Yamaha CD-S303 In Depth Review
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- amzn.to/3rt45zu
Techmoan's vid that inspired this mess
• R.I.P. Personal CD - T...
In this one I take a very in depth look at the Yamaha CD-S303 and compare it to a 21 year old mass market 5 disc CD changer.
My biggest problem with modern CD players is how minimalist the display is. Nice to see the track and time on the Yamaha. Would be nice if it showed the total number of tracks, so you can see you’re on track 2 of 12.
Comparing it to my 1993 CDX-930 the CD-S303 feels like a toy. It weighs a quarter of the weight, takes much longer to read the cd, no headphone Jack, and the display is crap. I much prefer my older one and even though DACS have gotten better in newer devices I don’t hear any difference. They both sound the same.
Just got this one for my bedroom setup. I already have the CD-S701 from several years ago in my living system. The 303, as far as my ears can tell, are every bit as good as the 701 for about a third of what I paid for it. Love Yamaha's stuff, and this player is right up there in quality, appearance, and performance. One of the things I love about both the 303 and the 701 is the elegant simplicity, inside and out.
It's a nice CD player for sure, my biggest disappointment with it is the fact that it can't read CDs with imperfections on it well at all, even a 35 dollar DVD player did a better job at it.
I've had this player for three months, and I've found at least two discs that would not load and play: one was Dire Straits "Brothers in arms" 25th anniversary edition, the other was Beach Boys "Feel Flows" from 2021. However, I can put those in a 25-year old Pioneer LD Player, and they work without a hitch!
Also, this player does play gapless albums fine, for me. :)
"does play gapless albums fine"
I just returned one new cd player because of this. Interesting. Was just about to order this one.
I don’t understand why mine takes considerably longer to read and play a CD than my 30 year old CDX-930. The CDX-930 will also play scratched CD’s that the CDS-303 will not. The CDS-303 does sound good though.
Thanks for the super thorough video! Just picked up one of these new today for under comps (~$250) to include in my Yamaha hifi stack. Intend to use this as a daily driver. I still have a Sony CD/MD deck in there and hope to pick up the Yamaha MD player at some point, but really like the Sony’s recording sync feature.
Already have buyers remorse after ordering one of these and don't even have it yet. I have fired up the stereo in 8 years and got on the kick again in January. My 20 year old NAD c521bee was a little cranky with the buttons but worked fine with the remote. Now the buttons are working fine. I already feel that I should have just taken the money and burned it.
I just picked on up at Goodwill Auction paid $163 new in box. It has great sound and plays all my old scratched CD's so far. Display is small compared to my 35 year old player and lacks volume control, but its a winner.
That Yamaha looks well made, with an isolated power supply. The cable from the PSU to USB is for USB power. I would run it to an external dac, use it as a transport. My second CD player was a Yamaha, back in the 80s
Good video. So the cd text display only shows for a few seconds and defaults back to the track number? If you use the remote and press text display, will the text display stay on the screen? I have a Marantz cd player and it will stay on the screen unless you switch it to the track number. I'm looking for a Yamaha cd player that will keep the text on the screen.
I have this CD player,mine was version 137 so i upgraded to version 153
So far no problems,reads every CD i have,and i have a lot
I ilke the USB option, I'm using it quite often to play Flac or mp3
So far im pleased,nice built quality but yes i have to admit that almost 400€ it's a little overpriced
Also have the Yamaha AS 701 amplifier in black so i matched with the black version of the Yamaha CD-S 303
Thanks for a great review; it saved me $380!
I noticed the tray does open fully to set the CD in from the top. You have to slide the CD into the back part of the tray at an angle, then set it down into the tray.
Kind of weird to have to slide your CD each time. I noticed the same thing on mine and was questioning if mine was defective. I guess it is (strangely) part of Yamaha's design.
Thanks for the video so I could notice this.
On my player i notice a strange way to number the folder and the tracks with an USB disc. If your folder 1 have 5 tracks, your second folder will begin at 6 (6 is visible on the screen after the text). So the player can navigate on the folder but do not show the right number of the track on the folder. It show the number as if as if there was only one folder. Not pratical to navigate if you have many folder.
