| CD upgrades LC Audio Makes a timer and filter kit that can be inserted into most players. CD Testers and Disks WPN Systems Makes error rate counters for most CD's Interstudio Makes a few types of CD test disks Opus 3 Makes a highly reccommended set of test disks Used CD Player Retailers Play It Again Sam (USA) Mostly 80's early 90's players, a tad pricy Mostly recent models and includes some yummy high end ones, some resonably priced Please send any factual corrections, dead links, information and/or links that you feel that should be on this page to the page maintainer but please note that I do not have an Internet access at the moment so there may be some time before I can answer.
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Unlike the Record Players and SACD pages here this page is not an attempt to empty the field of current manufacturers of CD players but rather to focus on the more interesting and/or unusual designs. There has actually been a slight pickup in the sales of mid end players recently, this is paradoxically in response the falling prices of DVD players but that has meant that there is a gap in the market for audiophile quality DVD players that are not outrageously expensive, conversely a few manufacturers are actually discontinuing the manufacture of mid range CD players in favour of stereo, audio only SACD players.
Currently manufactured CD players and transports
Alouette Audio
Makes the rather good looking CDD transport, base mechanism is by Philips they have since added a full player version of this model called CDS that is only slightly more expensive than the transport only version a better picture of it can be found here (the transport and they player look identical), note that the English info page is down when this was written so the links are to the Dutch one.
Audia Flight
These have been getting a lot of good review in the mainland European and Scandinavian press lately, their flagship model is the upsampling CD One which features digital inputs that means that you can use it's DAC for your other digital devices, the CD one also has a novel take on the Philips Pro2 mechanism which is top mounted rather than use a sliding tray as usual, instead a motorised lid opens up when you insert a disk, this should mean a more rigid fastening of the mechanism in the long run.
Audio Research
Has the CD3 player, a part of their "value line" at only 5000 USD or so, we have been told that the current version of this player is MkII but their is no info on the company's website to indicate this. This model was widely reviewed when it came out in 2002 that includes in issue 19 of Hi-Fi Plus (Sept), issue 2 of Hi-Fi News and issue 8 of iAudio, but none of those reviews is available online.
A & R Cambridge (ARCAM)
Has a fairly large range of players and it is in fact their CD players that have kept the company in the news for the last few years, amongst the more interesting are the Diva CD73, an updated version of the 72 that was introduced earlier this year, it's a low/mid range player that has been getting very good press in the UK. Features include a 24bit Wolfson DAC and a chassis filled with Sontech sound deadening materials. The CD82 is a slightly older design but has a dual DAC configuration. The Diva CD93 has also been getting attention lately despite being much costlier than the CD82, it's upsampling player with quad DAC's on. Their top of the line model is the FHJ CD33, it has the same basic features as the CD93 but more audiophile components and the upsampling processor is more powerful.
Bow Technologies
Makes high end CD players, namely the ZZ Eight and the Wizard they both feature a modified version of the Philips Pro CD transport but differ in converter technologies, in addition the Wizard has balanced analogue and digital outputs. Now the Eight is over 16 kg so make sure your back and your hi-fi rack is up to task, there is an archive of older reviews of the ZZ Eight here and of the Wizard here.
Burmester Audiosysteme
Herr. Burmester's CD players are some of the best reviewed players in Europe for the last few years, the cheapest model from the company is the 992 followed by the interesting 006, now the 006 has extremely good upsampling processor and DA conversion circuitry and to allow you to utilise that with the rest of your digital equipment this player has 3 digital inputs, an unusual feature on a player, in addition to 2 digital outs and balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs. His best known player is the 001 however, that model is built around similar but upgraded conversion technology as the 006 but in addition features a top loaded patented belt driven CD transport and balanced digital inputs, you can get that same belt driven transport in a transport only version called 979 that sports no less than 6 digital outs of every conceivable type. The 969 transport is however considered to be something of a reference design, at some 30 kg it better be! It has built in power conditioners, stabilisation and acoustic suspension/isolation and all the things you have come to expect from a reference design and then some, and has no less than 8 digital outputs.
