punkyfish wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:39 pm
Struggling to find a CD player
There are lots on eBay, from £20.00
CD Recorders too.
Might be worth checking out charity shops, the one local to myself has them in each week, though the majority tend to be those mini-bookshelf 'music centres' you could still detach the tuner and whatever and just use the cd player
punkyfish wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:39 pm
Struggling to find a CD player
There are lots on eBay, from £20.00
CD Recorders too.
Might be worth checking out charity shops, the one local to myself has them in each week, though the majority tend to be those mini-bookshelf 'music centres' you could still detach the tuner and whatever and just use the cd player
Yup!
This time last year I helped dispose of the gear of a late friend (Covid victim).
There were 4 or 5 CD-players/recorders... and good ones too!
I had no trouble disposing of them via eBay, even though I'm reasonably rural and it was 'Buyer Collects'.
(A word of caution on the mini-systems. Some of the ones I've seen that appear to be 'separates' use proprietary 'all in one' - mains and signal- interconnects between the units, so not easily used in standalone mode.)
As has been said, CD players are prone to vibration issues. You can live with the occasional glitch if just for interval music, but not during performance if it’s a backing track.
Which is why if you must go CD, I’d suggest a portable ‘Discman’ style one (normally round). These at least would be designed to cope with a certain level of vibration on the move and have a much larger internal read-ahead data buffer than a domestic hi-fi CD player so that they can play back from the buffer whilst the device tries to re-read any disc data lost due to the player being shaken.
But as has been said, a phone or tablet is a much better playback device for playing backing tracks and that’s what I’d use.
Wonks wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 8:24 am
As has been said, CD players are prone to vibration issues. You can live with the occasional glitch if just for interval music, but not during performance if it’s a backing track.
Which is why if you must go CD, I’d suggest a portable ‘Discman’ style one (normally round). These at least would be designed to cope with a certain level of vibration on the move and have a much larger internal read-ahead data buffer than a domestic hi-fi CD player so that they can play back from the buffer whilst the device tries to re-read any disc data lost due to the player being shaken.
But as has been said, a phone or tablet is a much better playback device for playing backing tracks and that’s what I’d use.
Yep I have one of those. And it plays faithfully everytime I use it, and it's at least 20 years old
I think I am going to look at an mp3/lossless audio player something like this, however they only seem to have a usb c socket. Can someone suggest something that might work with something like this:
That has a headphone socket (as I'm sure nearly all do even in our wireless world) which, while it's not the perfect solution, will work fine as an output to the PA desk. You could buy one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/VENTION-Auxili ... B085DYRDXZ but I doubt you'll see any quality improvement over using the headphone output.
BTW do you have an old iPhone/'droid? With a suitable playout app that would be better than a cheap .mp3 player.
Last edited by Sam Spoons on Mon Feb 06, 2023 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You’d use the 3.5mm headphone output to connect to the mixer.
Either a 3.5mm TRS to 2xRCA cable if you use the RCA inputs on the mixer, or 3.5mm TRS to two 1/4” TS jack plug cable if you want to use a stereo channel.
I’ve used both in the past, though I normally prefer the stereo channel approach as you normally have tone controls available and with the RCA inputs you tend not to.
Being a headphone output, it is possible to overload and distort the mixer inputs at full output volume on some players, so play with the output level (and any input gain control you may have) for best results.
One of best little media players would be an older LG phone in the "V" series. The V20/30/40 etc. They have a great-sounding DAC. I'd suggest using UAPP or PowerAmp for playback.
An iPhone with the official Apple DAC (headphone) cable is another great option.
An older iPhone with a headphone socket (iPhone 6S or earlier) would also work well, still capable of running the latest iOS and apps and pretty user friendly.
Sam Spoons wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:41 pm
An older iPhone with a headphone socket (iPhone 6S or earlier) would also work well, still capable of running the latest iOS and apps and pretty user friendly.
You’ll need something like an iPhone 8 or newer to run the latest iOS 16 (v16.3 at time of writing), though a 6 or 7 will run iOS 15.
But a phone of that age will probably need a replacement battery, and the controls get increasingly dodgy. Before it died completely, my 6S battery lasted only a few hours at most if being used, and then the side on/off/lock button stopped working.
Sam Spoons wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:41 pm
An older iPhone with a headphone socket (iPhone 6S or earlier) would also work well, still capable of running the latest iOS and apps and pretty user friendly.
You’ll need something like an iPhone 8 or newer to run the latest iOS 16 (v16.3 at time of writing), though a 6 or 7 will run iOS 15.
But a phone of that age will probably need a replacement battery, and the controls get increasingly dodgy. Before it died completely, my 6S battery lasted only a few hours at most if being used, and then the side on/off/lock button stopped working.
Sam Spoons wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:41 pm
An older iPhone with a headphone socket (iPhone 6S or earlier) would also work well, still capable of running the latest iOS and apps and pretty user friendly.