I notice this on your video. At 20:34 you go to the folder 2, the screen show 01. Train that is correct but after the screen show 2 (and not 1 first song of folder 2). The display consider that it's the song 2.
I own the onkyo c7030 that I bought for $144 back in 2017. I was looking for a new cd with a usb port. The denon 900ne and marantz cd60 were my 2 picks but then I came across the Yamaha cd s303 for $310 so just decided to keep it. Sounds good. Has usb port. Wish it had a little more weight to it though. Frustrating that when you press almost any button on the front the whole unit slides back 🫤
Thanks for the in depth review. Was about to pull the trigger on this then changed my mind based on your review. I'll stick with my forty dollar Sony DVD player that I have been using as a CD player for now. Hopefully some other brands will come out with a new single disc CD player worth buying at a fair price.
Glad it helped!
Thank you for the review. I'll stick to the cd players I was lucky enough to get at the Goodwill. The build quality appears to be so much better in the vintage players, at least the ones I was lucky enough to snag. As far as audio quality, my old ears can't hear much of a difference. And I have a Shitt Modi external DAC if I want to challenge myself to hear a difference.
Thanks for saving me hundreds. I was considering that CD-S303 refurbished to compliment a Phillips carousel I have in my LR. Thinking, it being newer SURELY it would perform better. But as chance would have it, I had I actually picked up that same JVC carousel like new with remote at a thrift for $20. I got it simply to match my old JVC amp in my office. Not knowing a thing about. I got home and researched it and, that JVC is actually a very, very good player in terms of audio quality and, now, many years later, build and reliability. JVC put high end parts with a cheapie feeling plastic control panel and tray. Indeed, the audio is mind blowing good! Incredible detail from its internal DAC. I tried the toslink to my own (AKM chip) DAC and it was not as good. So I went back to the JVC RCA to my amp.
I would say KEEP that JVC and, return the Yamaha!
I am not bothering to replace my $10 JVC until it actually breaks beyond a belt replacement. Nor getting any single CD player for the LR. Thanks for saving me some money! I might switch the old 1990s LR Phillips, which is still terrific, with the office JVC. I think the old JVC might do better with my 2022 amp and 2020 speakers.
I still have the JVC and I'll probably drop it into my setup soon lots of stuff going on right now, glad I was able to help!
I like coming in from the bottom. I just use my Blu-Ray player as my CD transport in my setup, taking its optical out (also is the only thing that handles the DTS CD surround discs I have). The other nice thing is the CD-Text or Folders are more easily navigated with the TV/Monitor. SACD and HDCD - I've never found a player that plays them.
Those players exist they're just rare as heck.
Come on brother! Let’s face it. You bought the matching CD player to your amp. Honestly I would had done the same. My theory s that Yamaha gambled on cutting their profits on the a-s series amps 301 and 501 to dominate the market and then tried to make up the difference by overcharging on their line of matching CD players and the other two a-s series 701 and 801 amps.
I am very happy with mine Yamaha cd s303, in combination with mine yamaha natural sound r-s 700 receiver and infinity speakers. Sorry to say but you can't get the same sound from a cheap dvd player. I had Denon , but this is much better.
Glad you're happy with the player. But if you use digital out on a cheap dvd player you can get fantastic sound.
@@baldmetalnerd the cheap DVD player has no programing function. I used this solution before buying the Yamaha cd-s300 and 303. Totally annoying if you like to play tracks selections.
@@AlexandruBurda True enough but personally I have literally never used the programming feature on any CD player ever from the 80s until even now. I just put the album on and just listen to the whole things VERY rarely I will repeat a track but that almost never happens.
@@baldmetalnerd I use the Program function quiet frequently as in most cases I do not like all the tracks on a CD. I even noticed that on many albums if I take out the tracks I do not particularly like, the worthy playing time it is actually similar to a vinyl record (around 40 minutes more or less). So my conclusion is that many CD albums are filled with not very good songs (besides the really good ones) just because there is space there to do it (unlike vinyl records). So if artist become less selective it is up to me to be selective and the Program function becomes essential. 🙂
@@AlexandruBurda Yeah filler tracks are a classic problem that never goes away. If I dislike a track I'll usually just skip it but even that's relatively rare.
Hola! cuanto mide el reproductor de cd de altura total? con las bases incluidas...
