This is a very basic, basic CD player from a company that is/was considered to be in the audiophile grade for enthusiasts with a budget. I got this unit for next to nothing. After I inspected it and checked out the details, it turns out to be full of generic parts in the also ran category. I would never have bought it new. It only has digital coaxial out, not optical out. For a mid level target, that is pretty low. The transport and chips are very middle low end. Anyone claiming the sounds is sweet hasn't listened to a decent chip. Made in China to make money for HK, which isn't a shadow of the 70's and 80's HK. I have a now "vintage" HD7600II which is much better built with an optical out so a modern DAC can hook in. For audiophile, don't spend much on this one.

stay away its a piece of junk if you like to play burnt cds foget it sounds harsh at higher volumes if you fart it will skip the older hk cd players are example 7325 or 7450 must say it is well built

well built but does not like burnt cds i had a hk 7325 that was twice as good as this one and was older and played any thing you put in it

Great sound, low price, what else can I say? :)

The tray sometimes refused to work, and once it really refused to come out (the driving belt wasn't tight enought) but I easily managed to repair it.

I am posting a review again, I did it once more than two years ago. I recently purchased a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.1 speakers (about ten times better and ten times more expensive than my previous Jamo boxes) and I was afraid that the CD player is going to turn out to be a weak point. And NO. Not even it didn't do so, but now I love it even much better than I previously did! It produces so natural and enjoyable sound that now I don't want to listen to any LPs until I get some really good turntable (my current turntable DID get much "worse" with the speaker change) So, using a "10x magnifying glass" made things better, not worse. Great piece of equipment for a very friendly price, I think.

Brilliant, sweet, detailed, involving, easy, natural, musical sound. Sturdy build. Better than anything I know overall.

A few operational quirks that are easily ignored (see main body of review).

I submit this review simply to place my review of a newly acquired, miserable Harman Kardon HD-720 in perspective. I have had the HD-710 since 1996. It is a brilliant musical player. The sound is sweet but not rolled off to the point where it sounds dull. It is very transparent, with a huge, multi-dimensional, almost live-sounding soundstage for serious music (I am a professional classical musician). The sound is as good as the best analogue equipment. It is a copmplete joy in every respect. The build is sturdy--no plastic at all (except the surface of the CD drawer that actually contacts the CD, and it does virtually everything one would wish. Very occasionally, it takes a while to recognize CDRs but it always does. At the time of its availability, HK was still obviously more concerned with audiophile-quality sound than consumerist convenience. Some of the operational details have been skimmed over: it can't scan tracks back from track 1, the remote will only work if it is very precisely pointed at the infra-red sensor--since they were obviously thinking that serious listeners don't care, the display can't be dimmed--only on and off (though the manual claims otherwise and all units are the same in this regard). These tiny operating blips aside, this player musically, puts NAD, Cambridge Audio, Rotel, Adcom, etc. to shame.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon HD-720: "new version" of the HD-710--looks the same but sounds harsh, has lots of plastic, including fascia, and the scariest, flimsiest of CD drawers imaginable. Garbage. NAD 521i: over-rated and cold-sounding, but great build. Toshiba SD-1800 DVD/CD player: sweet, not too detailed, but easy on the ears. Not as flimsy as one would think. Surprising. Teac CDP-1250: sounded lovely for three months, then died. Apparently built out of matchsticks and gum. Ugh! Cambridge Audio 300SE: fascinating, if artifical, sound; horrifying transport, won't read CDRs even if you beg. Magnavox CDB-482: from 1989, lasted until 2004. Venerable old thing, sweet, detaiuled, no error correction.

It looks quite good and sounds really nice.

The tray is noisy and the head is sensitive to dust.

I have bought this player used and without any serious listening because there were no quality speakers at the shop. When I took it home and turned it on, first I've noticed that the build quality is not perfect. But for the price it is good enough. Then I started to listen to it and realised that it sounds great! My system is not an expensive one (Jamo speakers and a Technics SU-8022 amp, maybe 20 years old, but it sounds much better than new Technics stuff). The whole system is light years away from being a perfect one, but I like its sound, and the H/K player was a really good choice for me. I really didn't like CDs before I had it, but H/K produces a really good sound from these low sampling rate discs. It sounds as good as analogue sources. I've bought it about two years ago and I still like its sound.

Sound quality, price

It's not a Levinson No. 39

I was looking specifically for an affordable single-disc player with a built-in headphone jack for the office, to replace my venerable discman that just didn't have enough power to do my Grado headphones justice. Needless to say, species like this one are becoming a rarity in the industry, and while I'm a bit suspicious of the reliability of recent Harman/Kardon CD Players, I decided to buy it because I was unlikely to find anything else that fit the bill for anything akin to this price: I found it open-box at Future Shop for $300 (like another reviewer below). So I've really only used it with headphones, but it sounds GREAT. More than enough power (and bass) to drive my headphones, with a nice analog sound to it. It doesn't outperform the really expensive stuff, and it tends to have a softer edge to it than some CD Players, but it's got tons of soundstage, and on a price-to-performance scale, this thing more than pulls its own. Highly recommended if you're on a budget.

Similar Products Used:

12-year-old Technics single-disc

Price, clean neutral sound, did I say price?

Remote constuction

I've owned a pioneer changer for years now, and upgraded around it. I finanlly decided to step up to something worthy of the rest of my components. I shopped for quite some time until I found the H/K 710 at Futureshop on sale for $299. Before this I had been looking at high end stores looking at rotel and marantz cd players, which were quite impressive, but to me lacked definition for the price they were asking. After going to Future shop to pick up some minidiscs I saw the HD 710 on sale for $299 (Canadian). I decieded to give it a try as at that price I couldn't go wrong. It sounded great in the store, especially compared to a JVC and Sony Generic model. I brought it home along with a Marantz unit that I had also liked and the H/K won. It is very analog sounding with extensive bass and treble, and a decent soundstage, which obviously blew my 8 year old pioneer away. As others have said, the Marantz was a bit mushy sounding. For the price, this unit brings out the best in your cds, it gives them a nice analog feel. If you want to step into something that can compare with other high end cd players at more than half the price, I recomend this one for you. They could of made a better remote though, for an extra $10.

Attractive design. Good bass, good soundstaging for the price.

A little thin sounding. Very touchy about dirty cd's and CD-R. Reliability.

I picked this player up used and feel that it is a good value, although it will be a weak link in any serious audio system.

Quality headphone output, attractive design.

The player is very prone to skipping, and is finicky about dirty discs and CD-R.

Overall, it has a pleasing sound, if somewhat watered-down sound. I can see how this player could sound bright if hooked up to a high-end system, but I think for an average stereo it will not be noticibly shrill.

This CD player, like most in its price range, lasted about 4 years, under heavy use.

Similar Products Used:

Rega Planet, Yamaha 5 disk changer, Adcom 750

When I bought this CD I had very high expectasions of it!I had recently bought a H/K 620 amp and just sounded lovely with my Tannoy Mercury M2:s! I had saved and i belived it was time to put my old Tecnics CD in the trashcan!
At first I didnt hear a difference in the sound!! But after a few hours of listening to Chris Rea It started to smooth!
The bass are massive and the mid and high:s are real smooth and nice!
For the price its a real good CD!