disc player/transport longevity

In my experience, older CD transports are far superior to what is available today. Partly because they were built in Japan, and partly because there was competition in the marketplace.

Having gotten (unfortunately) intimately familiar with what is coming out of China, both players and their replacement transports/assemblies/lasers, the prospect of purchasing a high-end CD player today is a gamble I do not recommend entertaining.

I still use my Sony ES cd player from 1986 in a secondary room. It's built like a tank and has never skipped once. It may have the sound quality as today's players, but it's good enough for casual playing.

Got my Yamaha CDX1030 in 1999 and it still works although the drawer opens and closes very slowly.

I owned a Sony 520 II ES from 1988 to 2005, great player for casual listening!

@ Trelja: I think so too. The newer CD players/transports are "disposable items" while the order decks were much more robust and still going strong (including my Sony ES).