Am I nuts?

I like to use a CD changer. I saw and old Onkyo at goodwill for $39. I bought but it was skipping a little. I used the CD lens cleaning disc. It really sounds good now. I have it in my second system so if it fails I will probably get another used one. Ebay has a lot of them available too .

Like in gambling (as this is I guess), if you can't afford to loose the amount of money in question, it you shouldn't play with it.

I went thru 9 different players in my quest for a better sounding player without spending several thousand dollars.

The Sony xa5400ES (and a few other highly respected early models) FAR exceeded 'better', it sounds GREAT.

I was essentially LP, ignoring my 4,000 CDs (some SACD), until I decided to try.

Finally, so darn good, I do not hesitate to pick and play CDs with equal expectation of full involvement of well engineered content by favorite artists.

When you consider a great sounding player's cost divided by all your favorite CDs (I've got a lot I don't care about), the cost is low and the gain is beyond measure.

OP, why aren't you sharing with everyone which player you're in love with? I'd like to know. I have purchased gear just because I liked how it looked (Carver C4000 for instance). Share brother Share! Joe

Hey argee,

"NUTS" is pretty much a given in the hobby, no? :)

This is a bit off topic, however, related and timely.  Recent years, I have ripped my top shelf CDs in lossless to my PC hard drive to supplement online streaming, which is rapidly becoming my primary source for listening.  Side note: Bless All spinning high end vinyl...it's simply not viable for me.  My son's retro vinyl rig provides a "fix," however, from time to time.  

My onboard PC CDRom failed a couple years ago after several years of service.  In investigating a suitable replacement, I decided to go cheap rather than persue a high-end burner.  I ended up with this external $25.00 DVD drive unit:  

Amazon.com: External DVD Drive for Laptop, Portable High-Speed USB-C&USB 3.0 CD Burner/DVD Reader Writer for PC Desktops, Compatible with Windows/Mac OSX/Linux (USB C&3.0) : Electronics

Over the last decade, I've accumulated a substantial amount of classical and classical related CDs from thrift shops and yard sales, maybe 250+ titles, coming late to the party to these genres.  It's a nice winter project in Maine.  In the course of sampling and cherry-picking the collection, I RE-ripped some of my top-shelf CDs, finding the external drive rips were sonically, substantially better than the old rips, a welcome surprise!  In discussing this finding with my Tech last night, it was no surprise to him, given the advancements in recent years of even inexpensive burners via USB.   The assumption being a well isolated computer and good power.  

If I were considering buying a CDP, based upon my experience with an inexpensive modern burner, I would deeply research choices, especially on a limited budget.   D/A chip choices, from old R2R to present day alone are boggling.  Bon chance, argee!  (reminder, laser rulers for speaker and gear placement, Friends!)...Think Positive, Test Negative      More Peace - Pin