Cairn-Ezo
Make the FOG 2 a tasty high end player that has 24bit converters and can optionally have an 24b/192KHz upsampling procesor added, has balanced analogue outputs.
Candeias Engineering
Makes the high end Modelo CD transport based around the excellent belt driven CEC (Burmester licenced) transport, it's a massive heavily stabilised design that has a synchronised output for jitter free operation (ie Wordclock) along with a host of I/O options.
Cayin
Makes the CDT17, a player with upsampling and convertors that support 24 bits @ 192KHz, main claim to fame is the output section but it gives you a choise between a valve and solid state output .
CEC
This company licenses the belt driven transport from Burmester Audiosysteme and makes a range of transports and players based around it, while none of the company's product could be called a budget design they are at the least much more cost effective than the original. Also noticeably the company has a propriety digital transport connector that eliminates sync and jitter problems and probably explains why they are much keener on separate transports and DAC's than most. It's main player product is the TL 51 Z Mk 2 which features an upsampling converter with a whopping 24bit 356KHz capability, it's a modular design so you can upgrade the unit at a later date and it comes with balanced and unbalanced digital and analogue outputs. The Japanese market also get the CD 3300 that is a much cheaper model featuring a normal transport but most of the other niceties of the TL 51, and also the CH 7700 which is a 5 disk crousel CD changer and one of the last of these to have any audiophile pretences.
The CEC transports start with the Flywheel equipped TL 0 Mk2, it has a very sabble construction, more like high end turntable than a CD player and balanced digital outputs in addition to the more usual. The TL 1 X is an updated version of their first belt driven transport, also flywheel equipped and heavily stabilised, the TL 2 SL is a cheaper variant of the TL 1 that keeps all the main features but has a less costly base it has just been updated to a TL 2X MkII, the cheapest transport the company makes is the TL 51 wich is basically the same as their TL 51 Z player without the DAC, it has the belt driven transport of the other models but not the flywheel etc, all of their models feature the CEC Superlink™ and balanced digital outputs in addition to the more usual SPDIF ones.
Copland
Has the CDA 822 high end player with an Upsampling 24bit converter, great reviews in the USA and UK hi-fi press.
Creek Audio
Makes the CD 50 a recently introduced model that we have not had the pleasure of listening to but it has a high res master clock that is an improvement over the model it replaced and a bitsream DAC, and the high end CD 53 model that looks similar to the cheaper model and indeed is based around the same transport and DAC but not only features balanced outputs but ALL of the analogue portion of the player is balanced.
Daniels Audio
Makes the Zero-one range of high end players and carousel type changers, that according to the blurb have advanced dithering on the analogue side of the DAC. All their models use a high endPhilips transport.
Dantax
Makes the CD-210, a low budet standalone product, one of the few such still on the market.
Densen
The company manufactures the B-400XS and B-400 Plus players, they are developments of the B-400 that was introduced in 1999 and was the first CD players out there that attempted to fight jitter with any seriousness and with something more than just a quality clock circuit. They contain an extra microprocessor and memory for the sole purpose of handling and correcting the transfer of data from the transport to the DAC in order to minimise jitter and similar data transport errors. The new version have upsampling in addition to this, rave reviews in Scandinavia and the UK, some of the best reviews I have seen for a CD player actually. transport is a Sony mechanism that uses glass materials instead of plastic.
Eastern Electric
Makes the MiniMax, this is one of the new breed of Asian players that feature a valve based output stage, not as well specified as some of it's Chinese counterparts, but not as dear either, more info here.
Electrocompaniet
Makes the EMC1 a high end player that has an isolation system similar to that of a suspended record player, the newest version of the player has a 24bit 96KHz DAC and this converter can apparently be retrofitted to older versions of the player.
Fase
Italian high end manufacturer.
Gamut
Makes the CD1 high end CD player.
GT Electronics
Makes 2 players, the NC750V and the upsampling/24bit 96KHz KC1, the KC1 in particular has got great reviews in the British audio press albeit .... ehrm .... how can I put this .... under well known British high end hi-fi brands which may have influenced the reviewers a bit (god forbid), but in those markets were you can get this models from the original manufacturer they are relatively cheaper than the rebranded models and thus audiophile bargains.