Thank you for this review. Was dead on to buy this one in silver as it would be a beautiful aestetic match for the A-S701 that I ordered. It truly is really sad that the quality does not match the price and I pretty much felt it in my guts. It does have almost same stuff as Marantz CD6007 tho for a cheaper price but damn, it seems that an old PC with FIIO K3 (or something) would do more justice for the price...
Was all fired up to buy this one. It seemed like a better deal than the $600 Denon DCD-800ne with nearly the same functionality, but later I found out it does NOT play CDs gaplessly. That is a requirement to me due to the kinds of music I enjoy (jazz, electronica, live rock albums, prog rock where one track segues into the next one seamlessly without a silence - that shouldn't be there - between them). Seems dumb that you can't take for granted that a CD player here in 2022 doesn't play CDs as well as ones from the 1980s and 1990s. I'll have to keep looking elsewhere, but I don't relish spending $899 on a Rotel. Jeez. And I'm not looking at a $5000 Hegel Mohican player.
Funny enough Ross when I was testing this for the review I didn't put on any live or Pink Floyd albums to test if it was gapless or not as like you I assumed it would be. So I just put on a live album and yep you guessed it gaps. Aaarrggh!! I don't really care much about live albums but it will be quite annoying for my Pink Floyd albums as well as some progressive metal I'm into as well as the occassional classical piece. Good luck finding a good player!
@@baldmetalnerd in retrospect, I wish I had bought the Denon DCD-800ne when it was available. Snooze, you lose I guess. Now I'll be looking at others from the low end Cambridge, the Denon DCD-600ne, to perhaps a Rotel CD11 Tribute or 14. I know many love the Marantz units, but I don't like how they look in styling. Petty perhaps, but I'll be looking at this nearly every day. Finding one that can play good FLAC and DSD files from a flash drive, without being clunky about it, would be a nice find. Thanks again for the review. That flimsy door would be a definite "no "no" to me at this price point.
@@baldmetalnerd as an aside, I don't understand the gaps. It is a dumb firmware issue they are too cheap or lazy to fix?
@@rosswarren436 Yeah I was looking at some of the other units you were talking about and they're around the 600 buck range and I thought 379 was overpriced for a CD player lol. Yeah a flimsy door is pretty unacceptable. It's amazing to me how much better my "cheap" JVC 5 disc changer seems to be to than these modern much more expensive units (as I noted even with inflation). Who knows maybe we'll get lucky and eventually there will be a "CD revival" similar to what's happening with vinyl and there will be a variety of quality players available at decent prices just like there currently are with turntables.
@@rosswarren436 I have no idea on the whole gap thing it's definitely a big oversight. But you know the weird thing? As I kept listening to that live album the gaps stopped and it was playing back gaplessly I didn't change any settings on the player. I even read the manual and could find no mention on of it. It's a strange situation for sure.
First of all,thanks for your informative review. It is strange because I own an old Sony 5 cds changer that probably share the same mechanism with your JVC. Well,compared with modern basic cd players or even bluray players it sounds so “digital”. Same like the cd player I have in Technics compact stereo from the 90’s. The dacs in modern hifi sound fuller and more balanced to me compared with cheap players from the 90’s or early 2000. This is only my personal opinion.
I'm glad you liked the video. As far as differences in sound across different CD players go if you can hear something I believe you. As for me I really can't unless it's comparing a player like this vs a 25 or 35 dollar no name brand DVD player as in players that cheap they tend to make the analog output incredibly shitty.
This player came to me today.I copied my 2 track , 15 ips reel tapes to cd-r.Now i can show off reel to reels easy.
7:20 don't wanna buy this empty box, thanks for the review! It's really overrated and double expensive.
that jvc looks more "futuristic" than that modern yamaha CD player
CD players are going to be produced for decades to come.
Does this player have BlueTooth capability or can you plug in a Blue tooth adapter so I can use my phone and play music on the CD. Thanks , great video, RH
No. There are no inputs on the player. You only play music from a CD or a USB memory stick.
This is a $100 CD player back in the day.
Yeah the price is a bit of a rip off for sure.
Sorry but no
Industry compares their products with competitors, and when another producer developes a similar product for a similar price, then everything's fine.
Denon costs also round about 350eur Marantz even 450eur.
