Solid low end. Excellent detail and imaging.

Sent back once. Wasn't playing all CD's

I purchased this unit used from Hollywood Sounds, Fla. The price was reasonable. Initially, I was suppose to get a Cal Icon, but the unit was defective, so Larry offered me the Parasound for the same price. I received the unit and it refused to play 90% of my CD's. The ones that it did play sounded wonderful. The soundstage was 3 dimensional. Instrument and singer placement was recognizable with your eyes closed. I was very impressed with the low end performance of this unit. It was cleanly reproduced with great deep end extension. Midrange reproduction struck me as being "natural". Voices sounded "real" on well recorded CD's. This player also exposed those all too often poorly recorded CD's that make me want to puke. The high end had just the right amount of sizzle with the cymbals. The brass had the right "bite" to it without overemphasising it. Strings were silky smooth and wonderful sounding. I heard subtle things in the recordings that I didn't hear before. I was able to enjoy the music instead of listening to it. Every instrument and voice had it's own space in the recording. It did not sound congested.
I was so impressed with the sound of this unit, I contacted Larry and told him I would send it off to Parasound to see if they would repair it. They did at no cost to me except shipping it to them. They asked for me to include a couple of CD's that wouldn't play. Turnaround time was about 3 weeks. I recieved the unit with what appears to be a new CD transport installed. It was worked flawlessly. And the sound is wonderful.
The unit has analog and coax outputs.
Again, I would like to thank Larry from Hollywood Sounds. He offered to take the unit back, but again, I was so impressed with the sound, I decided to see if it could be repaired. Parasound made good on their warranty, and Larry gave me a $50 store credit for my trouble.

Associated equipment:
Counterpoint SA3 preamp
Counterpoint SA220 power amp
Counterpoint SA2 head amp
Acoustat 1+1's electrostatic speakers Medallion Modified
MIT interconnects and speaker cable
VPI/Koetsu analog front end

Similar Products Used:

JVC CD player, Marantz DVD

I picked the Parasound over four other comparably priced units includng theMarantz, Onkyo, Cal Labs DX-2 and NAD. The Parasound had the best combination of the above in terms of overall sound with a good clear high end and solid bass. Construction is excellent the fact that it is upgragable is an additional plus. The biggest disappointment of the bunch was the Cal Labs. Boy did they miss the boat on that one. I assume they felt the name would sell the unit rather the quality or lack of. I almost had the feeling that they bought a cheap transport from Best Buy and stick it in their case. What is amazing is that the DX-1 was not a bad unit.

Mediocre for the money. Rotel's is certainly better (RCD-950 @ $450) and Marantz' is probably better (CD-67se @ $500) (depends on your system). But if you have a moderate system, this unit Ok, as is Denon and NAD.

What can I say !? For the price, the sound you get just cannot be better. I must admit though that my unit does have a tendency to skip (as pointed out by Christian Chen) but it could be due to the location that it is placed at (waiting for my Sanus AV rack to come).

After debating whether to spend over $1000.00 dollars on a CD player or buy a good unit with digital output under $1000.00 I finally settled on the Parasound. I compared it with similarly priced units from Rotel, Marantz, NAD and found that the C/DP-1000 had better definition, more articulate highs, faster bass and superior imaging. In short, I enjoy listening to it. The build quality of this device exceeds anything I have seen in its price range, so it should make an execellent transport when equipped with a good DAC. Highly recommended for the price.

After considering several players in the same price range as the CDP 1000, including Marantz 63SE-67SE, Arcam Alpa 1 (demo unit) and even a Adcom GCD700 changer ($175.00 more). I had to bring the the Parasound unit home, amazed not only by its smooth character and excellent imaging quality, but by the build quality. This thing is a tank, thick aluminum front panel and buttons, thick chassis steel and solid feel. Opening the unit up revealed thin steel plates glued to the bottom and top assemblies and a solid bar about 1-1/4 square by 4 or 5 inches long next to the analog output section. All the mass helps dampen the unit eliminating the need to put a bag of sand on top :~) Overall I am very happy with this unit.

Excellent sound quality for the price, very well built

None (in price range) remote could be better

I will admit, half the reason i bough this player was to match my Parasound Amp and Preamp. But after listening to this and three other players in the 500-900 dollar range, this player blew away the competion. The sound was fuller and more dynamic. Bass was excellent, yet it did not over take the mids and highs, as they came through very crisp and clear. I matched the player with audioquest quartz interconnects to get the most out of it, and an audioquest powercord helped out as well. At $500 retail though this player easly beats up the competion without those accesorries. Overall an outstanding sounding player for the money you pay. Sure there are better, but you have to spend over a grand to find it.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon, Onkyo

solid, seemingly well constructed.

piss-poor quality control, abysmal performance, severe lack of presence, abrasive sonics

I really wish I had read the reviews here before I bought this unfortunate abomination. I never would have given it a chance! But that's water under the bridge...