Hegel
While not as well known for their CD players as for their amplifications product the company has a couple of high end products in their lineup, namely the CDP2A and the CDP4A.
Kenwood
No longer makes stanadalone units but does manufacture CD changers in the form of CD-404 and CD-406 5 disk changers and the CD-424M 200 disk troll.
Krell
Makes the high end KPS 25sc, a player with an impressive range of features and a price tag to match, originally introduced in 1999.
LFD Audio
Makes the Minstral player, it uses a Sony transport and has a high quality analogue electronics and power supply.
Linn
Manufactures 3 players currently, the Sondeck CD12 is their high end unit, the company claims is the worlds best CD player and it may well be, then again they say that their outdated LP 12 is the worlds best record player, extremely expensive but has been upgraded recently with upsampling and related features. At more down to earth prices you can find the Ikemi that sports an balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs along with both optical and coaxial digital ones, an optional RS232 and a 24bit DAC but unusually for a player in this price class, no oversampling. The cheapest player from the company is the Genki which has similar specs, looks and options as the Ikemi but only unbalanced outputs. More info from the horses mouth.
Luxman
Manufactures the D-7 Custom, a high end CD player that is not widely distributed outside of Japan, it has balanced analogue and digital outputs, apart from sounding rahter nice it looks much better in the flesh than you would judge from the picture supplied, almost imposing while still being relatievly wife friendly.
Marantz
Along with the usual range of players including budget and a host of mid range models the company has been making waves with the mid/high range CD 17 Mk II M that has been getting rave reviews, it seems to have slotted into a price range that has not seen any real action recently (UK RRP is around 800 £), mostly slightly improved players from the usual suspects, and has become something of a class leader. The Ken Ishiwata Signature Series are another noticable line it While these are basically lightly modified designs that feature audiophile parts, the difference in sound quality between a KI model and a standard one can be quite revealing. The range includes the CD6000 KI Signature.
Meridian
Has a host of CD players available, most of them are high end stuff, more info on their CD home page.
Monrio
Manufactures the high end player called Atsy in 2 variations, the plain PL that simply stands for player and features a 24bit dac and a separate power supply for the analogue and digital sections, and the upgraded HP player, HP standing for High Performance, is a variant of the PL with a built in superclock and jitter reducing electronics, my understanding is that the PL version can be upgraded to a HP version at a later stage.
Musical Fidelity
Makes the Nuvista 3D player, a high end unit that has a filter unit based around Nuvistor microvalves.
Music Hall Audio
Makes the CD 25 which is one of the last examples of a dying breed, the resonably priced CD player with audiophile pretensions. It features a good quality transport in the form of the Philips CDM 12 and a 24bits capable DAC although not with any upsampling capabilities, only sold in the USA though.
Nad Electronics
Makes the C520 player, a fairly low priced model intended to mate with their C320 amp, introduced in 1999 and has a Sanyo CD transport with a Burr-Brown 20 bit delta/sigma converter and sports a coaxial digital out.
North Star Design
Makes the simply gorgeous Model 192 top loading CD transport, although it features both SPDIF and AES/EBU balanced digital outputs to make the most out of it's internal high resolution clock, 24bit/192KHz upsampling feature and it's re-clocking circutry you are supposed to mate it with a D/A converter from the company (or compatible) and use I2S digital link that carries both 24bit audio data and a timing signal.
Polyfusion
Makes a high end CD player and an D/A converter to go with it.
Rega
Currently makes the Planet 2000, a mid range CD player based around a professional top loaded transport and a custom 24bit DAC.
Rotel
Makes the RCD-991 unit that was introduced in 1999 and has had great reviews.
Reimyo
Makes the very impressive Reimyo CDP-777 player, it's something of a moster as it features no less then 4 power supplies (one for each section of the player), upsamples to 176.4kHz @ 24bits and the converter is 4x oversampling, balanced analogue outputs and has got great reviews around the world.
Resolution Audio
This American CD specialist makes one model of a CD player that has been getting very good reviews.
Roksan
Makes the Caspian high end player and the Kandy that is in the upper reaches of the mid end, these 2 are quite reasonably priced in the UK but difficult to get hold of elsewhere.
