So it's irritating playing CD's in the PS3. I'd like to drop an inexpensive CD player in the system and use the digital output to my 975. I'm assuming (erroneously?) that since I'm using the digital output all I really need is a player that won't fall apart spinning discs and can reliably pass the digital signal. I'd also like it to last years, not days or months.

I guess at the moment I'm eyeballing a Yamaha CDC-575 or a Kenwood CD-204. I don't have any personal experience with either, but they seem to be mostly well regarded and have some longevity to them.

Anyone have any suggestions or warnings overall or about specific models? I have noticed a lot of the "CD" players on eBay are actually DVD players, many of them cheaper than dedicated CD players. Thoughts?

Thanks for any input!

I'm thinking that my next CD player is going to by an OPPO. Doesn't really fit "inexpensive" but if you're also in the market for a Blu-ray it makes sense to bundle.

Get a bluray player. You can easily get a decent one for around $100 and you will be much more future proof. I have a Sony BDP-S590 and it is also wireless and plays SACDs.

I don't really need another blu-ray player at the moment. I'm happy with watching those on the PS3.

When I want to toss in a CD, though, I want to just put it in and have it play, not have my player question me and/or try to download details from the internet about it. It's annoying having to turn on the display to get a CD going. That's the reason I'd like to just add a dedicated player for it. I don't have much in the way of a budget right now so I'm hoping to grab something used under $50.00 if I can find one.

I'd like to just use the digital output and let the 975 have its way with it. From that perspective, does any one make or model offer a better digital output? I realize analog outputs are a whole different game, but I've been looking with the assumption that they're pretty much all going to be passing the same digital signal with no real difference from one player to the next. Anyone have experience to the contrary?

I play CDs through my OPPO and the Sony with no issues of trying to define what the disc is. Both players are designed to play all discs that I own( CDs DVDs SACDs and Blurays). I just pop the disc in and it plays. I don't have to turn on the display to play a disc of any kind.

My Sony blu ray player (BDP-570) will play a cd if I hit play after turning it on immediately. But if it's on already, and I inset a cd it can go to the home or menu. Then I need to toggle over to the music submenu and then disc icon. I can't do that without having the monitor(projector in this case) on and it's annoying.

So I can see the need for a dedicated cd player. Being that Owl is going to be taking the digital feed straight to the 975, any reliable cd player would do fine, because he's not employing the analog or DAC section of the player itself. I'm not familiar with his short list options, I'm sure they would be fine.

Thanks, S. Sharkey. This is what I was hoping to hear. My short list was generated by looking at what was available locally and/or on eBay and winnowing those by digging around for some owner experiences on the ol' internet.

I've added a Sony to the list, too. Can't find much on that specific model so I'm hoping that means it wasn't plagued with issues. I haven't found anything yet that screams "Buy me!!" but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open.

As always, I appreciate the feedback everyone. Thanks!

I didn't look at any of these prices, but a quick search dug this up:

CD Players

Enjoy

Just a follow up in case anyone is interested. I picked up a Yamaha CDC-575 for $20.00 and hooked it up to the 975 with an optical cable. Sounds amazing! I'm looking forward to revisiting our CD collection.

Thanks again, guys!

If you can find an old Pioneer Elite DV47a (or DV47ai) DVD player, they make very nice CD players with SACD and DVD music playback capability. They have multiple burr-brown DACs and a very nice pre-amp section making SACD playback in analog mode sound very nice. They usually run under $100 on ebay but the price can bounce around a lot. Just my $0.02