Yesterday, I was just at my favorite thrift store and found a Sony 300-cd changer for $15. I thought it was steep but bought it anyway since I have accumulated lots of CDs that I’ve been buying at the thrift store as well. I tested the unit first and everything appears to work. The unit had an optical output which gave me the final go signal to buy it. Brought it home and was surprised that the Sony remote control i’ve keeping for some time worked on the unit. Best of all, it played without any issues. I connected it to my Aiyima T9 Pro which had an internal DAC and they just played so satisfyingly great.
You lads are catching on. I got a pioneer elite dvd/CD/sacd Player for 10$. Its still in my main rig. Reliable and built to last, not picky with scratched disks.
Out of curiosity, what model of Pioneer Elite DVD player is that? I have the Pioneer Elite DV-79AVI. At the time that was new in 2006, that was a $1,000 unit. I bought mine when B&H Camera was blowing them out for $200 brand-new in 2010. If that is what you have, and you snagged it for $10, you made out awesome! Apparently, they sometimes still pop up on eBay for $200 or so. I still have and use mine, and it is an EXCELLENT unit! Got all kinds of excellent reviews from the so-called "audiophile" press at the time. Also to add, I am feeding it into the Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition DAC/streamer.
Terrific video - there are a TON of DVD players out there for a song. Stay with coaxial connections to external DACs; they sound better. Also, don't discount using a good DVD player to play CDs without an external DAC. Many later model players have premium DACs built in.
That Sony player also plays sacd. That means the internal dac on that player is probably of good quality because of the demand to play high fidelity sacd. So the Douk isn’t really necessary for good cd sound.
Fiio K11 R2R dac is around the same price as the Douk. I made the WORST mistake about a week ago when a Rotel single tray CD player with remote showed up at the thrift. I passed thinking it was overpriced and would sit around for a while. Realized my mistake, went back the next morning to get the item. Got there 8 minutes after they opened which was enough time to watch someone buy it out from under me! 😣😵 I have been thifting for a replacement CD player for five years. FIVE YEARS! I do have a nice Sony 5 disc changer that came with the remote which cost me $10us and features an optical digital out. Don't be cheap like me, grab the item while you can!
I just picked up a Rotel HDCD player for 15.00 before that a brand new Marantz 60? Brand new in the box for 25 bucks 8:15 before that a Yamaha TOTL for 10.00. All three look and sound great.
Future upsides of Q11 1. Upgradable power supply 2. Changeable OP-AMPS 3. Tube Buffer add8 to one output. Most don't know this but on a high dollar DAC the power supply is the most expensive part, I will try it a Ultra Low noise very soon, You have to drop the noise floor to get to the beat detailed sound.
"Thrifting" at online sellers for open-box or close-out items is an option, as well. I got a brand new open-box Sony DVD player from Best Buy online for about $20 (it was regularly $45) with free shipping.
Hey brother, I didn't know if you were aware but your Sony Blu-ray player is also a sacd player. You should be able to see the sacd logo on top of the unit. I have the same exact player. Keep up the great work brother. I like your channel.
Yes! On the cheap I bought a Sony dvd player (with remote) on Amazon for $28. Thru my $99 Schiit Modi 3+ it sounds fantastic, all for $127. (Through the Schiit Multibit 2 it sounds even better, stunning actually. I’ve recently made that my main DAC and use the 3+ for a desktop headphone rig)
@@ForeverAnalog the main advantage is in imaging so that music has a more natural depth of field, closer to my turntable. Fair warning, at first it seemed a little rough and not as lush and sweet. I like to think it’s the capacitors needed breaking in because now it sings… We forget there’s an analog section to a DAC and how it’s handled is what we hear. I think people get hung up on chips and forget completely the choice of op amps or design of discreet circuits. Which is why I trust Schiit so much more than economy Chi-Fi builds, their thoughtful design of the analog output as well as digital implementation. (Not to mention reliability long term) PS your vid decided me on the Saga +. Thanks!
Nevertheless, I would still be interested in what kind of a slight difference you found between the AKM and ESS dacs. How would you briefly describe the difference? Thanks
I just went and counted. I have 2 4K Bluray players, 3 HD Bluray players and one upconverting DVD player- an old Oppo 980H which I keep around for its SACD DVDA capabilities (you know just in case).
