Do You Remember Your First CD Player?


I had owned the first of the first. I purchased the unit in 1982. It was a Sony CDP 101. It was the most obnoxious, raspy, annoying, piercing, grading, non-musical component I had ever heard.

Also, at the time, the complete CD library that was available consisted of about 15 CDs.

Now? I listen to my newest CD rig more than I listen to my turntable. My, how times have changed.

What was your first CD player and when did you purchase it?
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JC Penny baby! It was made by NAD, but was branded differently (can't remember the name). Remember when JCP's had an electronics department? They actually had some decent mid-level equipment - I bought a Proton tuner from there and it was pretty darn good....
The CD in my Fisher "Portable Stereo". I remember it was a top loader and I had cracked the cover from wacking it to get it to play, lol. Was really fussy about disc quality. Pawned it off a few years back for I think $20.
One of those highly touted (at the time) front loading Magnavox players circa 85-86.

I think the first CD I purchased was either a CBS Masterworks recording of "The Moldau" by Smetana (also the first piece on vinyl LP I ever listened to as a kid), Dylan's "Blood On the Tracks" or Roxy Music's "Avalon".

Next came a Sony for 3-4 years, a Cal Audio for about 10, and then my current Denon.
Sony CDP-520ES, bought in the early eighties, 1983, I think. Currently using an Arcam FMJ CD23T.
I have only ever owned one "CD player". I have been a vinyl junkie all along and resisted the move when CDs first hit the market.

My first disc player that would play CDs was a Sony MDP-333 Laserdisc / CD player. I replaced it with a Pioneer DVL-919 Laserdisc / DVD / CD player when DVD hit the scene. That was replaced with a Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi when I sold off my Laserdiscs.

When I put together a dedicated two-channel system several years back I used a first generation Sony Playstation SCPH-1001 for CD playback. I purchased my first real CD player, an Opera Consonance CD-120 Linear that I used for two years. I recently replaced it with a Parasound Halo D 3 so I could also listen to my small collection of SACD and DVD-A that I accumulated when I used the Pioneer Elite “universal” disc player.

I seriously doubt I’ll ever buy another CD player – I believe the future is in PS Audio PerfectWave Transport/DAC type products.