TEAC CD-P650 Home Audio CD Player with USB and iPod Digital Interface - Black

A typical CD player in this price range rarely meets high expectations. However, this TEAC CD-P650 manages to impress with a clean design, quality components, and excellent performance for its class. Frankly, if CDs were not declining in popularity I wouldn't be surprised to see this player go for twice the price. But the market has swung towards MP3 for obvious reasons and this TEAC provide a great bridge platform for those who still have CD collections but also want to take advantage of playing files directly from their MP3 players or USB storage. Add in the headphone jack with separate volume control and you have a unit that works just as well on its own as it does connected to your main audio system.I purchased my first and only CD player back in 1986. It's a TEAC single CD player that has been in my audio system to this very day and it has worked perfectly for 28 years (!). After recently rebuilding the subwoofer in my audio system to replace worn speakers, I started to do some research on the state-of-the-art in CD players. Overall, the technology has become more affordable, the CD mechanisms are less complex, and the D/A converters have been significantly refined. At this point, CD players have reached their pinnacle and mass-market manufacturers are certainly not investing any more in the technology. Even the high end of the market ($1000+ players) can only differentiate themselves by using higher quality power supplies and D/A sections designed to make the most of the brilliantly-conceived CD format. For most of us, a good quality basic player will do everything just as well.What attracted me to the TEAC CD-P650 was its high-quality appearance, its Burr-Brown D/A, and its ability to play a variety of digital files directly from an MP3 player or USB storage. Since more and more of our family's music is being purchased as MP3 from the start, I felt it was time to add MP3 capability (via iPod or USB stick) to my main audio system --something I had put off for a long time. When the CD-P650 arrived, I was immediately impressed with its quality construction and appearance. There is nothing cheap looking or feeling about it. The CD drawer moves solidly and no mechanical noise emanates from the unit when a CD is playing. Since I always take apart my stuff to see what's inside, I was pleasantly surprised to see a very thoughtfully laid out interior --among the cleanest of any consumer product I own. There's a separate power supply board, a large transformer, the D/A board, and only a few, neatly routed cables (several are shielded) between them. I was expecting less attention to detail in this low-cost unit but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. The CD transport itself is very solid and the laser/spindle portion is nicely isolated from shock and vibration. There are gold-plated RCA output jacks, an optical output, and connections for a TEAC remote control system. The player comes with it's own remote control for accessing all functions (many of which can only be accessed with the remote as the front panel buttons are kept to a minimum). See my photos of the interior and you'll see what I mean about quality components.Fortunately, this CD-P650 operates and plays CDs and MP3s brilliantly. The two row, front panel display is easy to read and provides a scrolling display of the MP3 file/folder name currently playing. If a CD is playing, only the track number and time is visible. Upon playing my first few CDs it was clear that this TEAC is a refined design and easily exceeds the audio performance of my old player. My old TEAC player had a 2X oversampling D/A and a fifth order analog filter. This was good for its time 28 years ago, but modern D/As provide 8X oversampling and a cleaner output signal. I confirmed that the CD-P650 indeed uses the Burr-Brown PCM1791 D/A Converter among other high quality parts.Overall, I'm glad I found this player and am very happy with the upgrade to my system. The performance and quality has exceeded my expectations and provides a perfect bridge for playing my CDs and MP3s through my main audio system. This was a great purchase!

There have been few reviews of this player online, and it's mystery as to why not. Most reviews want to compare it to the Onkyo C-7030 CD player, which I own, so I will start there. Let me start off by saying that I bought this item through Amazon's "Warehouse Deals", at a great price. The listing stated (as they always do) that the item is "Used-Like New" or "good" or "acceptable". The listing then describes the reason why it is used and the imperfections within. Mine was listed at "less than 5% cosmetic damage on the top of the item, so I gave it a try. The player arrived double-boxed, and all items inside (remote, cords, manuals, etc) seem to be in their original packaging. I could not tell this was used. I inspected the player itself, and found a small (very small) indentation on the top and had to really look to see it. Thus, the "used' term. This item was absolutely pristine, and once placed in the stereo rack, the imperfection disappeared completely. I will now use the Warehouse Deals with confidence in the future. Onto the player. If you are debating whether to buy this unit, or the Onkyo C-7030, the question is whether the price difference is justifiable. In my opinion, yes it is. The Onkyo player has more depth, a wider soundstage, and definitely more bass. In fact, the Onkyo player has to be the best deal ever in stereo equipment for the price it is offered at. I bought the Teac player at a $80.00 price drop for a second room, and it was certainly worth it for that. If it was going to be my main unit, I would spring for the Onkyo each and every time; there is definitely a difference in sound. If you are a casual listener and don't care much about the technical differences in sound, the Teac will serve you well. The main differences between the two players are these:1) Sound quality - The Onkyo wins hands down. If you want the best sound at the best price, and this is your main unit in your stereo / home theater system, you will want the Onkyo. It has the better overall sound, and the soundstage is unreal. The bass and depth of the sound are also very pronounced, and your CD collection will come alive with this unit. The Teac sounds wonderful, but as many reviewers have already written, the mid-range on this unit is the focal point. The highs are a bit shrill, and the bass takes a bit of a back seat to this. What this does mean is that your vocals will be way up front, and if your music is vocally driven this unit will let you hear just about every word the singer is saying. Also, the Teac sound is very clean and precise. If you have never heard the Onkyo, the Teac will sound fantastic to you. It really is a great unit at a great price.2) USB access. You can record music from your CDs, onto a flash drive. I'm not sure who would want to do this, but I'm guessing that anyone who doesn't have a CD burner on their computer might burn CDs onto a flash drive and load up an MP3 player from there.3) NO eject button on the remote to for the CD tray itself. This is completely baffling to me. I didn't take away a star for that, as I could have but the price vs performance keeps it at 5-stars. Why Teac wouldn't put an eject button on the remote is strange. I'm guessing that the USB control button would have been that button, but they wanted to keep the remote small, which it is. It makes zero sense to have a power on/off button, and then make you bend down to open the tray to load the disc. It could be a deal breaker for some.In conclusion, aside from the missing eject button, if you are a casual listener vs an audiophile, you will love this player at this price. It looks good, and it plays superbly. If you are an audiophile, and you want the best bang for your buck, then get the Onkyo C-7030 while they last. It is without a doubt, the best player on the market for that price. I've got a higher end Marantz CD player, and I have much trouble hearing the difference between the Onkyo and it. As a second player, or you just play CDs some time, the Teac is the way to go.