I was looking for a cheap, solid CD transport with a digital output and this puppy seemed to fit the bill. I figured these units were selling at less than half retail because of the poorly chosen DAC, but that was fine with me since I was going to use an outboard DAC anyway.

When I first received the unit, I was delighted with its solid construction and minimal design. It really seemed like just the ticket! I hooked it up and gave it a spin. About 43 seconds in to the first CD it skipped! I played the first minute or so a few times over again and it skipped on me twice! Just to be sure it wasn't something wrong with the disc, I popped it into my no-name $30.00 portable CD player and it played fine. Before any of you go off on me, please know that the CDP-1000 sat perfectly level on a very solid audio stand.

I figured I would give the unit the benefit of the doubt and let it "break-in". Over the next couple of days, I played numerous CD's on disc repeat before attempting another serious listening session. At this point I listened to half-dozen or so CD's, including the one that had skipped on me, and they all played flawlessly. Everything seemed to be hunky-dory!

A couple of days later I was listening to a disc when it skipped a couple times then stopped completely! I hit stop, and then play, but the disc refused to start. I opened the disc drawer, reseated the disk, hit play again yet it still refused to play. I turned the power off and on again and it still refused to play! I tried a different disc and it played okay, so once again I checked the disc with my cheapo portable player, and had absolutely no problem with it! I then tried the same disc in the CDP-1000 again and it locked up on me! I was determined to get that disc to play, so I turned off the player, waited a few seconds, turned it back on and it FINALLY managed to play the CD, but not without skipping numerous times!

At this point I had had it! There is no way I am going to put up with such serious deficiencies from ANY CD player, I don't care how cheap it is or how well it CAN perform. It is simply not worth it. Congratulations to all those who have been lucky enough to receive a unit that actually works, but I am certainly NOT going to play Russian Roulette with exchanges until I get lucky too.

Luckily, Audio Advisor was extremely gracious in allowing me to return the unit for a full refund. They even paid for return shipping, so I am not out a dime on this piece of crap. This experience should not reflect badly on them, but shame, shame, SHAME on Parasound for such utterly shoddy quality control (as witnessed by all the similar experiences related here.)

Just for kicks and giggles I listened to this player through its built-in DAC. Holy Moses, I now know why Audio Advisor marketed this thing as a transport! As a player, it is absolutely horrendous! Everything I hate about CD's was magnified many times over by the CDP-1000's abrasive sonic performance. Clarity, detail, and presence were virtually non-existent. It wasn't even bland, as that would be a compliment here, the music sounded downright annoying! All this would be forgivable if the damn thing DID work as a transport!

On a final note, I did try one final experience just for my own (and hopefully others) edification. I know there is a huge controversy surrounding Musical Fidelity's X-10D "tube buffer" but I have found that it does help in very limited, specific instances. With that said, I hooked up an X-10D to the CDP-1000 just to see if it could possibly help this weak player. Wow, talk about a match made in HELL! I didn't think the performance of the CDP-1000 could be any worse, but with the X-10D it was the single worst CD listening experience ever. It took an already abrasive player and made it even grainier! I include this note for those of you unfortunate enough to own a CDP-1000 looking for salvation. This ain't it. The only proper recourse is to distance yourself as far, far away from this sucker as possible.

Similar Products Used:

off-brand portable CD player

Good range.Great value

None

This is one of the true bargins in Audio.This is a entery model player with High End sound.You can spend much more and get a lot less for your money.It outplayed the cambridge cd 6 by miles and was a close second to the Mcintosh MCD 7008.So close that i sold the MCD 7008 for 6 times what the CDP1000 cost me.i used the extra cash to upgrade my pre and amp to Rogue 88/66 combo.The player does a good job on the bottom end and gives lots of depth to the music.I can sit back close my eyes and every player has its position in front of me.The CD6 did not do this very well the sounds where coming from the speakers.with the CDP/1000 the speakers disapear.I guess thats the best compliment you can pay a piece of equipment.
Rogue model 88 Amp
Rogue model 66 Preamp
Double run 6' Audioquest Midnight.
Wireworld Atlantis from amp pre
Tara labs prism 33 from pre to cd
Atlantis reference a/v rack.Give on a try you cant go wrong.Will be a great transport for when they finally come up with new dac that will decode all formats.For my money one of the best cd players for under 1000.00 the best 500.00 sub player bar none.

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge cd 6

brings out music and different sounds on my cd than I thought was there

none found

to start off, this parasound is excellent,sounds ok by itself, brings out things one couldn't imagine on a cd because of the 18 bit digital to analog converter built inside, but I use it in conjunction with the parasound DA converter 1600 - it has 20 bit 44.1 kHz and really brings out music to it's fullest. bottom line- great cd player.

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