Should I spring for a new Bose CD player?

My personal opinion is that you should get another Bose. It will outlast you and be handed down to your grandkids.

Well, the first one didn’t although it did last about 15 years.

Bose sound quality never justifies it’s price.

Yes, great devices, plus they can do a lot more than a 15 year old model.

Do you have another CD player elsewhere? If you do, I’d go for a player that will allow you to stream music. The CD is dead. So as long as you can still play the ones you have, you can stream music from your computer/phone to a sound system to get better sound quality. We have a Bose ‘thing’, not sure what the heck to call it. We can access radio stations from all around the world on it, but we can stream music from our phones or computers to it. Personally, I think it was overpriced, and if it wasn’t for the radio station aspect, I’d say the Sony speaker I bought that cost about AU$90 does just as good a job of playing streamed content.

And using a streaming service, you can make your own playlists! I’m not sure how much a streaming service costs in the US, but it’s not cost prohibitive here and I really can’t remember the last time I played one of our many CDs.

Bose never did sound great to me, but I couldn’t tell you exactly why. A lot of it personal preference, so you should be sure to listen to one before you buy.

As I said, I have streaming services. Don’t have a second CD player and want to be able to play my CDs in the kitchen.

Then I second @SecondHandStoke‘s point. Bose is really expensive here. I would opt for a cheaper player. There are good brands at much lower prices. Go to a store and listen to the quality. Put the money you save towards a new dress (referencing another question!).

Bose seems overpriced for the sound quality. So many other options of better sound quality for less $ out there these days. Get the smallest, flattest one you can find (with other functions if possible) and tuck it into the kitchen.

The question is: Bose versus something else from another manufacturer?

I have always thought that Bose was way overpriced for the equipment they sold. You can get CD players for a whole lot less than what you would pay for Bose and the difference to your ears would be indistinguishable.

I’ve always consider them overpriced and under-sound quality. Other than that…

I know this won’t appeal to everybody, but to show an alternative, this is what I would do…

1)
Get a little portable CD player
Make sure it has “Line Out” which is the same plug as headphones, but the output right of external speakers
Examples at Best Buy right now:
Insignia NS-P5112 CD $24.99
Insignia NS-P5113 CD & FM radio $39.99
I checked the product manuals, they both have line out.

2)
Get a speaker system.

The options are endless, but for an idea here are a couple that would compete with the Bose for sound quality.

If the Bose is in your budget, a really, really nice $200 speaker is, too, like this ZVOX.
ZVOX SoundBase 350 with Bluetooth

Klipsch – ProMedia 2.1 Speaker System (there are bluetooth and non-bluetooth versions)

Consider the Bluetooth. Even if you don’t use the wireless, somebody you know will. It allows you to play any recorded or streaming music on your phone over the big speaker.

I don’t know if you can find them any longer, but if you have an extensive collection of CDs, Sony manufactured a series of “mega storage” CD players in models that would hold from 50 to 400 discs. When Sony discontinued them, you could pick them up for ridiculously low prices brand new. I already had the 200 disc model that performed flawlessly for 7 years, when I came across an ad offering the 400 disc models for $189. I bought 2 of them and never looked back. The beauty of the things is that you can stack the units and store your CDs in about ⅓ the space required if the discs remained in their covers, and the discs are ready to play. You never have to handle them again. The machines come with a remote that will operate up to 3 units at a time and you can program the machines with your own playlists.

I ripped all my cds to mp3 over a decade ago and have never looked back. Basically everything about a pure digital format is better. If you are still hung up on a bose type item I would say that they have cheaper competitors. We have a little kitchen radio/cd player that came with the house. It mounts underneath the cabinet and actually looks nice. I think they are around $30 new and many will also do bluetooth. Probably can’t notice much difference in sound compared to a bose, not 10x the cost anyway.

If you are willing to shell out Bose money, but want true sound quality combined with ease of use and aesthetically responsible design consider this

The Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2000.

This is a single, self contained unit, thus appropriate for kitchen duty.

It provides the room driving sound that Bose claims but without the frustrating lack of sound imaging found in Bose’s all in one units.

Production stopped in 2004 but I see preowned ones going for in the several hundreds.

I am a second generation Bang & Olufsen user that loves their combination of lab proven sound quality, simplified operation and indisputably tasteful design.

I would definitely go for the B&O over the Bose.