... so yamaha is in good company .
... but did you saw the inside of that player?! There's almost nothing... actually that can't be worth it 300eur!
My 15-year old NAD CD player bit the dust (I thought NAD was better quality but maybe that's a reasonable lifespan for modern electronics) and I'm looking for a decent (more or less same quality as the NAD) player to replace it. This was a helpful review - thanks! I'm a fellow geezer with a huge CD collection from decades of buying and listening so I'm invested in the format. I also just prefer owning physical media over being reliant on my music collection being curated by some streaming company I have to pay every month that may or may not be around in another 10 or 20 years, in which case what would happen to all my music?!?
Anyway, I also lament the lack of good CD player options (not considering the $$$ audiophile market) these days. My plan is to find the best one I can now, and hope it lasts until the current vinyl fad is over and people realize CDs were better quality all along and the CD player revival happens. 🙂
Couldn't have said it any better myself.
I think that since we are not mixing down to cassettes anymore and you EQ user reference has been set in the last 15 to 20 years, thereby giving us the impression of more. The only reason why I state this is because I recently have a Blu-ray player that I mix down to cassettes, a 2012 model and I do have to take away two to 3DB of base to get a proper balanced hot recording from standard or even type to cassette, type or will definitely be ruined by this kind of new EQ standard as metal will easily distort with higher base levels. From what I have heard so far reference levels are different these days since people are no longer recording to tape thereby a new user reference has been set, people want to hear more bass people want to hear louder volumes so anything that should come out today most likely will sound, more heavy and louder. I am going to experiment more with this and see if I can pick up some thing that was made in the mid to late 90s, there were a couple of Yamaha models that are selling on eBay for a good price, so far, my HD DVD player has a little bit better balance than the 2012 Blu-ray player and I don’t have an old reference standard CD player to go off of as of yet, will get one soon though.
But what sound does it produce...is it pleasing? does it knock your socks off? does it reproduce your musical choice to the standard that you expect??
It sounds like any other relatively well made CD player which of course is great but that's hardly surprising.
I'm still using a 1988 Yamaha CDX 810.
I paid $44.99 for a Sony DVD player from WalMart, have the Dig Coax out running to my external DAC in my Arcam amp.
Problem solved.
But, transport "noise" lol just kidding. Glad you have a good setup that works for you.
To say that all DACs sound the same is totally absurd.
It is unbelievable that the CD drive cannot handle the "marginal" CDs. The CD you shown is not "marginal" at all, and this thing skips? Really? The CD drive technology is pretty mature in this day and age, I just don't understand why they can invest in the one of the most important part of the entire device.
With newer firmware, it plays most discs without problems. Latest firmware is 1.61, and it also plays gapless.
Just bought this cd player. I don't see any way to adjust the volume on the remote! What am I missing?
I picked up this cd player. When I was doing some some research. I was looking at the onyko cd player and was wondering who's DAC both players used. The yamaha uses the Burr Brown & onkyo uses Texas instruments.
Guess who owns Burr Brown thats right Ti right now the Onkyo is about a $100 cheaper. Hope the yamaha sounds better. In the world of audio you have to pay for the name🤦♂️
Hi, nice video, that's quite hard what you say at the end, is just worth 150 bucks ...
In Germany it costs 300 eur.
But denon and Marantz is in the same range or even more expensive.
Btw:
Many years ago I worked die the automotive industry
I was told: the best thing is" looks and feels great/expensive but it's just cheap! And engineers try to find materials which are cheap but feels great. This kind of engineering costs a lot of money! And at the end the product should not become more expensive for the costumer.
And seriously the yamaha cd s303 looks very good! So maybe this is the reason y it is more expensive.
I guess the sound quality is also good?
Ok...
... but the cd output looks cheap I've got a yamaha cd 396 with a better display and cd output
thank you for your in-depth review, it was enlightening to realize that you are of the mind of objectivity. I personally feel digital components do have a sound and they do sound differently from one another. I always feel that you should let your ears be the judge, I mean when you listen to different digital products you can't hear a difference? because even my 8-year-old son can when I switch out different digital converters. so it begs to me that either you're lying or you convince yourself there isn't a difference so therefore you don't hear it or maybe you're just deaf.
