Thought I'd chip in my own two cents.
I believe all the specs and hype - the four sets of DAC's, the simulated 20 bit resolution, the gawdy 115 db s/n ratio, and so on and so forth. It all adds up to the best value in my excellent mid-fi setup. No harshness in the highs as before with my Magnavox 794 (don't laugh, it's been a trusty unit which I will now promptly have to give away on some online auction.) Bass is no longer boomy. I can listen to female vocals without the fatigue. It's been playing jazz, acoustic, rock and classical for about 24 hours since I brought it home yesterday. The 765 handles all with a great, warm, accurate sound. No sh**. And the price, $249. What a steal! Spend the extra $100 and leave that Sony for someone else. And keep the extra $400 or so you'd have to spend for something negligibly better and get yourself some more CD's to play in this bad boy.

SET UP

KEF K160's main (six years old, still sends chills up my spine in my small apt)
KEF 55s surrounds
NHT SuperZero center
H/K AVR 40 (no DVD yet, not rushing)
Yam CDC 765
A decent Optimus tape deck (to make tapes for my friends)
R/Shack gold interconnects
Monster Cable speaker wire

this should hold me over until another gear bug bites me in the ass, prob. 3-5 years.

Great sound and features for the money.

Remote has no on/off button

I have used the 765 for over a year. I researched cd players for quite a while and read many reviews on this site before coming across the Yamaha. I was very impressed with the specs and I was willing to spend up to $1000. I found the 765 on closeout for $249. Like I said I was willing to spend up to $1000. I took the 765 home and have not once regretted it. This unit is very detailed. Save your money and invest it elsewhere in the chain where it really matters except in high dollar wire where I think some companys are so full of it thinking that several hundred dollar per foot wire is worth it. Hope I did not offend anyone with that statement but that is my 2 cents.

I recommend the 765 to anyone looking for an excellent cd changer. I dont think spending anymore is going to get that much more in performance.

My equipment:

Yamaha CDC-765 changer
Bryston preamp
Adcom GFA-5500 amp
Tyler Acoustics reference Monitors
Kimber 8TC speaker wire

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Denon

Overall, I found the Yamaha to be great value for money. It features extensiveediting features and also has Yamaha's PRO-Bit S plus DAC. The Natural Sound is
very good on midrange (ie.vocals) and has good bass and treble. However, i feel
that it is perhaps too easy listening, and lacks the transient dynamics of more
upmarket exciting players. There also seem to be some bugs in the system. For
example, after some types of recordings of transient impulse sounds there appears
to be some electronic "ringing" effect.

However, for the price and the convience of the 5 disc carousel, I believe it
has outstanding sound quality.



Michael.C

Smooooth!, dynamic.

A little veiled compared to my other cd player(Adcom GCD700)

Great cd player for the money. Guys, I have your answer for the "shrilly" sound some of you have mentioned that's present in the mids and highs. Audioquest Ruby interconnects, they work wonderful with mid-budget cd players. I use these interconnects on both my Yamaha and my Adcom and they sound waaaay! better than my previous Monster interlinks. If you could swing it, I would also recommend Kimber Kable either 4TC(neutral) or 8TC(warmer) for speaker wires. Happy listening, hope this is useful info.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Yammy 765, Adcom

awesome value

somewhat harsh mid range

for $200-$300 you CANT beat this unit. The only people that should stay away from this player are semi/audiophiles who love their smooth midranges. The highs and lows are nice, but the midrange is a tiny harsh. BUY IT NOW OR DIE!!!!

