Cambridge Audio CD Player Has Died

Tascam discontinued their 200iL model but it's still available at pro gear retailers. It got an excellent review and is owned by at least two reviewers at Stereophile. A used Oppo 103 would be a great choice too, as would used models from Marantz and Rega. I wouldn't spend any more money on a 15- year old CDP.

tomcarr: Thank you for the info. For no explainable reason, for the past 10 days the CD player has worked flawlessly. However, I will keep your suggestions on hand in the event the problem resurfaces.

You are very welcome. Happy listening!

Well, seems like the issue of periodically "going dead" is still plaguing my CD player. So it looks like a replacement is inevitable. If I opt to buy a DAC to see if that resolves the problem, how would I connect it to my Cambridge Audio CD player? Would doing so bypass the internal DAC in the CD player? Sorry if this sounds remedial; but this is new territory for me. Thank you.

Your player has both optical and digital outputs so you would connect one of those outputs with the appropriate cable to the input of a DAC and it would bypass the internal DAC in the player. But, since the output of the player is intermittent there's a good chance the issue isn't the DAC since it has no moving parts and the transport does. No way to know without testing, either by buying or borrowing a DAC or taking it to a repair shop. If you do want to test it yourself there are decent, relatively inexpensive DACs like the Topping MX3. For testing purposes you could use a single RCA to RCA cable for the coax connection rather than buy a purpose-built digital cable.

Or, you could be satisfied you've had many years of excellent service for your player and find a replacement. That would be my recommendation. Even if your transport isn't the problem now it will be some time in the future. It's a mechanical device that spins at very high rpm and will fail eventually, just like the tires on our car.