Best Sounding Red Book CD Changer Under $400

Something in the Sony ES series would seem your best bet.

If you can stretch your budget, there's a guy selling new Cal Audio CL-10's here on Audiogon. This is a player that retailed for $2000 at one point. Since Cal Audio is belly up, you'll take your chances a bit, but Jim offers a 90 day warranty. I bought one and am very pleased with it. The build quality is outstanding. I took the cover off to check out the running gear. Cal used copper shielding throughout. Plus, it sounds great.

A few years ago, I used a Rotel RCC-1055 which retails for $799. The CL-10 is much better made, with a more precise disc tray, better features, and significantly better sounding.

I highly recommend looking into a Sony SCD - C333ES.

You can pick one up for $350 - $400, it plays CD/SACD, and is a 5 disk changer. Surprising sonics, to be frank. In my system last month, it embarrassed a very well regarded $2500 audiophile player in pretty obvious fashion. In fact, the owner of the other machine was astounded. No, it doesn't compete with my Granite 657, but it sure is really nice machine.

The CL-10 is a champ, that's for sure. You will probably pay more than $400, though. I love mine. There were QA/QC problems with early production, don't know if it was solved in later years.

I bought a used CAL Audio CL-10 for around $400 on eBay two years ago and, as Sammie points out, the sound is terrific and the build quality is outstanding. It's used mostly for parties but it is just fine for critical listening too. Last month, I picked up a used CAL CL-5 for my home office (same form factor as the CL-10 but no HDCD decoding and a different internal DAC, I believe) and paid just $150 on eBay. Not as sweet sounding as the CL-10, but the detail and imaging are quite good and it too exhibits rock solid construction.