7 Best CD Players of 2024

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Looking for the best CD players? Look no further!

For solid sound quality, you'll need a high-quality CD player like the ones covered below.

Still unsure of what to get? Our buyer's guide can help you pick the perfect portable CD player or choose a great rackable unit fit for broadcasting.

Our top pick is the Sony ZSRS60BT which offers an impressive array of features in a boombox form factor.

Let's find your new favorite CD player!

Best CD Players

1. Best Overall – Sony ZSRS60BT Boombox

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: Bluetooth, USB, and Aux.
• Portable: Yes
• FM and AM Radio: Yes | Yes
• Outputs: Onboard speakers (Mega Bass Stereo Sound), USB (CD Sync), and headphone jack (3.5 mm)

Look no further than Sony's ZSRS60BT if you're looking for a truly high-quality CD player.

As a standalone CD player, this unit offers solid audio quality in addition to an abundance of welcome inputs and outputs.

Best of all, there's no need to worry about homemade CDs failing to play in the ZSRS60BT as it supports your CD-R and CD-RW mixtapes too.

Those who have one of these powerful little boomboxes seem pretty pleased with its sound quality, especially given the "MEGA BASS" boost button.

They also mention the convenience of the ZSRS60BT's built-in timer function, which makes it the perfect device to turn on right before you turn in for the night.

With the addition of great Bluetooth support and an AM/FM radio tuner, this is definitely one of the best options you can pick up within the $150-$170 price range.

You can even run this bad boy on batteries when you come across the perfect compact disc listening opportunity while away from home.

As an added bonus, Sony also made it possible to record your discs directly onto a flash drive or computer via USB. Got a ton of songs on a memory stick? You can plug it in and play those too!

2. Best Budget CD Player – Magnavox MD6972 Portable Top Loading CD Boombox

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: Bluetooth and Aux.
• Portable: Yes
• FM and AM Radio: Yes | Yes
• Outputs: Onboard speakers
• For a cheap, portable CD player, Magnavox's MD6972 packs a prizefighter's punch.

This CD player offers stellar sound quality and a heap of perks for those who appreciate a real bargain. With a moving, audio-responsive array of lights, AM/FM radio tuner, and Bluetooth capabilities, it's hard to believe the MD6972 costs less than $50.

You can bust out all of your favorite albums and even those custom creations etched on CD-RWs you've kept in your closet for years; this top-loading boombox will play them all.

This is one of the best units to purchase if you want to enjoy tracks on your CDs in a different order, as it supports programmable playlisting.

Besides the playlisting power, people praise this boombox's room-quaking volume capacity and the pretty light shows it creates. Both features are adjustable.

Magnavox's MD6972 CD player comes complete with a dedicated line-in port to connect almost anything with a headphone jack to its punchy speakers. Plus, you can pair phones and the like via Bluetooth with relative ease.

CD playback is excellent on this nifty little top loader, and considering the price, there's really not much more you could ask for.

3. Best Portable CD Player – Sony DEJ011 Portable Walkman CD Player

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: NA
• Portable: Yes
• FM and AM Radio: No | No
• Outputs: Headphone jack (3.5 mm)

The legendary Walkman of international fame remains one of the very best CD players for those who prefer to do their listening on their legs.

Where the first Walkman made tape playing on the go possible for millions, the CD iteration gave people around the world a good reason to carry a laser down the roads they traveled. Also, Mr. Mister never actually said that.

Sony's DEJ011 is an increasingly rare relic of a bygone era when the compact disc reigned supreme. It's also an awesome CD player in its own right, with great anti-shock features and top-tier sound quality.

This portable disc player boasts some truly impressive powers, such as keeping your place when you turn it off and starting from that same spot when you turn it back on again.

Other DEJ011 owners mention how much they love setting up bookmarks for their CDs and using these as custom playlists, which is, admittedly, pretty cool.

The standard 3.5mm jack makes hooking up your headphones easy enough, and the only concern you'll have with this portable music machine will be swapping out its batteries.

For great audio quality while you're on your feet and moving, you can't go wrong with a Walkman.

This is arguably one of the best CD players ever made for portable use, and its price tag reflects that. If you have an affinity for long battery life and circular objects, then this is the right CD player for you.

4. Best for Live Venues – Denon DN-500CB CD / Media Player with Bluetooth

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: Aux., Bluetooth, and USB
• Portable: No
• FM and AM Radio: No | No
• Outputs: 1 x Dual RCA Stereo, 2 x XLR, and USB

The Denon DN-500CB is not a standalone CD player. This unit was designed to take up rack space in a sophisticated A/V setup and deliver audio signals to an array of dedicated speaker systems.

For conference halls, convention centers, and other live venues, this is the kind of CD player that works best. It can handle any kind of audio CD you have on hand and offers a host of bonus features to justify its price.

Denon DN-500CB users suggest this is, in fact, one of the best CD players you could choose for use in radio stations, DJ booths, and beyond. Rack mountability is a standout requirement for these kinds of applications.