Similar Products Used:

sony es junk

Searching for a competent inexpensive machine, this CDC-765 stood up right this way, giving me good surprises from time to time. High frequencies are reproduced very gently, with clarity and excelent dynamics reproducing sound strongly, yeah right now I can hear trebles through my speakers that moves the air. It allowed me to connect directly to the power amplifier for excellent transparence, however level control is rough. Imaging is superb and sound is very present, completely free of harshness. Watch out with recordings, this gear will reveal the true quality of your stuff. I'm also happy with HDCD reproduction, the guys at Yamaha have done a good work with their circuit to emulate 20-bit resolution, I've tested some HDCD recordings with the Classe .1 and this Yamaha and overall softness is impresively similar (Yamaha doesn't use Pacific Microsonics chip), clarity is just slightly better obtained through the Classe at low frequencies, but imaging and overall musical pleasure is better with this interesting CDC-765, even with non-HDCD recordings. Warning: Bad recordings still sound bad, this CD-Player doesn't fix them, just tell you that your bad recording sounds awful. At the other hand, good and excellent recordings are cause giving me now delight.The are some flaws at low frequencies, but to improve it I have to waste a price that makes the Yamaha CDC-765 looking like the tax of that price. I have detected once some random errors while pressing buttons in fast sequence (only once), but the Power button served as reset. Edit capabilities are useful indicating selections time to record on tape and giving options to different tape lengths. And it's also possible to reproduce in 5-discs or 1-disc mode.
For the price I couldn't find anything better. Even for five times the price you will not find something to beat this CDC-765.
This is an example of how technology is getting improved and cheaper in time.

Sound, build quality, look, play exchange, sound level control

none found

Have you ever walked into a HIFI store (and I dont mean a place like Circuit city, they never have anything hooked up right or working) and listened to something they had playing and then wished your setup would sound like it. I used to do that. You read so many things about what will make your system sound better musically. I decided to go ahead and buy a higher end CD player to see how that would go. Well this was the best $200 I have spent in a long time. Music was more spacial, at times it sounded as if it was coming from my center channel as well as the left and right. Tighter bass crisp highs. Midrange stayed the same (excellent).
When you can show your wife and she agrees there is a difference then you know you have something good. Well at least in my case and I bet in most cases the wife could care less....

Current system includes
Yamaha RXV995 AV receiver
Yamaha CDC765 CD player
Zenith (who cares what the model is it was cheap and playback is great
Pioneer CLDM301 laser disc player
Mitsubishi stereo hifi VCR
DSIH 500 satellite
Technics turn table
Polk RT16 towers
Baoston Acustics 404v center channel
BIC America surround speakers
KLH PSW120 subwoofer
Monster cables all around (make a difference? I dont know)

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer CMD301 laser disc player, Zenith DVD player, technics cd player

great value -- sound for dollar.

five stars - great unit.

none

hey Brandon-- this is a great unit! did you buy the cd player for its sound or for its memory capabilities? why don't you sell it and get yourself a JVC mega changer. you'd be happier.

five stars - great unit.

Similar Products Used:

magnavox changer

I purchased the YAMAHA CDC-765 about 7 months ago. I was told by the dealer about the 20-bit decoder and Yamaha's Natural Sound. I only spent @225 on it, and bought an extended warantee for $30. At the store it far outshined the pricier Denon. It has a cleaner, detailed, warmer sound. I run the changer through a Sony STR-DE325 amplifier to speakers I built myself. WOW! Excellent. I am glad to hear others feel the same way about the CDC-765. The only thing I don't like is the lack of ability to turn the unit oin and off - I have it powered through the amp, though, which I can turn off with the remote, so it's not a huge downfall by any means. Hopefully, more money will lead to a better amp which should really bring out the shine in the changer.

This is by far the best sounding CD multi-disc player I've heard to date (compared to Sony ES, Denon, Nakamichi, and Kenwood), and sounds better than my Theta/Cobalt Digital Decoder and Pioneer Elite CD65 (neither of which I own anymore). Detail is extremely sharp, imaging and bass-weighting are as good as a CD gets--you won't be compromising sound for features with this machine... And the features are great---excellent programming ability for tape recording (the 765 can do it for you based on the length of any cassette up to 99 min total time, or you can program selections yourself---the 765 will tell you when you've exceeded the time on each side of a tape), random play (single disc or all five---great for parties!), digital output (but the internal decoder is so good, you probably won't ever use it), fast and relatively quiet disc changing, and the "playxchange" feature---all make this unit a pleasure to use...Throw away that single-disc player, and get this one for ~$350.