(???) players are the contemporary standard input units for home audio

[Omnirizon]

What goes in the (???) in the title?

I decided to build a home audio system, and expected to go to newegg and find a section called 'cd players' with lots of cd players to choose from, and that this would be the start of a home audio system.

instead, they have ONE cd player, and it looks kind of crappy, with no reviews, and no changer. they don't have a 'cd changer' section, and I'm all of a sudden feeling confused. do people not buy cd players for their home audio anymore?


what do I buy, in this day and age, that takes audio media and turns it into signals which are sent to speakers which convert the signals into sound?

 

[Omnirizon]

oh maybe nevermind. it seems that DVD players are all that's necessary, and CD changers are not really sold because the players have USB input.

sorry, I havn't owned a TV or any home audio for a decade, so I thought that everyone was still using CD players and changers, when I couldn't find them I DID look for 'mp3 home audio players', but they were all just shelf systems with ipod docks, I didn't realize standard DVD players now accept multiple audio formats and include USB ports...

 

[americanaudiophile]

Newegg is great for some things but high end audio is not their thing. If music playback is your main thing and you want better quality then a good single disc CD player will sound better than comparably priced DVD players. If your music is still on CD and you don't want to rip them as uncompressed files then get something like a Cambridge Audio CD player (about $350). If you want to use a PC as a source then get a DAC (digital to analog converter) that you can connect a PC to as well as a cheap DVD. This is the equivalent of improving the sound card in a PC. Some CD players have digital inputs so you can connect a PC or anything that has a digital audio output and take advantage of the improvement the outboard DAC provides over the built in DAC. Cambridge make a DAC called the DacMagic II which is $429.

 

[Guest]

You can't go far wrong with the recommendation above, but if your budget is limited there are CD players from reliable brands for between $150 and $200.

Best Buy still advertise CD changers.