However, the DN-500CB comes with removable mounts if you are interested in integrating it into your home entertainment system.

Those who have worked with this unit also applaud its ability to support most known audio formats via USB, playing files directly from a flash drive as needed.

Although this is far from being a portable CD player like other options on this list, the DN-500CB offers pro-tier playback consistency for the long haul and the right kinds of outputs to match just about any home or professional system out there.

This CD player also comes with a handy remote control for anyone chronically stuck to their seat to command it from afar.

5. Best CD Changing Unit – Onkyo DXC390 6 Disc CD Changer

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: Aux. and Infrared
• Portable: No
• FM and AM Radio: No | No
• Outputs: RCA stereo, Coaxial, and Optical

Not every CD player supports automated disc changing, but those that do are destined to spoil their owners for all other CD players forever.

Onkyo's DXC390 allows for a whopping six separate CDs to be queued up and played in order without much more than the push of a button and a sigh of satisfaction.

You can play anything from standard audio CDs to audio DVDs and more with this mechanized marvel. It even supports full-blown video DVDs.

Those lucky few who already own a DXC390 or two claim its audio quality is exceptional, and the convenience factor of stringing together over three hours of music at once is well worth whatever Onkyo charges for it.

The built-in 192 kHz/24bit AD converters this unit contains transform any digital sound data they are fed into sublime sound befitting of your deserving eardrums. Plus, a shielded circuit ensures no unwanted noises can creep into your listening experience uninvited.

Even the very best devices on the market would have a hard time matching this machine's allure of ultra convenience. You can even swap out CDs in waiting while one of them continues playing!

If you dare to push the boundaries a bit, you can burn a bunch of CDs full of songs in compressed MP3 format to squeeze hundreds of tunes into this beastly thing.

The DXC390 supports MP3 CDs just fine, so you do the math. With just 100 songs per disc, a full rotation of six CDs should keep your ears busy for just under two lifetimes.

6. Best Multipurpose Rack Unit – TASCAM CD-400U CD / SD / USB Player with Bluetooth

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: Aux., Bluetooth, SD/SDHC Card Slot, 1 x RS-232C, 1 x BNC (FM), 1 x Wire Strip (AM), and USB
• Portable: No
• FM and AM Radio: Yes | Yes
• Outputs: Headphone jack (6.8 mm), 2 x XLR, 1 x Dual RCA Stereo, 1 x Dual RCA Stereo (tuner out), and USB

The TASCAM CD-400U is one of the nicest CD players to purchase if you need everything from compact disc playback to AM/FM radio tuning in a single rackable unit.

This thing does it all. Need to play discs with MP3s, AACs, and WMAs on them? The CD-400U can handle it. Interested in playing audio off of an SD card, flash drive, or Bluetooth-paired device? The CD-400U eats those for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively.

You can even record audio from CDs or the integrated radio tuner directly onto attached digital drives with lossless fidelity.

This CD player is also heralded as the home user's best-kept secret by home users who evidently can't keep secrets. They insist that its recording capabilities and industry-grade durability make it an excellent value.

So long as you have a good speaker system that you can pair this unit with, you should find it handles just about any playable audio CD you feed it, including CD-Rs and CD-RWs.

Besides audio CDs, Bluetooth devices, digital drives, and radio signals, the CD-400U also handles auxiliary input admirably by way of its 3.5mm input. You'll be hard-pressed to find an audio signal this thing won't play.

With its "Power on Play" function activated, you can even have TASCAM's CD-400U begin playing music automatically when someone starts it up.

"Power on Play" coupled with a "Panel Lock" feature that prevents the unworthy from accessing the CD-400U's controls makes your own unstoppable music monster just a purchase away.

7. Best for Home Entertainment – Pioneer PD-10AE Home CD Player

SPECS

• Additional Inputs: NA
• Portable: No
• FM and AM Radio: No | No
• Outputs: RCA stereo

Pioneer has put together a great unit that ticks all the boxes of what a CD player for home use ought to be able to do. The PD-10AE plays CDs. That is all.

Owing to its singularly focused feature set, this is one of the nicest CD players you can purchase for home use. It leverages purpose-built components with no expense spared on off-the-shelf substitutes to deliver pitch-perfect sound from your CDs.

From a drive optimized to play CDs and only CDs to a digital audio conversion board with a super high-precision clock pulse boasting minimal deviation, this CD player is designed to spin CDs or die trying.

People who purchased this CD player point out its heft in hand and its overall durability. They also highlight the distortion-free playback it offers where other units fail.

For a no-frills CD-playing experience, you can't really beat Pioneer's deceptively capable PD-10AE. What it lacks in bells and whistles it makes up for in sheer consistency and longevity.

The powerful, integrated DAC and 25-track memory alone makes this one of the best CD players on the market.

Best CD Players Buyer's Guide

Choosing the right option from all of the best CD players on the market involves perusing the fine print a bit and understanding what factors play a part in making a CD player great.