I appreciate the helpful review and your opinion at least there's something on the net about the CD player it's just a shame it has to come from such a source like yourself.
LMFAO thanks for your rude back handed compliment let me ask you this when you "hear" differences between digital components are they actually blind abx tests because if not PLACEBO is REAL! For a long time I was a big believer in differences between DACs etc but that was a mistaken notion on my part due to differences in amps such. But digital is digital and DAC's a fact jack!
Hi. I have Edifier S1000 MKII powered speakers. Is it worth to buy the Yamaha CD Player S303? I Don't want to spend more money in other devices such as amplifier.
After an hour or so of playing cds a clicking, glitchy sound occurs. 🤔 Any thoughts?
Nope I did some marathon sessions with mine and that never happened.
Mine has this problem to. It seems to be a firmware issue causing the player to misstrack for longer tracks and mostly upper tracks (at around 40 - 50 minutes of play).
On mine this does occur from time to time and there is no pattern so I am playing my CDs using the Program function and splitting the listening session like I was listening to a vinyl record. It is kind of fun and it seems that when programing the tracks this misstracking is less likely to occur.
When it does occur justs use the search button on the remote and go back a few seconds. The playback will be back to normal.
There are updates for the firmware and I suppose it might solve this issue but I chose not to update. If you have the guts you can try this. I tried it with the first version of the update and it failed so I gave up. I am happy with it as it is. 🙂
I have the same problem. Updating the software did not help, the player was on the site, they did not solve the problem. This is probably my last adventure with Yamaha.
Yep the same here. Even after a firewire update (v1.37) it doesn't work properly.... Really annoying. I am now trying to have the device repaired or replaced, but I really would like my money back, I will buy another brand with it. I really don't want anything to do with this Yamaha anymore, to be honest.
There is a new update just been released V1.48 which seems to address the problems. I have had the same issue even after being given a replacement unit.
Hi, thank you for the review. Can you tell me, when using usb stick) if you can navigate to folder tree (like entering subfolders and then moving back)?
Bardziej rzucaj tym sprzętem o blat. Zdecydowanie lepiej i dłużej pogra.
Does this cd player skip tracks or play them continuously to, for example, listen to progressive rock?
It's gapless playback.
If u dont like the CD Player, why u bought it in first place ?!
I like it just fine I just feel it's overpriced for what you get but whatever.
what's the cd player that you considered but passed on due to those reviews? thanks
Does it have a built in DAC???????
It has analog RCA outputs so it has a DAC unlike a blu-ray player
I just purchased a Sony DVP-SR210 CD/DVD player for $33 new. It plays audio CD’s. I have it connected to my Harmon-Kardon receiver. I checked out you video because I’m wondering what an additional $300 delivers.
Not much additional stuff I guess, heck the sony might be better for MP3 discs and CD text is there any on screen support for any of that stuff?
I'm being somewhat facetious. However, I did by the DVP-SR210. I haven't hooked it up to a TV has I have a X-Box or a newer LG DVD player with HDMI outputs for that. I do have a FiiO K5 Pro DAC on the way. I'm curious if better DAC makes any difference. I will say the DVP-SR210 sounds as good as any other CD or Blueray player I have in the house playing regular CD's. I'm sure this has a basic menu for navigating MP3's being I have cheaper models that do. The DVP-SR210 does have negative reviews as far as longevity and quality. I see negative reviews for the S303 as well. The S303 does have a USB port which would be nice. But reading the S303 reviews there's no way I'm laying out $370 for something that people report has problems playing scratched or less than perfect discs. I had a Fisher A-813 I bought in the mid 80's for $99. No MP3, Coax out, or optic out. However, I played a lot of discs through that player before it died. I doubt anything built today would hold up to the quality of CD players built in the $80's. The downside to using a DVD player for CD's is there is boot up time. I don't own the S303 but I'd expect better reviews for the price and the Yamaha name.
@@ddhuber I've tested various DACS over the years and any DAC since well at least 2001 which is the oldest one I still have can perfectly deliver CD playback. I've never heard any sound quality differences between them, any quality differences come down to amplification for DACs. If we're talking about anything analog related that opens a whole other can of worms.
Apologies if someone has asked this already but does this CD player do gapless playback okay? I have heard it doesn't until it got a firmware update.
