Used CD player for 200-300

The Shanling CD-S100, CD-S100 MkII, and the entry-level Music Hall players--
CD25, CD25.2--(which are made by Shanling) are all a few degrees above the
competition at the price IMHO and they mostly play HDCD.

Do the NAD players have reliability problems?

I have a NAD 541 which has in the past skipped on a CD-R disc. Cleaning the lens with a cleaning disc--the kind with little brushes glued on the business side--fixed the problem.

The 541 is known for this particular foible, which the 541i was introduced to remedy. However, in use, my 541 has only proved reluctant on this one CD-R, and a treatment with the brushy disc fixed things. Other CD-Rs have played fine.

I had the Music Hall CD-25 and liked it a lot, wonderful sound for the money. I now have a Denon 2910 and am equally happy with it. It sounds excellent, is very versatile and seems to be better built than the Music Hall.

I did have early transport failure in both L-70 and L-53 NAD all-in-one units but don't know if the same transports are used in the CD-only units.

Jdfelice,

In addition to a couple of big-buck dedicated CD players, I also own an Oppo Universal Player. Considering the Oppo is a Universal player and some of the Denons are Univeral or multi-format players, I can't figure out what you mean by this statement:

The Oppo's seem to be respectable, but this would not fit my simplicity preference. I always like Denon equipment, is there a Denon model that would be worth buying?

The Oppo and the Denon would be equally "not simple". Honestly, the Oppos are really good for the price. They play CD, HDCD, DVD, DVD-A and SACD. The only issue with the Oppo, or any other universal player, is that they load slowly compared to a dedicated CD player, and you may need to connect to a TV for some functions, like setup for the hi-res formats, etc.

I'm not saying the Oppos are the best $200-$300 players, but they have incredible funtionality, sound very good (considering the price) and generally have unbeatable video quality. They only lack the "jewel-like" build of some of the more expensive units.

Oh, and speaking of simplicity, most/all of the Oppos have variable volume control so you could connect them directly to a power amp, bypassing a pre-amp, if you choos to. I have my highly mod'd Oppo 970 connected direcly to my amps and the built-in remote controlled variable volume control works great for all formats. It's a nice feature that most manufactuers ingore.

Enjoy,

TIC