Super,

Totally get it. I love the older CD players.

IW

The T+A mentality back then was, we’re not gonna ignore new tech, we’re going to shoehorn it into our existing chassis with no regard for ergononics. So this is like three separate players; there’s three sets of outputs leading from separate DAC arrays for DVD, CD and SACD. And some of those modes are controlled from the front panel, some from the remote buttons, and some from the on-screen menus. Nothing is intuitive. Plus there’s a factory-kludged HDMI out squeezed in by hand.

But most nerdy of all, it doesn’t even read a CD’s TOC. It spends 30 seconds scanning the disc and writing its own. So it will play a DVD or SACD faster than a CD.

But oh god, how it plays a CD. Which is why I keep it in there as it slowly falls apart.

Anton,

YBA is still very much in business and their old gear from the 1990s was excellent. Just quirky beyond. But no, this CD player never really sat on my stand having a cigarette looking demure.

That is a good question about vintage CD players. Some of them had rather good DACs. Meridian, Mark Levinson, Theta, Micromega (another French brand) made really good CD players that still sound great. The bigger issue is that the CD sleds and mechanisms stopped working.

Gullible? You are being kind.

IW

Bigger question — why would anyone desire a vintage CD player from 30 years ago when the DACs have improved dramatically. What do these really offer over a $600 Marantz or NAD in 2025?

Audiophiles were gullible as hell in the 1990s.