Sony
When it comes to CD players Sony is on a roll, a host of excellent players have been emanating from the company in the last few years especially in the lower reaches of the market, and interestingly the company has decided to have many of their mid range models different from market to market in a bid to make their product more acceptable locally. There has noticeably been a range of players intended for the UK market that have been designed to deliver the dry and flat sound that the English love so much (apparently the breed only listens to chamber music and the Smiths or equivalent).
Spectral Audio
Manufactures the SDR-3000 CD transport and the SDR-2000 DAC/processor.
Stein Music
This company makes a high end CD player with valve based filtering, but more interestingly they make the parts of their players available as modules for those that want to tinker with building their own and it's one of the few shops that will sell you the Philips CD drive unit at a reasonable price. (the drive unit/transport is the same unit as most mid/high end manufacturers use to construct their players, it's actually a full CD player uncased and is slightly smaller that a CD-rom drive).
Stello
Has the CDT2000 high end Cd transport but also have recently announced a new standalone CD player in the form of the CDA320.
Talk Electronics
Has recently released the Thunder 3.1 a model that sports a 24bit/192KHz AD1853 DAC with an Upsampling feature and claims to have a low jitter due to the use of internal reclocking (?? usually this is the other way around).
TEAC
Teac makes the CD-P1120 model, one of the products from the company that are optionally rackable and have a feature set that falls between that of their Teac consumer players and the Tascam Pro range, it has a rather old fashioned 8x oversampling DAC. The CD-P1440 is more expensive and has features that will probably not be of use to the average consumer or audiophile such as variable pitch control, same DAC as the cheaper model.
Thule Audio
Has a small range of mid/high end CD players, the Sprint CD150B model sports balanced outputs and upgradable electronics.
3D Acoustics
Sells the futuristic Omega Drive player, it sports a valve output stage, it's a UK variant of the Shanling CD-T300 and while extremely good looking the designer perhaps spent too much time looking at the Metronome Kalista.
47 Labratory
Makes the lovely (and expensive!) 4704 PiTracer CD transport, it's an open design (almost a turntable) that has the laser pickup on top. A difficult unit to build so every unit is hand assembled by Kimura-san himself, and has got great reviews left right and centre even if some reviewers have balked at the price. The company has since introduced the Flatfish CD player and the cheaper Shigaraki transport.
Currently Manufactured Professional CD Players
Professional CD players are intended for the broadcast and sound reinforcement industries mostly and have features such as balanced outputs, buffers, pitch controls, advance control circuitry and I/O for remote control and automation purposes. Most of them also feature better transports than are shipped with the average home player (although those Pro Transports are often seen in high end audio as well).
Denon
The recently introduced DN-C615 is one of those newfangled professional players that support MP3 playback, it offers -+12% pitch control and some programming options but is otherwise pretty pedestrian, also newish is the DN-C635, it's basically the same deck as the 615 but adds autocue, fader start, balanced outs. programming features and RS232C and parallel interfaces, in other words the 615 is for your dance class instructor while the 635 if for the broadcast professional. The DN-951FA & DN-961FA are narrow chassis tabletop workhorse broadcarst/professional/DJ players with extremely stable transports, and the usual gamut of analogue and digital balanced output, host of automation and cueing options with the obligatory parallel and serial control interfaces, the only difference between them is that the 951 is a cart player while the 961 is a conventional tray loading version, there is also a standalone variant of the 961 distributed in Asia named DN-961FA-S, and while the conventional 961 is one of the smallest pro players out there the S verion has to be the biggest.The DN-680 is the company's top of the range rack mountable unit it has basically all of the features of the 635 here above excluding the MP3 playback option and adds a host of automation and control functions such as auto space and auto edit, it has advanced error correcting abilities such as being able to play CD's with an unreadable or corrupt TOC, a jog wheel, it also has optional internal sampling rate converters and a SMPTE synchroniser. The company also recently added a pro-spec 5 disk changer to their lineup, the DCM-280 & DCM-380 that has an unusual feature in that while you are playing one disk you can swap the other 4 out, the difference between the 2 models is that he 380 supports HDCD playback, has a remote control I/O and better converters. Finally Denon introduced in 2003 2 decks that integrate a CD player and a cassette recorder, namely the DN-T625 and the DN-T645 both seem to share the basic cassette and CD mechanism with features such as balanced I/O synchronisation bus, serial port and a 10 second playback buffer but the DN-T645 adds more advanced controlling functions such as a parallel port.