Recently bought a Reisong A12 running into Klipsch R50M with my sub into my Sony receiver did a retube sounds pretty dam good loud:) im using a cheap Sony CD player into my new Bellari preamp for the cd player blue tooth. What would a DAC do to my sound improve it much more if I leave the preamp out? Coaxial probably be better maybe? DAC only for CD and blue tooth? im just learning this stuff thx.
I admire the re-purposing from the thrift store, but to avoid the hassle, one can purchase a brand new Sony blueray player at walfart for about $100, with digital coax output. Just an idea for those with no thrift store option and tight budget. This is new with warranty as well obviously.
Thank you James. There are so many DACs being released now that I was hoping to make it more interesting than a run of the mill review. Always a challenge!
@@ForeverAnalog you got it spot on! I’m trying to sign up for your membership but can’t see the link? Maybe my phone doesn’t show it and I have to do it from a laptop?
Agreed - it's just so hard to test that feature in a thrift store - thankfully I've yet to stumble on a player that had that issue. Thanks for the comment!
Had that Douk Q11 unit last week. Wasn’t impressed with the ESS output. Vocals were more recessed and veiled than with the AKM. Since I already owned an SMSL SU-1 with an AKM4493S chip, I returned the Douk. Then I immediately ordered the new SMSL PS200 with the newest ESS9039Q2M chip for a/b testing.
@@ForeverAnalog Just plugged it in last night. Used my Sennheiser HD599 cans and a new Arylic D10+ for lossless Apple Music. Tbh very little difference vs the SMSL SU-1. I would definitely fail a blind test as they’re both so good that it’s hard to tell which is which. Next step is to add in cds and play through my Polk ES20 bookshelfs for a family sit down/opinion listening session. Fun times for budget audiophiles! Edit: forgot to mention, great advice video btw. People new to the hobby think a cd player is essential and weren’t aware that dvd players are great budget options and they’re newer so less prone to age and wear than old cd players.
great review as always.... just a question for me and for all of us...the sony has an optical out and the Douk an optical in...that conection makes any difference over the coax? thanks a lot
@@pedrofernandez8729 I’ve read that since optical streams the digital file using a light beam then it avoids being influenced by local signal noise. The downside is a limitation on signal strength so a shorter run is preferred and avoid kinking the cable. I personally have not encountered any noise issues with coax though and I use both all the time.
@@jp93309 Yes, I run a coaxial from my streamer, which is about 5 feet away from my system and an optical from the CD player, which is right next to it.
I once compaired the dac in my cd player to a schiit modi and heard no difference Although the Modi is verygood when connecting smart tv to old stereo receiver.
@@ForeverAnalog I used the rca outs of both the cd player and dac plugged into Sony receiver. Switching between inputs on receiver to compair sound cd dac vs. seperate dac.
Wasn't the whole idea of Goodwill to take in stuff, pay people to make it work and then sell it? Otherwise they're just taking donated stuff and put it on a shelf and sell it, working or not.
@@ForeverAnalog On a fairly recent trip to the local Goodwill, as it is sometimes fun to just go in and see what I can find, they pretty much just had junk in the electronics. There was nothing worth even looking at. I also sometimes like to cruise through the clothing and did find a pretty decent pair of shorts. In the past, I used to find all kinds of really nice stuff there. However, I did manage to find some pretty decent vinyl records, including a really nice boxed set of Tchaikovsky's ballets (Firebird Suite, Rite of Spring, and Petrushka). Still, it seemed that the pickings at thrifts stores of late has been getting very slim.
I wish we could have thrift stores here in Hungary (Eastern Europe). Your claim to avoid disc players without having opt/coax output is not completely true. I have a great Denon DBT-3313UD (T is for Transport) and purchased a surprisingly good quality HDMI Extractor from Temu that gives me optical out. By having this combo I have a decent, stable transport that connects to my TEAC UD-505 DAC. So I suggest you to test/introduce a HDMI extractor (metal house, good build quality believe me) for between 15-20 USD no more. ;)
@@ForeverAnalog the reason is you are not able to detect huge difference between the DAC chips is that the DAC chips have less influence on sound than op amps. This DAC has probably cheap op amps and it using the same opamp for the different chips that results the character of the chips themselves will not be shown. So this double DAC solution is rather a snakeoil than a real audiophile grade need.
