Very detailed and natural sounding, good ergonomics, I love the simple, straightforward Philips transport

It's not cheap but still a good value

I've had this unit for almost 2 years now. As I've continued to upgrade my system, the sound improves by leaps and bounds. When I first bought it, I was also using a Sony 333ES SACD player. Comparing SACDs played through the Sony and the same recordings on CD played through the ARC, the ARC was as good as and in some cases better than the Sony. So I packed up the SACD player and haven't used it since. The CD3mkII is simply top-notch. I wanted to add this blurb because it looks like the previous reviewer should have given it a 5. Maybe he misunderstood the scale. There's no doubt this is one of the best CD players you'll find.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 333ES sacd player

The sound is it's best strength. Also unit stays on when plugged in. This helps eliminate condensation problems that other players experience. Standby switch turns off display. Reviews that I have read confirm that no after market vibration treatment is needed or affect playback quality. A big plus.

The fit and finish is industrial strength as are all ARC products. Looks like the serious piece of equipment that it is. Also has balanced outputs that should be used to achieve it's full potential.

Very silent background that highlights all the detail in the music. You become very aware of ALL the players and singers. You can hear the individual background singers. I now listen to, and enjoy, types of music that I didn't in the past. Acoustical instraments sound as if they are in the room. Can't say enough.

Cost. This is a lot of money for music. Also, you must have very good equipment to hear the advantages of this player. I use all ARC gear and very detailed Dunlavy speakers. Including the player approx. $15,000.00. Sounds crazy, but, over the amount of time a system like this brings pleasure. The cost is not all that bad. I don't have a big screen home theater or cable TV. I like good music better.

I purchased a used, original, CD-3 on ebay. I was very pleased with the unit. I felt it made red book cds sound better than I had ever heard. Then, it started making a scraping sound when playing. So I packed it up and sent it off to ARC to see what was the matter. After about a week they called and said that the spindle needed to be replaced.

They also mentioned that they could upgrade this unit to MkII for a charge of $1000.00. They would also include the spindle repair for no extra charge if I wanted the upgrade. After counting my paper route money I said doit! Well it came back and WOW. what a difference. This player is the best I could have imagined. My cds sound better than modern vinyl systems I have heard. Some of my fav titles I had that I could not listen to because of strident jitter noise that was in a lot of the early releases now sound sweet. I had a cd of Jeff Beck's "Rough and Ready" that was really bad. Now it is good.

I bought the player on ebay for $2500.00, +1000.00 for upgrade. Total $3500.
I think a new CD3 mkII costs $5500 or so. Another great ebay deal !

Customer Service

Audio Research has the best service there is in this industry. They will repair, upgrade any product they have ever made!

Similar Products Used:

My first "better than Sony" cd player was a NAD 515. A real bargin that showed that all cd players don't sound alike. Next was a REGA Planet 2000. A great player for it's $1000 price tag. The CD3 mkII is another world.