Marantz
Makes the PMD-320 it has +/- 12% pitch control and fader control input, the PMD 325 however has in addition a RS232C input, balanced output, support the playback of MP3 disks and offers a host of neat functions such as support for the playback of unfinished CDR and CDRW disks. The PMD 331 is more broadcast oriented with features such as AMX/Crestron compatible control protocols, jog wheel and a heavy duty transport, the PMD 340 is a variant of the 331 with balanced outputs. The PMD 371 is a programmable 5 disk changer with some interesting features such as allowing you to change disks while it's playing.
Info on discontinued CD players
With the exception of recent systems and high end models it's questionable weather it's worth chasing old CD players at all. The problem is that early players (pre 90 or so) sound pretty dismal as a rule, while their build quality is often superior to the 90's models and one would think that they would make great donor systems for one of those superclock/new DAC CD upgrade kit's that are out there the issue with them is that with the exception of a few Philips (and Philips sourced) units the error correction on the early players is very bad by moderns standards. By the early 90's the sound quality of CD players had started to improve considerably but at the same time the players and more specifically the transports used in them had become a commodity product and the build quality of the players had fallen considerably, resulting in higher failure rates in the long term.
Acoustic Research (Teledyne)
When AR introduced the "Black Line" in the mid 80's it had one CD player in the lineup in the form of the CD-04, it featured the Philips 14bit 4x oversampling converters rather than a 16 bit one since the engineers at the company thought they sounded better than the 16 bit ones available at the time (and they were probably right, but this was an unusual design choice). The unit also had a separate converter for each channel but at the time many of the designs out there (in particular the 14bit models) multiplexed the converter leading to a tiny phase error, otherwise the CD-04 was pretty much run of the mill and was at it's best used in conjunction with other AR Black line components since it had a remote control link. Introduced the CD-06 in late 1988, it was made at their UK plant and featured the then new 4x 16bit oversampling hardware from Philips, interestingly the unit had a remote control of output level so it could be used to drive a power amp directly, fit and finish was also considerably better than with previous CD players from the company.
A & R Cambridge (ARCAM)
You should note that the CD players from this company are semi modular so that you can often upgrade older models with processing boards from the newer ones and the company does in fact support that option. The recently discontinued Alpha 8 along with it's 8SE version makes an interesting second hand buy if it can be had at the right price, HDCD compatible and the usual refined sound that you have come to expect from the company, most examples that we have seen on the market have been a tad overpriced though, if the asking price is higher than 200£ or so you should start to consider the new CD73 model, it's a better player for less dosh than the 8 commanded when it was still being sold, current owners of an 8 or an 8SE should note that you can still get the conversion kit to upgrade the model to Alpha 9 specification, this includes a 24 bit upsampling converter, the price of the upgrade was something like £350 or so last time we checked. The Alpha 7 was when new around 1/2 the price of the 8 and was introduced in the latter half of the 90's, the Alpha 7SE version was introduced in 1999 and featured a host of improvements versus the standard model including a new 24 bit Burr-Brown converter, improved power supply and a optical digital output (I believe that the differences between the 8 and the 8SE are similar), the Diva CD72 model was an updated version of the 7 that got very good press in the UK and in fact was chosen as the best sub 500£ player by Hi-Fi News in their 2001 awards issue. Features include a 24bit Burr-Brown DAC and a chassis filled with Sontech sound deadening materials and the essential difference beetween it and the current 73 model line in the DAC it's otherwise the same. The mid/high end Diva CD92 was also upgraded to model 93 in 2003 it has a dCS Ringmaster DAC while the current model has a Wolfson one, and it sports a high res master clock, is HDCD compatible. Their top of the line model in 2001/2002 was the FHJ CD23, it has the same basic features as the CD92 but more audiophile components and more processing power.