You’ll need something like an iPhone 8 or newer to run the latest iOS 16 (v16.3 at time of writing), though a 6 or 7 will run iOS 15.
But a phone of that age will probably need a replacement battery, and the controls get increasingly dodgy. Before it died completely, my 6S battery lasted only a few hours at most if being used, and then the side on/off/lock button stopped working.
I've had that experience too. It is difficult to know exactly what the OP wants to spend. There are lots of options, depending on budget. In fact old CD players are so cheap that 2 of them could be purchased, with one as a spare, or even buy an old laptop, they have CD/DVD players.
What I do know is that I got a relatively decent phone to play back files but for some reason it started playing silly bug*ers (no that's not a tune, AFAIK) and as far as I could tell it was cheaper to buy a replacement phone than get the existing one replaced. And with today's tendency to use parts, even the battery, that can't be replaced so easily, well suffice it to say, that despite one poster's advice that anything with mechanical moving parts should be avoided, well The Flying Scotsman is still going, but there again the parts have been changed/replaced - you can't do that with an iPhone and ironically enough, my old CD player has outlived 2 smartphones!
The LG V20 phone is one of my favourites. It has a removable battery, and will also connect to my external DAC for lossless playback of files and Tidal. It sounds noticeably better than my iPhone 6 using the headphone socket. They cost from about £50 used. Still available new, as well.
You could also use a tablet if you wanted a bigger control surface, of course, although I see that phones are getting huge again! That latest iPhone is ridiculously chunky IMO.
Have not followed the whole thread but if CD players are now rare/expensive look for a DVD player. They will play CDs but you can also store a shedload of MP3 on one.
No idea how bump-proof they are but if it were I, I would in any case use a Minidisc recorder. Mainly because I have two and lots of discs.
ef37a wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:37 pm
Have not followed the whole thread but if CD players are now rare/expensive look for a DVD player. They will play CDs but you can also store a shedload of MP3 on one.
Just be careful to check the outputs as some only have an HDMI out.
Wonks wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:57 pm
You’d use the 3.5mm headphone output to connect to the mixer.
Either a 3.5mm TRS to 2xRCA cable if you use the RCA inputs on the mixer, or 3.5mm TRS to two 1/4” TS jack plug cable if you want to use a stereo channel.
I’ve used both in the past, though I normally prefer the stereo channel approach as you normally have tone controls available and with the RCA inputs you tend not to.
Being a headphone output, it is possible to overload and distort the mixer inputs at full output volume on some players, so play with the output level (and any input gain control you may have) for best results.
Hi thank you for your reply, where do I plug the 1/4” TS Jack plug cable in on the mixer?
Into the stereo inputs on either of the last two channels, or into two separate mono channels (e.g. 5&6). But personally I'd use one of the stereo channels as thats what they're there for.
ef37a wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:37 pm
Have not followed the whole thread but if CD players are now rare/expensive look for a DVD player. They will play CDs but you can also store a shedload of MP3 on one.
Just be careful to check the outputs as some only have an HDMI out.
Yes, the later ones do but an HDMI to RCA analogue out is cheap as chips. If a SCART socket, cables to RCA are readily available.
We have three iPhone 6S here and an iPhone 5S, two of the 6S' have had new batteries (the ones Mrs S and I still use as our mobile phones, I did mine myself for £20) but all four still function just fine, all buttons, touch screen and headphone socket. The 5S is used nearly every day as a music player for my wife's dancing school. Anything newer than a 6S will need a USBC to analogue audio cable which bumps up the cost but the larger display makes it much nicer to use than a dedicated .mp3 player. You takes yer money and makes yer choice but most people I know have at least one old mobile phone in a draw somewhere so cost of trying it out + zero.
Which ever way you look at it a CD/DVD player* is going to skip and drop out if knocked, and it will get knocked
* Unless it's designed for the specific job, professional rack mount would be ok as would a portable, probably, but portables are rarely robustly built and all will be old, I would not trust on for a professional application.
punkyfish wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:39 pm
Struggling to find a CD player
(A word of caution on the mini-systems. Some of the ones I've seen that appear to be 'separates' use proprietary 'all in one' - mains and signal- interconnects between the units, so not easily used in standalone mode.)
Slightly off topic but came across something on the vintage radio forums, turns out that Grundig did a separates system that is even more proprietary than possibly anything else, the CD player, for example, only has a mains in and out, the tuner adds an aerial socket and the amp has just one digital and one analogue input that are not used by the related components.
A look at the front of the units and the model numbers AS-IR for the amp and CD-IR for the CD player might give you a clue as to how the unit's were interconnected, and yes it was a mad method! https://a.allegroimg.com/s1024/0c4b38/7 ... f08ec33af2 https://www.fein-hifi.de/images/product ... 0b8de9baff
As for buying a CD player I got the correct one for my Technics integrated system for around a tenner a couple of years ago.
