CD player reliability.... good and bad.

My issue with CD players is a bit different.  My first player was a Sony something or other about 37 years ago (+/-).  It was about the deadest sounding music I had ever heard although being free of cleaning vinyl and the associated clicks and pops was wonderful.  A few years later that was followed by a Philips CD80, which a year or so later was modded by Wavetrace Technologies out of Tampa. The Dual 1219 and Shure V15 Type III cartridge were now toast as was the rest of the album collection as I moved to all CDs.... and added a PS Audio Ultralink, then an Ultralink II.  That was eventually replaced by some $4K Marantz player that couldn't keep up with my 45 year old Sansui TU-9900 modded by Radio X including a Burr Brown chip set.  The Marantz went and was replaced by a Sony XA 5400 ES CD/SACD which is still here for the very few CDs I can't get on Tidal. I stream from a Cambridge CXN (V2) to a Benchmark DAC3 b and find that very satisfying.  If the Sony blows up I don't think there is much reason to replace it other than with another transport feeding the benchmark.

When I bought the Luxman DZ 122, circa early 1990s, the shop told me that Sony or Philips made just about all the mechanisms, lasers,  and chips for CD players on the market at that time, including a lot of  the pricier esoteric players. 

I believe my Denon and Luxman both had Sony internals, or at least a lot of the internals were Sony. 

the shop told me that Sony or Philips made just about all the mechanisms, lasers,

Correct there were a couple of Panasonic as well.
Later on Sanyo started doing them too, all reliable as well.

Here is a major list of just about all cd player and cd transports and dacs.
 showing dac chips and laser mechs and lasers
http://vasiltech.narod.ru/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htm

Cheers George

Ayre👍👍

Maybe a year ago or a little more, I popped for a McCormack UDP PLAYER. 

 INTErnals are of Pioneer.  I know, when I use remote to power on, the pioneer elite dv-48av turns on also. :(

 She is a long in the tooth player, she does sound pretty good, display still nice and bright, but from the couch, hard to read.

I let most all CDs play through anyway,as with my albums, nice the needle drops, the entire LP yes’s through both sides. 
  Plus, I’m too lazy to get off the couch to swap CDs. 
The past 2 years....
 Bought a tascam CD player with the iPod dock, sounded um...... no bass, guitar was not crunchy as It should have been, treble was. Ok returned it, had some skips only after a month. 
Then a Denon professional unit, features galore, thought being a Denon, it would be awesome.sounded great, but the tray arrived and it must have been off track on the inside, I could hear rubbing and it woooullld not Close completely. ReTurned her. 
Then a Integra cd 5 carousel, mechhanically great, nice unit, skipping on 2 out of the 5 CDs loaded.  Liked this player, as ha a a vvi5 CDs at once was great. - side note, still have my Sherwood 5 cd carousel as a present from my old friend(RIP MY BROHER)
only play once in a while. But the close button must stick, as when I gently press “close” it does close, then immediately opens up again, must repeat this process 2-3 times to keep tray closed. :(
Then the Yamaha cd s300- the best of the bunch, and best CD player I’ve heard in a long time. A very nice open airy sound, loved this uni, and the looks were cool too. The strange “only opening about 3/4 of the way” and having to slowly load the CDs by tilting it towards the cd tray and ,.....pain in the butt, 
sfter a few weeks of warming up, loved this player. But the strange way it went through tracks, it would interrupt the music and go to next track, like an 8 track switching from 1, 2, 3, & 4. Then some skipping started. Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s just the luck of the Irish, as John Lennon has said. 


Then onto the McCormack UDP player........as mentioned, she is an old unit, but plays flawlessly. 
 Must be my luck!  
 Will keep using this one til it starts to skip. Hopefully get a couple years out of her!,

two best I had was Onkyo dx-7500 and the Acurus ACD-11.   Both failed also after a couple years. Acurus lasted maybe 3-4 years. Onkyo was demo unit.