I scored a Denon video Kodak Disc Player for $10.00,Plays cds I I Thrioughly clean the Heads on, looks beat up but sound Excellient Look out Sony Play Staion fans!!
Some cd players have poor error correction. Such as will not play scratched or poor copied cd's. They say all Sony players have verygood error correction. Test a bad cd to see if it plays.
Only reviewers on YT raise the issue about sound differences between AKM and ESS. No any person I know, ever think this way. We all know that dac chip power supply, jitter, clock and finally analog output make greater difference than chip itself. Please stop reproducing this not real issue about "sound" of dac chip. They sound almost identical in 99% cases. Only super advanced systems can reveal minimalist differences. Again. Other components of dac application differ far more than dac chip...
Yesterday, I was just at my favorite thrift store and found a Sony 300-cd changer for $15. I thought it was steep but bought it anyway since I have accumulated lots of CDs that I’ve been buying at the thrift store as well. I tested the unit first and everything appears to work. The unit had an optical output which gave me the final go signal to buy it. Brought it home and was surprised that the Sony remote control i’ve keeping for some time worked on the unit. Best of all, it played without any issues. I connected it to my Aiyima T9 Pro which had an internal DAC and they just played so satisfyingly great.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and for watching!
You lads are catching on. I got a pioneer elite dvd/CD/sacd Player for 10$. Its still in my main rig. Reliable and built to last, not picky with scratched disks.
Awesome!
Out of curiosity, what model of Pioneer Elite DVD player is that? I have the Pioneer Elite DV-79AVI. At the time that was new in 2006, that was a $1,000 unit. I bought mine when B&H Camera was blowing them out for $200 brand-new in 2010. If that is what you have, and you snagged it for $10, you made out awesome! Apparently, they sometimes still pop up on eBay for $200 or so. I still have and use mine, and it is an EXCELLENT unit! Got all kinds of excellent reviews from the so-called "audiophile" press at the time. Also to add, I am feeding it into the Eversolo DMP-A6 Master Edition DAC/streamer.
Terrific video - there are a TON of DVD players out there for a song. Stay with coaxial connections to external DACs; they sound better. Also, don't discount using a good DVD player to play CDs without an external DAC. Many later model players have premium DACs built in.
Thanks for watching!!!
That Sony player also plays sacd. That means the internal dac on that player is probably of good quality because of the demand to play high fidelity sacd. So the Douk isn’t really necessary for good cd sound.
It will play SACD-R discs as well. Kind of nice to be able to burn SACD ISOs.
Fun video. Good "buyers guide." Thank you.
Thank you!
Fiio K11 R2R dac is around the same price as the Douk. I made the WORST mistake about a week ago when a Rotel single tray CD player with remote showed up at the thrift. I passed thinking it was overpriced and would sit around for a while. Realized my mistake, went back the next morning to get the item. Got there 8 minutes after they opened which was enough time to watch someone buy it out from under me! 😣😵 I have been thifting for a replacement CD player for five years. FIVE YEARS! I do have a nice Sony 5 disc changer that came with the remote which cost me $10us and features an optical digital out. Don't be cheap like me, grab the item while you can!
I want to get that Fiio DAC in soon! Thanks for reminding me. Sorry to hear about the thrift store miss, I've had that happen plenty of times lol.
I just picked up a Rotel HDCD player for 15.00 before that a brand new Marantz 60? Brand new in the box for 25 bucks 8:15 before that a Yamaha TOTL for 10.00. All three look and sound great.
Heck yeah. Congrats!!!
Some good advice there. I'm glad I never got rid of my CD players.
Thanks for watching! And yes, good call on hanging on to those players!
Future upsides of Q11 1. Upgradable power supply 2. Changeable OP-AMPS 3. Tube Buffer add8 to one output.
Most don't know this but on a high dollar DAC the power supply is the most expensive part, I will try it a Ultra Low noise very soon, You have to drop the noise floor to get to the beat detailed sound.
Awesome, thanks for sharing and watching!
Great video with excellent buying advice! I’ve had bad luck with the drawer opening on that series of Sony players; I hope your experience is better.
Good to know, thank you!
"Thrifting" at online sellers for open-box or close-out items is an option, as well. I got a brand new open-box Sony DVD player from Best Buy online for about $20 (it was regularly $45) with free shipping.
