
I use with a MMF 5 turntable, project Phono Box, cableplex interconnects (ebay), NAD T770 receiver, KEF 35.2's, and Audioquest Slate internal bi-wire.

Summary:
The unit has Pioneer's stable platter mechanism which supports the entire CD and provides for better data streaming due to fewer read and refocusing errors. The sound is wonderful and the recording quality is great. I suggest this be bought for a recorder or as a universal CD player. It will play CDs, cdrs, and CDRW's without a hitch. Check out ebay for used unts or pricescan.com to find new old stock at a great price.

Strengths:
Great Construction, great audio converters, and stable platter mechanism

Weaknesses:
Won't record CDRWs. Most people do not care.

Similar Products Used:
Marantz 630

Summary:
This unit was the first broadly marketed CD recorder for the consumer market. As always, first products receive more design care and a better chassis. This unit is built using Pioneer's stable platter which provides a turntable that supports the entire CD. I really bought it for the great sound and use it as my CD player. It blows away others. It retailed for $2,000 and is available at very low prices on the web today (9/00)as it is an old model. It blows away the replacements. This is the one to buy if you don't need CDRW capabilities. P.S., the Elite version which also sold for $2000 and looks the same, was very favorabily review by Stereophile in 1997.

Strengths:
Product uses Pioneer's stable platter design and has excellent analog stages.

Weaknesses:
Will not record CDRWs (who cares)

Similar Products Used:
Tascam CDRW 5000 professional unit