Yes, it does gapless since firmware 1.48. Latest firmware 1.61 is still gapless and there have been no problems.
CD303 Sounds good, but too nervous about scratches on the board
Play without difficulty on other players
marantz CD6007 is much better with headphone jack
It's also 700 bucks so it is worth paying that much more for a headphone jack?
Many thanks for the video...does it support gapless playback?
Yes, it does since firmware v. 1.48 (now on 1.53).
Yamaha CD-S300 more componente big condensator circuit
My phone won't connect to my car so cds are my only choice for it. Imo i'd rather buy 10 cds than the comparative ~7 months of Spotify
So any player post 2001 will play burnt CD's? Thankyou for the review by the way.
I can't guarantee they all will but almost all will.
@@baldmetalnerd Thankyou bald metal nerd. Got a JVC XV-N312. today and it's fantastic. I believe your advice has been a game changer for me.
I owe you one man! Weird to see another AndyP on here by the way...
so did u see the DAC? i really want to know it thanks!
if you google it you can figure out what DAC it has not that it matters all that much
Can you make a video about Picard season 2 episode 9 I heard it's really bad lol! Love your content by the way! 😎
Thanks yeah it was definitely a bad episode I'll make a vid talking about the whole terrible season soon.
Oh and other question. How big harddrive have you tested with this?
128 gigs
So you have been using just memory stick that big or SSD harddrive? @@baldmetalnerd
@@BadEnglishRecs USB stick but id imagine anything connected with the fat32 file system will work
If it was 40€ cheaper I woudl order it right away... :D But I am still thinking... Or start waiting sale. @@baldmetalnerd
should i update the fw to 1.53. ::: 1.48 works perfect for now. i find out that you can downgrade fw. ::: 1.37 was so bad. what are your meanings, 1.53 i dont know
I have no idea I haven't done any research on the different FW versions I don't even know which one I have on it.
@@baldmetalnerd press on your remote A/B button for a while. cd slot must be empty and no usb stick must putted in. so you see wich version you have
You owe it to your readers to update to firmware 1.53 and retest, especially the difficult to track CDs. I've had the player for a few weeks without issues using new firmware. Many thanks.
@@ajkl5480 few weeks? 1.53 is come out 15. dezember 2022 it takes time to makes test, but i reconize, ok is my subjectif meaning, that the update to 1.53 causes issues with pb quality, but i must really test it first. how i say, 1.48 works great
This CD player is $600 in my country
Do you have it connected with the rca cables?
yup
@@baldmetalnerd why not the optical cable?
@@yojimbo903 Because my PC is wired in to the amp via the optical cable.
ok folks heres my blathering 35 min ramble where a cd player is a cd player and like dacs they pretty all much sound the same, digital audio all sounds the same yada bla ho hum.
relevance
Ok folks here's someone who just likes to whine
This or Denon dcd 600ne?
Either or I suppose.
I have been on the lookout for a cd player since my Onkyo Dx-390 6 disc changer took a dump on me a few days ago. I had a long talk (and I did a lot of research myself) with Crutchfield and I was suggested to get the Yamaha CD-S303. The main reason is that I listen to a lot of Dance music and I prefer my music to sound crispy and tighter but not so much warmth (Like the Denon DCD 600NE, Cambridge AXC35 and the Onkyo C-7030. ) Hope this helps :)
Yes, it is true. Denon has a warm sound. I mainly listen to classical music and the other day I played some Baroque pieces written for organ, and it sounded as if living gold was coming out of my speakers. Immaculate. But ultimately, in terms of the sound, I don't think you can go wrong with choosing either Yamaha, Denon or Cambridge Audio. Allegedly, they all sound pretty good. That is not the issue. The real issue is the question of reliability, and in that respect I've read some pretty nasty reviews concerning modern cd players. The Quality Control in Eastern countries producing audio gear has become problematic.
OMG Get to the point !!
It's a CD player there's the point.
Your reply was as interesting as your video. If you think I am being a little facetious in my unrequited attitude then my advice would be to Get To The Point a lot quicker in future ! @@baldmetalnerd
@@user-qg6yf1pu4l Well your feedback is as constructive as a flat tire. So I'm REALLY taking it to heart if you don't like it don't watch it but thanks for the engagement!