Audio 2000's
Made the oddball AVC7500, it's a 3 CD carousel changer with features intended for PA/entertainment (read Karaoke) usage such as microphone inputs and digital effects, the unit also has a TV connector for displaying interactive menus and/or for playing Karaoke VCD's, the unit was discontinued in late 2002 and replaced by a DVD model.
Audio Research
Made the CD1 player in the early/mid 90's, got fairly good reports at the time but is starting to sound dated, includes balanced analogue and digital outputs. Original list price was 2995 USD but worth taking a look at as current second hand prices have dropped well below USD 1000, most models have a black faceplate, but a few have the same silver faceplate that the current lineup has. The follow up model to the CD1 was the CD2, it is similarly equipped to the CD1 but had an improved 20bit DAC and as with the previous model most units seen on the second hand market have the black faceplate, you can find a review of it here.
Bang & Olufsen
The company has stopped selling separate CD players recently, this has inflated the market for older models somewhat (there is a big fanbase that refuses to have anything but B & O in their set-up) so it's questionable weather it's worth it to chase these units down with specialised dealers or online auction houses (local small ads perhaps). The CDX was a early 90's model from the company.
Cairn-Ezo
Make the FOG is apparently a slightly older version of their current Fog2 , my understanding is that the player is upgradable, talk to your local distributors. Priot to that they had the Olan that was introduced in 1998 and is a massive player (ie big and heavy) .
California Audio Labs
Was one of the few CD specialist out there, made a wide range of high end players including the DX-2 and the Icon MkII, and in addition to that the Delta CD transport and multi disc players such as the CL-5 and the CL-10 carousel type player. Their most unusual product was the CL-15 a high end player with digital preamplifier functions, unusually it sports a RS232 (Serial) port that allows you to change internal functions of the player such as the dither etc.
CEC
Owners of the original TL 51 Z will be glad to know that they can upgrade their models to the current Mk 2 specification with the addition of the new very sexy upsampling board that features a converter with a 24bit 356KHz capability.
Copland
Replaced the CDA289 high end player with a newer model in late 2002.
Creek Audio
Unceremoniously dumped their CD 43 MkII player in 2002, it's well liked, if a bit unexciting mid range player that has a somewhat characteristic "Creek" sound, great second hand buy at the right price however.
Denon
Made the DCD-300 in ca 1986, one of the original "audiophile bargain" players but it sounds very dated today, their upmarket models however often featured professional grade transports and have a resonable quality even today but will be even better with a DAC.
Densen
Introduced the B-400 to much critical acclaim 1999 it features a Sony transport with an upgradeble PCM100 HDCD capable converter chip, notably this is one of the first CD players out there that attempted to fight jitter with any seriousness, it contains an extra microprocessor and memory for the sole purpose of handle and correct the transfer of data from the transport to the DAC in order to minimise jitter, rave reviews in Scandinavia but a bit difficult to get hold of, discontinued in early 2002 when improved versions were introduced.
Electrocompaniet
Owners of earlier versions of the EMC1 should note that the new 24/96 converter designed for the new version can be retrofitted to their player. Contact the company for further details.
Hafler
Manufactured the Iris player in the early 90's, mechanics were sourced from Philips, item was generally well liked in it's day, was well built and style wise just the thing for your Hafler amp.
Hitachi
The CD DA-1000 was one of the first Japanese CD players on the market and was the CD player of the year 1983 in quite a few European rags, while sound wise outdated the vertically loaded design was so over engineered that it's a joy to use today when even the current high end models seem flimsy by comparison.
Kinergetics
Made 2 high end players during the 90's the KCD-20 and KCD-40 in addition to the KCD-55T transport, both quite substantial designs that got good reviews in the USA press but are seldom seen outside it, the transports in particular are deemed to be good (modified Philips ?) but note that these models are getting on a bit in years. You can take a look at the innards of a KCD-40 here, note that KCD-40's do not have digital outputs so if you want to improve the sound you will have to look at a internal modifications. They stopped making CD players in 1996 or so with the last new model being introduced in 1993.