Great score!
Hey brother, I didn't know if you were aware but your Sony Blu-ray player is also a sacd player. You should be able to see the sacd logo on top of the unit. I have the same exact player. Keep up the great work brother. I like your channel.
Thank you!
Yes! On the cheap I bought a Sony dvd player (with remote) on Amazon for $28. Thru my $99 Schiit Modi 3+ it sounds fantastic, all for $127. (Through the Schiit Multibit 2 it sounds even better, stunning actually. I’ve recently made that my main DAC and use the 3+ for a desktop headphone rig)
I hope to get a Multibit one of these days. Thanks for sharing!
@@ForeverAnalog the main advantage is in imaging so that music has a more natural depth of field, closer to my turntable. Fair warning, at first it seemed a little rough and not as lush and sweet. I like to think it’s the capacitors needed breaking in because now it sings… We forget there’s an analog section to a DAC and how it’s handled is what we hear. I think people get hung up on chips and forget completely the choice of op amps or design of discreet circuits. Which is why I trust Schiit so much more than economy Chi-Fi builds, their thoughtful design of the analog output as well as digital implementation. (Not to mention reliability long term) PS your vid decided me on the Saga +. Thanks!
I would get a harmony remote where you can program it to any device via software. The lower models are super cheap.
Great idea, thank you!
Nevertheless, I would still be interested in what kind of a slight difference you found between the AKM and ESS dacs. How would you briefly describe the difference? Thanks
I just went and counted. I have 2 4K Bluray players, 3 HD Bluray players and one upconverting DVD player- an old Oppo 980H which I keep around for its SACD DVDA capabilities (you know just in case).
Awesome 🙌🏻. Thanks for watching!
I scored a Marantz BD7003 for $25 at the thrift store this summer.
Amazing, congrats!
Recently bought a Reisong A12 running into Klipsch R50M with my sub into my Sony receiver did a retube sounds pretty dam good loud:) im using a cheap Sony CD player into my new Bellari preamp for the cd player blue tooth. What would a DAC do to my sound improve it much more if I leave the preamp out? Coaxial probably be better maybe? DAC only for CD and blue tooth? im just learning this stuff thx.
I admire the re-purposing from the thrift store, but to avoid the hassle, one can purchase a brand new Sony blueray player at walfart for about $100, with digital coax output. Just an idea for those with no thrift store option and tight budget. This is new with warranty as well obviously.
Agreed! Thanks for the suggestion and for watching!
Nice stuff Aaron, much more of an interesting watch over a review of a $2k DAC.:
Thank you James. There are so many DACs being released now that I was hoping to make it more interesting than a run of the mill review. Always a challenge!
@@ForeverAnalog you got it spot on! I’m trying to sign up for your membership but can’t see the link? Maybe my phone doesn’t show it and I have to do it from a laptop?
@@jamess7589 good question! let me look into it and let you know!
i found a Marantz 5 disc changer at Salvation Army thrift store.. works fine :)
Awesome!
The only critical thing is a SPDIF out if it is otherwise functional
Agreed - it's just so hard to test that feature in a thrift store - thankfully I've yet to stumble on a player that had that issue. Thanks for the comment!
Had that Douk Q11 unit last week. Wasn’t impressed with the ESS output. Vocals were more recessed and veiled than with the AKM. Since I already owned an SMSL SU-1 with an AKM4493S chip, I returned the Douk. Then I immediately ordered the new SMSL PS200 with the newest ESS9039Q2M chip for a/b testing.
I'd love to get your impression of the PS200 - I haven't had it in for review yet!
@@ForeverAnalog Just plugged it in last night. Used my Sennheiser HD599 cans and a new Arylic D10+ for lossless Apple Music. Tbh very little difference vs the SMSL SU-1. I would definitely fail a blind test as they’re both so good that it’s hard to tell which is which. Next step is to add in cds and play through my Polk ES20 bookshelfs for a family sit down/opinion listening session. Fun times for budget audiophiles!
Edit: forgot to mention, great advice video btw. People new to the hobby think a cd player is essential and weren’t aware that dvd players are great budget options and they’re newer so less prone to age and wear than old cd players.
great review as always....
just a question for me and for all of us...the sony has an optical out and the Douk an optical in...that conection makes any difference over the coax?
thanks a lot
Optical vs Coax is something I might make a video about later on - definitely something that deserves its own video!
