I have here an old C/DX88. I think it sounds very good even using the analog outs. I think there definitely is some tracking issues with these players. A bit of a luck of the draw/ drawer. Possibly the floating type of mechanism doesn't always present the laser at the exact same point. In these cases i try strange things like placing the unit upside down for a while... anywho after what 30 + years? I have nothing bad to say except the insecurity of indiscriminate cd handling. For me, i still appreciate it for its sound and the fact it is still spinning disks. Nice job Parasound! Mostly.

Been said. Some qa/reliability concerns.

excellent transport, very god cd

doesn't read dasty and scratched cd

I bought mine used a year ago.Excellent transport for that money.Doesn't read dasty and scratched cd. I don't have anything against remote, display. I use mine for listening, everything else is secondary. Who cares about remote?! I have digital cable kimber d60 and aragon dac d2a2. This combination delivers good controled bass, excellent soundstage, with open midranges and good trebbles.

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to many

Cheap used. Acceptable "Mid-Fi" sound quality.

Wal-Mart looks. Terrible tracking.

I have the C/DX-88 but I can relate to the tracking problems of the CDP/1000 owners! I have several discs that I admit aren't pristine (I bought them used) but the Parasound won't even play them. My $75.00 pawn shop Sony 50/disc will though! The Parasound does have decent sound quality. (When you insert a freshly opened disc). Due to the age of the unit, the fluid suspension system has sagged, and I must lift up on the tray to open and close it. Plus the LCD looks like it was made by Fischer Price.

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This is my first non "Best Buy /Circuit City" CD player.

Effortless and dynamic sound quality. This thing is just easier on the ears while revealing buckets of detail

Remote is not the last word in ergonomics; slow track access; limited programming capabilities (see discussion)

I originally owned a CDP/1000 about seven years ago, and thought it was the best-sounding player I'd owned. Now on my second go-round with this model, I've come back to the same conclusion. When I saw one listed in the audio classifieds a few months ago, I sold my existing NAD and bought this. Despite its having ostensibly lower resolution than the 24/96 capabilities of the NAD, the Parasound just gets deeper into the recording--and the music, too. Gives a much more cohesive "picture" than the NAD.(Besides, should I want to upgrade at some point to 24/96 or 24/192 or whatever, I'll just add on an outboard DAC.) There are a few shortcomings. As I said in the "weaknesses" section, track access is slow--and it sometimes skips ahead a couple of seconds from the start of the track. If I try to program a longer piece that is divided into several continuous tracks, the player will read each track as separate, so you get a pause between tracks which isn't supposed to be there. (This is an annoyance, but in practice it only crops up with a very few CDs.) This player, assuming that it holds up (and the previous owner took very good care of it), will more than satisfy my champagne-tastes-beer-budget status until the current format wars (SACD vs. DVD-A vs. Godzilla) sort themselves out.

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NAD C540, NAD 520, NAD 502, assorted other Denon, Harman Kardon and Sony players

Solid built, excellent sound, clear definition with firm base and clean high tones, no digital harshness. Minimalist, timeless studio-rack design, simple display, multi connectivity.

Remote.

I had to write this one, after reading the below listed negative review. I cannot understand someone, who clearly bought a faulty unit to actually write such immature review in a fit of blind rage. Hello, not 100% of all the equipment leaves the factories fault free - that applies to hi-fi or vacuum cleaners. Why didn't he try another unit before venting his frustration here? Anyhow, I have had this unit since 1997 - and I swear to speak truth and nothing but the truth - it is used almost every day (and that includes dinner parties). The only thing that I had replaced (last year) was the tray mechanism due to excessive wear. I admit that my CD collection is kept in a very good condition, therefore I cannot remember the last time it skipped a track. It seems to ignore people dancing around it as well. I have used it for about a year as a CD player before I got the ADAM AES/EBU optical link module and a Parasound 2000 D/AC converter. On its own, the CDP 1000 is an unbeatable unit in it's price range when it comes to clarity and definition. There is none of the digital "serrated edge", it has a warm, clean, strong sound. I mainly listen to more experimental music and even the most demanding electronic-noise recordings are executed with great accuracy. The unit however comes to it's own when used as a transport - the level of improvement is simply huge. The ADAM unit basically electrically isolates the transport, resulting in a fantastic definition and absolute zero noise. After all these years I haven't been able to part with this guy, it simply astounds me everytime I buy a new piece of music. I dread the day, when it just dies on me and I wil have to find a replacement.