Kyocera
The transports of the old desks from this company were some of the best around, but as with other 80's models the DAC's sound pretty abysmal, if you can find a model like the DA 510 that has a quality mechanism and digital out you can mate it with a recent dac with quite decent results, if memory serves me right the 610 also had digital outs but the cheaper 810 did not. Kyocera made their own transports (at the least for a time) and some of their products ended up in high end USA brands such as Carver.
LC Audio
Made a high end CD player called ZAP that has some innovative features based around the master reference clocks that the company sells as upgrades, but they had problems with the reliability of the mechanism used an discontinued it's manufacture in early 2002, they are however working on an upgrade for the player that should address any problems.
Rega
Stopped manufacturing the Jupiter high end transport in 2002, it shares the basic transport and top loaded design with the Planet 2000 CD player (that is still being made), the improvements that the Jupiter has are mainly concerned with the power supply, it has one for each board/main component of the transport, you can read a review of the Jupiter and Io DAC combination by Sam Tellig here or one from the other side of the pond at Hi-Fi Plus, additionally the company has the manual for the unit available on their website in both English and French.
Lenco (STL)
Stopped making separate CD players in 2002, their last lineup consisted of cheap Asian sourced models and included the e CD3709 and the CD3711 both are extremely cheap standalone CD players that came with remote control. The company also made a rackmountable dual player with a built in mixer for the DJ market called the CD3708.
Luxman
The company seems to have to all intents and purposes withdrawn from the western market a few years back, a shame because they did (and still do) make some of the better designs on the market especially in the mid range. One of the latter models from the company was the D-404.
Onyx
Made the CDP PRO1, actually a modified Denon DCD-300 in the late 80's, mods included balanced outputs and optional hardwired remote.
Pink Triangle
Their original CD based product was called simply the Player and while based on the technology behind their DaCapoPink Triangle DAC's it was not modular and thus not user upgradable but the company did for a short while offer upgrades to it that bought the DAC portion of the player to the same standard as the DaCapo MkII. Their last product was the DaCapo MkII high end CD player, a tad odd since the original DaCapo MkI was a DAC and not a player, amongst it's features are a fully modular and upgradable construction based around the original DaCapo rather that the Player, a discrete 20 bit D/A converter, 24 bit internal processing, HDCD and a battery power supply (for cleaner DC).
Rega
Their first CD player was the infamous Planet, it was introduced in the mid 90's and was considered to be the bee's knees at the time especially valuevise, it featured an unusual top loading system.
Sherwood
An ofter overlooked unit is the CD1, a very good attempt by the Sherwood company to make inroads into the upper reaches of the market from the latter half of the 90's, an old review of it by Hi-Fi Choise can be found here.
Studer
Studer made some really high quality CD players that were professional versions of the Revox players, these included features such as balanced outs. Best known model is the A-727 that was based on the Revox B-266, very popular with radio stations and such.
Revox
Made a range of high end players from the early 80's and into the late 90's. Some of the better models include the B-266 that was introduced in 1987 or 8, it had 4 times oversampling filters that were something of a novelty in those day's and a modified Philips transport, some of the parts that Revox replace were made partly out of zinc including the disk tray itself. The B-225 was a cheaper model. The H2 however was one of the last standalone players that the company made and is rare outside of central Europe and I believe the Exception E-426 was the last player that the company made, it was introduced in 1999 and got good reviews in the press despite being rather expensive.
TEAC
Teac made repeated attempts to enter the high end market in the late 80's and in particular in the early 90's with it's Esoteric brand and later with high end products under it's own name, along with some excellent amps this produced some othe better CD transports out there including the P30.
Telefunken
I am not sure if there ever were any CD players actually designed by the company itself, the only models that I have seen like the HS 685 CD were rebadged budget designs since after the brand name had been licensed by Thomson .
Digital to Analogue Converters
are primarily used as upgrades to CD players but standards are a bit in the air and there but soundcards
Alouette Audio
Makes the MP-DAC, features a 24bit Delta Sigma converters and filtering section made out of discrete transistors.
Armonia
Has a range of high end converters.
Art Audio
Makes the Elise converter, it has a 24bit @ 96kHz DAC section along with a valve based audio and electric filtering and a transformer coupled output section.
Audio Crafters Guild
Makes the XD0 a dual mode DSD/PCM DAC that is based around the .