You'll need to account for each CD player's additional inputs, portability, outputs, FM tuning, and AM radio support. Here's why:

Additional Inputs

The inputs that your CD player supports beyond mere CDs can open up loads of listening possibilities you might not have considered at first.

Where a unit like the PD-10AE, which only supports CD playback, excels at decoding the sounds stored on each compact disc you feed it, other options on our list allow you to listen to music stored on a flash drive, pair phones via Bluetooth, and even insert SD cards.

Anyone looking to enliven their home listening experience or power a production broadcasting setup should carefully consider the possibilities that more inputs can enable.

Portability

Not all of the best CD players are portable by design, but those that offer great playback in a wider variety of conditions. Battery-powered boomboxes, for instance, are perfect for outings and get-togethers where it's impossible to plug anything in.

For solitary listening sessions, a portable disc player should accommodate movement and shocks through more sophisticated skip-guarding technology. This not only improves the sound but may also protect your discs from undue deterioration on the road.

Of course, if you really just need to play discs in one place, you can go with a machine made for studios or living rooms. The importance of portability is ultimately up to you, but don't get the wrong device for your needs.

Outputs

Just as inputs can dramatically increase the versatility of a given CD player, so too can outputs alter its potential.

Some of the best CD players support just the standard RCA connectors required to hook them into your monitors or mixer.

However, others include advanced wireless outputs for convenience's sake or even USB ports to make ripping audio right off of your discs in lossless quality an option.

What you choose will, again, depend on what you need. If you're aiming to convert CDs to MP3s, you'll do well to prioritize USB outputs. For professional studios, XLR jacks could be essential. Don't buy a boombox if you need a rack-mounted monster instead.

FM and AM Radio Connectivity

Once upon a time, all of the best CD players could support radio tuning. However, times have changed, and the need for AM/FM input might not make your list of priorities.

If you want all of the audio options you can possibly fit into a single device, then this feature is one to look out for. It can also be advantageous to get something like the TASCAM CD-400U to record radio chatter directly onto a flash drive and peruse it at your leisure later on.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are all CD players the same quality?

Simply spinning discs is not all that should be expected from a solid CD player. The best of the best offer excellent audio quality by way of advanced DAC circuits and high-quality outputs.

Some CD players focus entirely on decoding digital audio to an analog signal, leaving your speakers to do the job of actually reproducing said signal with reasonable accuracy.

Other units incorporate all facets of the CD playing process, from signal to audible sound, in a single compact package. Others still emphasize convenience by handling multiple discs at once or shutting themselves off after a set period of nighttime play.

Suffice to say CD players differ considerably from one another, and quality ranges anywhere from terrible to terrific.

What makes a high-end CD player?

A high-end CD player is practically guaranteed to use custom components instead of off-the-shelf options and will likely offer a variety of convenience features too.

Take the Sony DEJ011 Walkman, for example... It offers custom playlisting capabilities using a powerful bookmarking system that lets you select specific tracks to play from each of your CDs as well as the order in which they should be played.

Standalone units of higher quality use more powerful speakers, and the best rack-mounted units support the kinds of connections needed by professionals in the audio industry, such as XLR. Top-notch, built-in DACs for better digital audio decoding are often included as well.

What has better sound quality than CD?

There are more advanced file formats for audio data out there that are not supported by most CD players. Proprietary, high-resolution audio codecs capable of capturing sound signals at an enhanced sampling rate offer far better accuracy than MP3s and WAV files.

However, there is an upper limit to what can actually be perceived by the human ear. Super lossless audio formats may indeed contain more audio information than CDs, but much of this information is likely to be lost on our limited eardrums.

How long do CD players last?

CD players aren't necessarily known for lasting all that long, though some models do seem to hold up well to years of use. You can generally expect anywhere from five to ten years of utility from your CD player upon purchase.

A portable disc player is far less likely to make it to the 10-year mark as it will undoubtedly be subjected to harsher treatment in bags and whatnot.

Rackable units are likely to be the longest-lived, given they are scarcely moved from their mounted positions and are never hit by lightning.

Why do old CD players skip?

If your CD player has started to skip, you may need to replace it. Then again, you may just need to replace the disc it's trying to play.

CDs with loads of scratches and smudges don't play very nicely with even the best CD players. The laser your device uses to read information from the shiny surface of the disc is essentially coming across huge gaps in the data it can gather. This leads to skips.

You can try cleaning your discs or even use a cleaning kit to dust off the lens of your unit's laser, then run it again. If your CD player skips on every disc, including brand-new ones, then you should consider replacing it.

Conclusion

Choosing the ultimate CD player can be as simple as considering what you want it to do and selecting something that meets your expectations.

All of the options we've covered in this roundup can play music with the best of them.

For the utmost CD-playing proficiency at an accessible price, you can't beat the Sony ZSRS60BT Boombox. It has USB recording functionality, and it's portable too.

If you're looking for something worthy of a studio setup, you'll find all of the features you could want in the TASCAM CD-400U.