Musicality, rhythm, pace.

Maybe resolution, some tonality.

Well, I wanted a inexpensive (ouch!) player to replace my "venerable" 1988 vintage CD player. I got a good buy on this Parasound player. I peeked inside: Not too many components, the output opamp is a high-grade. Case construction is superior to the SONY but parts seems a little anemic. Needn''t worry. The sound of this player is far better. I would never recommend going for a very old player when digital is concerned. Newer is usually better here. I would categorize the sound as not being the last word in resolution, nor in highs or lows. But who cares at this price. This is a music machine, plain and simple, showing the requisite audiophile traits but not the extremes. Very good compromise at this price point. I also own a fairly recent top-end SONY player and I wouldn''t say either is better, just different.

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A SONY XA-7ES and a SONY CDP-507ES

For the price, unbeatable. Doesn''t take kindly to dirty or scratched discs. Remote control and display uninspiring. Alittle slow to access tracks. Overall pleasing sound, with good timing and solid bass.

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System: Acoustat electrostatics, tube power and pre, etc.

Very good CD player for the money. Sound is realistic, good soundstage and imaging. One problem however is that it has a tendency to skip, usually at the beginning of a CD. This is a big problem, and I've seen it with two separate players. Also annoying is that for anything except basic CD functions, you need the remote. If you don't mind that, and you happen to find one that doesn't skip, then it's a good deal.

Good value, Parasound’s return policy.

Somewhat bright sound, reliability

I bought this player four years ago as part of my first separates system (McCormack .5, Dunlavy SCII & Audible Illusions L-1). The Parasound performed wonderfully for about 9 mos. but then began to have trouble reading CDs. About two weeks after the first signs of trouble, the 1000 quit, refusing to recognize any of my disks.

Unfortunately, this happened about two weeks before Christmas, imagine going through the season without any music. Sound Hounds, the local Parasound dealer, was nice enough to lend me an old Marantz they had laying around & sent in the CDP-1000 to be fixed. About 3 weeks later, I got a call that my transport was back from Parasound & to come pick it up. To my surprise, Parasound had shipped me a brand new unit! At the time I was rather impressed that a company would do that.

I took my new transport home and found that it worked flawlessly, for about 10 more months. The symptoms were the same. Once again the CDP-1000 refused to recognize my CDs so again I took the player back to Sound Hounds & once again, Parasound sent me a brand new unit.

To make a long story short, I had to return the CDP-1000 two more times. Both times the replaced unit lasted about 10-12mos. broke. Again, Parasound replaced it with a brand new transport.

Unfortunately, Sound Hounds went out of business, so the last time the CDP-1000 broke, I just decided to save myself the trouble & buy a new CD player. Decided on a Denon DVD-2500 for it's 24bit audio chip set & the benefit of playing DVDs. It cost about 50% more than the Parasound and I must say that the sound quality is much more balanced.

So, three for sound quality, two for build & four for Parasound always replacing it with new transport.
Average of three stars.

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Dennon DVD-2500

-nice solid build
-has coaxial digital output

-remote looks like something out of the '80s.
-fluorescent display sucks

I bought this because I was needing an inexpensive transport. Sonically I have no complaints, although I have yet to hear it through the analog jacks. My first complaint is the remote control couldn't be more boring and lacking in character, although it works fine. It looks like something that came with your Zenith cable box in the '80s (nothing against Zenith here). My second complaint is the flourescent display on the unit doesn't give much info at one time, just track # and time. Which is fine, but the size of the display isn't very big; its the size of what you'd find on many mass market units which give you a wealth of other info. If parasound were going to make the info display minimalist, as they did, they should have at least made the display larger to compensate for the fact. Consequently, there is alot of wasted space behind the otherwise larger plastic lens. My third complaint is the styling is borderling on being blah. Its minimalist, but it just doesn't look refined. Parasound should have played around with different button sizes and layouts more (the two fast forward and rewind buttons just hang there).

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California Audio Labs DX-1, Yamaha CD-33