@@ForeverAnalog thanks a lot for your time...i'll be looking for that video..greetings from Colombia
Clean the lens with special cleaning disc.
Yes, thank you!
I agree about cleaning the lens....first thing I would do before playing any discs.
Do you have a preference between optical and coaxial digital connections?
I mostly stick with out coaxial out of convenience but I'll try to do a proper video comparison at some point!
@@pedrofernandez8729 I’ve read that since optical streams the digital file using a light beam then it avoids being influenced by local signal noise. The downside is a limitation on signal strength so a shorter run is preferred and avoid kinking the cable. I personally have not encountered any noise issues with coax though and I use both all the time.
@@jp93309 Yes, I run a coaxial from my streamer, which is about 5 feet away from my system and an optical from the CD player, which is right next to it.
I once compaired the dac in my cd player to a schiit modi and heard no difference
Although the Modi is verygood when connecting smart tv to old stereo receiver.
I mostly use coaxial out of convenience but I'll try to make a video about the difference (if any) soon!
@@ForeverAnalog I used the rca outs of both the cd player and dac plugged into Sony receiver. Switching between inputs on receiver to compair sound cd dac vs. seperate dac.
Wasn't the whole idea of Goodwill to take in stuff, pay people to make it work and then sell it? Otherwise they're just taking donated stuff and put it on a shelf and sell it, working or not.
Great point. Goodwill is an interesting experience these days and really vary from store to store on how they handle their merchandise.
Well that maybe used to be the plan....but....🤷♂️
@@ForeverAnalog On a fairly recent trip to the local Goodwill, as it is sometimes fun to just go in and see what I can find, they pretty much just had junk in the electronics. There was nothing worth even looking at. I also sometimes like to cruise through the clothing and did find a pretty decent pair of shorts. In the past, I used to find all kinds of really nice stuff there. However, I did manage to find some pretty decent vinyl records, including a really nice boxed set of Tchaikovsky's ballets (Firebird Suite, Rite of Spring, and Petrushka). Still, it seemed that the pickings at thrifts stores of late has been getting very slim.
I wish we could have thrift stores here in Hungary (Eastern Europe).
Your claim to avoid disc players without having opt/coax output is not completely true. I have a great Denon DBT-3313UD (T is for Transport) and purchased a surprisingly good quality HDMI Extractor from Temu that gives me optical out. By having this combo I have a decent, stable transport that connects to my TEAC UD-505 DAC. So I suggest you to test/introduce a HDMI extractor (metal house, good build quality believe me) for between 15-20 USD no more. ;)
Good call on the extractor - I need to research this more, thank you!
@@ForeverAnalog the reason is you are not able to detect huge difference between the DAC chips is that the DAC chips have less influence on sound than op amps. This DAC has probably cheap op amps and it using the same opamp for the different chips that results the character of the chips themselves will not be shown. So this double DAC solution is rather a snakeoil than a real audiophile grade need.
I scored a Denon video Kodak Disc Player for $10.00,Plays cds I I Thrioughly clean the Heads on, looks beat up but sound Excellient Look out Sony Play Staion fans!!
Awesome!
Some cd players have poor error correction. Such as will not play scratched or poor copied cd's. They say all Sony players have verygood error correction.
Test a bad cd to see if it plays.
Great advice, thank you!
SMSL SU-1 a better option
Big fan of that DAC too!
My ghetto ass goodwill closest to my house won’t let you plug stuff in. They are the worst.
Yeah, goodwills these days are so hit or miss. It really varies from store to store!
I'd be the one to sneak and do it anyways, LOL.....
Umm, rip cd.
Only reviewers on YT raise the issue about sound differences between AKM and ESS. No any person I know, ever think this way. We all know that dac chip power supply, jitter, clock and finally analog output make greater difference than chip itself. Please stop reproducing this not real issue about "sound" of dac chip. They sound almost identical in 99% cases. Only super advanced systems can reveal minimalist differences. Again. Other components of dac application differ far more than dac chip...
Fair point, thanks for watching!
Whaahaahaaa awesome Douk w.t.f....
It's impressive Douk did this before some of the other audio companies like Fosi, Aiyima, SMSL, Topping, etc!