Worst CD player

I've heard many over the years that didn't impress me, but the worst I've personally owned yet hated was a Meridian G08. I had heard it at a headphone meet driving a Headroom Blockhead and it was fantastic--I had to have one.

Upon buying it and burning it in for about 40 days 24/7 (literally was always spinning) I pawned it off on someone else who sold it shortly thereafter.

I bought it new too while a zero income law student... still sour about that one!

How about a thread, "Worst CD for the money"?

I do not remember exactly what brand it was other than it was just a "cheap" Sony style cd player.

It was back in the mid-'90s and I agreed to help a friend with his wedding, I agreed to supply the music. I only had one CD player at the time and it was actually a Pioneer Laserdisc player, so I could cue up one song while the other played I borrowed a friends cheap CD player. The Pre-Amp and Amp was a British made set from Magnum with a pair of Vandersteen 2ce speakers.

So as the dancing went on I took a break and stepped out to dance, that's when I noticed the sound was terrible, sounded like the speakers were blown or something. I started to think I played the music too loud for too long and killed my speakers, but then the next song cued up and the sound was back to normal. I listened for a while and noticed every time a song played from the Laserdisc the music sounded normal but when a song was played thru the cheaper CD player the music sounded way off, like the speakers were damaged.

That is when I came to realize there is a difference between cheap and not so cheap gear. While the Laserdisc is not the best transport, the cheaper CD player was deffinetly way too cheap. You get what you pay for!

That is why I have no problem paying for Hi-Fi Gear that I like.

Sounds like the cheap SOny style cd was defective...years ago TAS had a review of a JVC DVD that could be had at street level for about $100 or less...it was compared favorably to players up to 1k...even a Rega unit which was hot at the time...point being...alot of upscale equipment is marketing, build quality, and pride of ownership...nothing wrong with those...but it doesnt automatically equate to superior sound...

Upscale equipment doesn't automatically equate to superior sound, but the changes of upscale equipment sounding better are many times greater. One place you don't want to cut corners is a digital source, or any source for that matter. Some of the early CD players were pretty much unlistenable.