[brj]

Hello all.

My main rig is packed as I look for a new home, as is my 15 year old portable CD player.  My workstation at work doesn't have an audio connection to the CD drive.  My borrowed laptop has a dead CD player.  I did, however, retain my headphones.  So... I'm looking for a cheap portable CD player or micro system to drive the headphones and tide me over until I have a working system again.

While I'd love audiophile grade sound, I'm really just looking for something cheap to let me listen to those CDs that I didn't pack before I moved.  Eventually, I'll have audio at home and an audio capable computer at work again, so I'm really looking for the lowest cost solution that will adequately drive my AKG701s to use in the interim.  So... does anyone know of a CD player or micro system for less than $50 (cheaper is even better) that punches at least a little bit outside its weight class?

Thanks!

[chgolatin2]

Micro system for $50 and or portable cd player????    bro, to be honest if you want cheap done even bother asking.  For anything good and reliable you will spend a bit more, also, you can shop around on craiglist, ebay or online for used/refurbished stuff.  You'll be suprised what you find on Craiglist.... Doubt about the $50 system though, lol

[Thelonious Monk]

a portable cd player won't drive the akg k701. my favorite portable cd players that can be had for cheap are vintage denons, and my favorite easily drivable headphones are grados... actually, grados are my favorite headphones period. but you're honestly asking for too much with that budget and those headphones. you would definitely need a headphone amplifier to make the k701s work. to be honest, if you haven't explored headphones much outside of the k701, i would check out some other brands as the k701 is severely overrated and just sort of boring.

getting off subject. but yeah, vintage denons. great stuff, multibit dacs unlike a lot of pcdps. some good headphones that could be run out of a portable: sennheiser hd595, grado sr225, audiotechnica a900.... plenty more. there are tons of great vintage pcdps out there, not just denons; search around the net for good models by sony, philips, and many others.

edit: if you're really nuts there's stuff like the denon dcp100 and dcp150, which are over $300 used. i own and love the dcp100.

[brj]

The price was more inline with a portable, I agree.  What can I say - I haven't looked at such systems in... well...  ever, pretty much.  I have vague recollections of passing various portables on my way to the checkout line in your average big box electronics store, but that is about it.  And yes, used solutions are just fine.

My 15+ year old (inaccessible) Aiwa CD player did drive the AKG701s to a usable level, although I won't say it was anything spectacular.

Again, I'm not looking for something I want to use forever... just something to let have music again until I find a house and move out of the hotel I've been staying in.  Because it is a temporary solution, I want it to be cheap.  Do I expect "audiophile grade" solutions?  Of course not.  That said, surely some solutions are better than others, even at that price point, no?

(And the only reason I even mentioned the micro systems is because I happened to remember some noise about a particular Sharp 1 bit micro solution a year or so ago... the EX111 or something.  I seem to remember them being tiny and blown out for under $100 at the time.  I haven't paid attention, so I don't know if a similar product had surfaced recently - much less one that could drive headphones.  Actually, that would be the preferred solution, as it could then continue life as a future garage system with some inexpensive speakers.)

Thanks for the comments!

[lonewolfny42]

Brian....check with ETR.... http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=39345.0

[Wayne1]

Here is possibly the cheapest system I have yet to see 

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?id=544129



Less than $20.00 for a "DVD Home Theater System" 

For $80.00, here is a Class T amp and speakers (shown with a laptop for source)



Close-up on amp:



This is available from AudioMagus

Finally, there is the HeadRoom Total BitHead



This is a USB DAC and headphone amp in one box. You can also plug an analog source into it. This should work just fine with your AKGs.

It is currently on sale for $150.00 at HeadRoom