Burmester Audiosysteme
Manufactures 2 high end converters , the reference design is the 970 SRC which is an upsapmling DAC with 5 digital inputs including Toslink, Balanced, AT&T and RCA, it has a wordclock output ton enable you to slave CD transports to it and unusually enough a couple of digital outputs. Another unusual feature on this DAC is the inclusion of a multiple variants of filters which you can switch between and set up differently and memorise the set-up of, allowing you to change the characteristics of the DAC to suit different CD's or transports/devices player, in addition it has fixed and variable balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs. The somewhat cheaper 980 SRC retains almost all of the electronic features of the 970 except for the AT&T digital input, were savings are made is in the power conditioners, stabilisation and acoustic suspension/isolation, the 980 is almost 20 kgs lighter than the 970 and is built more like conventional high end hi-fi product, stunningly good nevertheless and gives it's big brother a run for it's money.
Candeias Engineering
Makes the high end Modelo DAC, although intended to mate with the company's Modelo CD transports it was a firm favourite with the German audio press and much more so than the transport itself so you will often find this mated to other items, it features 24bit converters and a Wordclock input.
CEC
Makes DX 71 MkII and the DX 51 Mk III both are modular and thus upgradable converters that feature an upsampling converter, CEC's Superlink and balanced inputs, the main difference lies in the improved electrical and acoustical isolation of the DX 71 model over the 51 and the 71 also has digital outputs in addition to the analogue ones.
Furuyama Audio Lab (FAL)
Makes the DAC.
North Star Design
Makes the Model 192, it is a 24 bit - 192KHz capable upsampling DAC that has a I2S interface in addition to the more usual SPDIF and AES/EBU inputs.
Reimyo
Makes the Reimyo DAP-777, it's based on the electronics used in their acclaimed CDP-777 CD player and features balanced and BNC digital inputs in addition to the usual, one small but thought ful feature is that it actually supports input at 48 and 32kHz, a great feature for DAT owners and something that many other high end converter manufacturers forget to do (they restrict the input to 44,1) .
Stello
Has the DA220 a high end upsampling converter that supports 192kHz, they also have a somewhat more unusual device in the form of a the DP200 which is a combination of a DAC and an amplifier.
WBE
Makes a high end unit called Interpreter No.72 that features all transformer coupled I/O, unbalanced and balanced digital I/O and other solid engineering features.
47 Labratory
Manufactures the filterless high end Shigaraki.
Discontinued DAC's
California Audio Labs
The last couple of converters that the company made were the Sigma II and Alpha, both were 96kHz capable DAC's that featured tube filtering, they made the more conventional Gamma solid state model.
Candeias Engineering
Owners of older versions of the Modelo converters should note that they can upgrade it to a more current specification fairly easily, more info here.
CEC
Current owners of the DX 71 and the DX 51 MkI or Mk II can upgrade their models to the current 71 MkII pr 51 MkIII specification by getting hold of a new converter board from their local distributor, the new board features new upsampling converters with 24bit 356KHz capability and whatnot.
Creek Audio
Made the DAC 60.
Rega
Discontinued the manufacture of the Io DAC in 2002, it was designed to mate with the Jupiter transport from the company and was in fact seldod sold on it's own. The Io uses Burr-Brown converters and has no less than 5 power supplies built into the unit or one for each major component.
External CD Filters & Buffer amplifiers
Also knows as black boxes, all CD players have an analogue filter to rid the signal from unwanted artefacts, many CD players especially the early ones has rather weak filters so there was a market for high quality external filters that were placed in the signal chain between the CD player and the amplifier, a number of those boxes also had some sort of "exciter" circuit, although these units are getting rarer these days there are some companies still making them. There are also buffer amplifiers sold as black boxes, these can obviously be used with any hi-fi products but ar at the best with a fairly coarse signal like the one put out by a CD player.
BV Audio
Makes the Sound Refiner.
Furuyama Audio Lab (FAL)
Makes the Master-SE buffer amplifier.
Klimo
Made the valve based BEAG up until late 2002.
Magenta
Makes the ADE-24, The Black Box a totally discrete unit.
Raspor
Makes the Valvolizer.