what is the best aftermarket cd player(head unit) that you can buy for $200-$300? I've looked around a bit and im deciding between alpine and pioneer. Any suggestions? Im talking in terms of sound quality and also looks. THanks

 

Alpine is good, Nakamichi is even better. Also look into Eclipse. Looks like the new line has pretty good DACs and serves well as transport too.

 

If i were you I would save up a little or do some ebaying and grab an Eclipse 8443. After asking a lot of questions, I think that is the best route to go for an excellent performance headunit. I made the mistake of looking at the Alpine 7998, however, and it was so damn sexy I just threw down $798.95 on the damn thing!

 

Nakamichi CD45Z or CD400. Both headunits are in your range and are very
nice units.

 

Hey if I were you, I would save a little more money and get a Deh - p940mp. Its selling on ebay for around $420, retail is $950. This deck is the best aftermarket cd player. This is the top of the line player for pioneer and is like the special edition. Its a PREMIER. So check it out!

 

Retro,

Are they using the 1702 DAC's? Or is it still the one bit (forgot the marketing name).

Percy

 

I love all of these Eclipse gimmicks, with preout voltages so high that it makes it very difficult not to clip certain amps, and pointless DAC 'upgrades'. I'd wager that in a blind a/b test, none of you could hear the difference between the Nak 40z (1 bit) and 45z (24 bit). I'd go with Alpine due to cheaper prices, better quality control, and features that are actually useful such as time allignment.

 

I love my Eclipse CD8053 however, I didn't anticipated the cost that needed to run full 16V; HU $575, Balance line adaptor $100, 6 sets of RCAs $120. Besides that I love how it sounds.

 

Gary,

If they're using the same op amps for the preamp/output, then I would agree with you. But in the case of the Alpine CHA604 (changer) versus a McIntosh MCD410 (also a changer), there was a world of difference. You could double blind all day long and still be able to pick it out. Different op amps. Also, for some reason the Alpine was only listed at 80 dB for the channel seperation while the Mc was in the low 100's. Ever seen the inside of the Mc? COMPLETE overkill. Copper (1/16th inch) shielding for each channel. PCM63-K's for the DAC. Some consider these better than the PCM1702-K's that replaced them. BlackGate capacitors (graphite ones, computer grade) and a whole slew of other goodies in the MCD410. The only other player that I've found to sound better than this one would be my modded SCD-1 SACD player. It was that good!

The CHA604 weighed in less than 5 pounds. The MCD410...20 pounds!!! EXTENSIVE shielding!

Percy

 

Sony CDX-M850MP is the best imo. It's got bells, it's got whistles. j/p

it has a motorized face, on one side is all the buttons, and on the other is a screensaver screen. i've got one but need a mounting kit. on sounddomain it's only 270, other places i've checked is 380. For looks, you've got to look into this kit, but i can't tell you anything about sound quality yet. it does have mp3 compatability.

http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/SONCDXM850MP

 

whoot whoot .........Sony