TEAC PD-301-X CD Player Slot-in Type Black Released in 2022 (Silver)

After having a large collection of vinyl and CDs in storage for some time, I’m finally putting together my “dream HiFi system” for our combination home office and listening room. I originally planned to use my 33-year old Yamaha CD player as a transport as it was in great shape and has digital output. Unfortunately, I found it would not consistently interface with modern Digital Analog Converters (DACs) with the exception of the one in my Yamaha AV receiver, so the search was on for a decent CD transport. Research quickly led me to this TEAC PD-301-X unit. It’s compact, but not too small, beefy and bulletproof, while elegantly and simply styled. Truly a quality piece of kit. When the unit arrived, everything was in great shape, but I was disappointed to find the RC-1323 remote missing, despite batteries being in the box and the remote being mentioned in the directions. BTW, the included directions were in Japanese, but an online English PDF is available on the TEAC website. I contacted the seller through Amazon, and they were great. Within 24 hours, they advised that a new remote was being shipped, and it arrived via FedEx a few days later. Outstanding support - BIG THANKS! As mentioned, I’m using this as a CD transport (vs player) with the digital signal sent via a Blue Jean co-ax to a FIIO K11 R2R ladder DAC, then on into my Willsenton R8 Tube Amplifier. This conditions the CD digital signal using a ladder array of ~200 resistors to take on some of the qualities of a true analog source like vinyl, before feeding the Tube Amp which also helps mellow any possible digital “glare” (if such a thing truly exists… 😀). I’ll mention that so far I’ve had zero issues with the TEAC playing a variety of different CDs. Operation is simple, crisp, and fairly quick. I decided to perform some informal audio testing. I happen to have both vinyl and CD versions of one of my all-time favorite albums, with songs I’m quite familiar with. I set the output levels the same and played both formats staggered by a few seconds through the R8. This allowed me to use the R8 remote to A/B test the two back and forth, while remaining seated in the sweet spot. I’m listening through mass-loaded Totem Arro loudspeakers, reputed to be among the best for smaller rooms. My vinyl turntable is a U-Turn Theory with an Ortofan 2M Blue cartridge feeding a Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 analog phono stage. I’ll admit I’m not likely the world’s most discerning audiophile, but to my ear, I’d be hard pressed to detect any obvious differences between the vinyl and the CD, at least for this particular album. They both sounded warm, deep, and smooth, way more detailed and musical than I’ve ever experienced before. I will note, I could pick out the vinyl mainly due to an occasional click, as my old vinyl still needs proper cleaning. I already knew I had a great sounding vinyl setup, and I’m thrilled now that this TEAC unit coupled with a ladder DAC and R8 Tube Amp will really bring my CD collection to life. As I can also run USB-C digital into the DAC, streaming is covered as well, so I feel my system is fairly well future proofed.

This is a nice smaller size CD player which works great in my headphone system without occupying a lot of space. Slot type CD decks with slot load are hard to find as most small players use top load design meaning one can’t stack anything on top of the unit. It’s not the most resolving DAC but I use it as a transport using the optical toslink connection into my Ifi zen signature+ DAC

The unit is nice and small, the remote is good, and it sounds great. Build quality is excellent. I've had no issues. All discs so far play just fine. I have boxes and shelves of CDs from decades ago that I gradually stopped listening to. I didn't have a legitimate CD player (just an old DVD player and game consoles) and this TEAC player stands out as the only real affordable model by a reputable brand. I realize after buying this and listening to my old CDs that I never owned a good quality player in my life. I'm using this as a player, so it's using the internal DAC. It sounds nice and warm. I'm hearing details in tracks I've never heard before. I would have never stopped listening to CDs if I had a good quality player like this all along.

Purchased this CD player for its small size, specifically to fit on the shelf in an Andover Audio SpinSystem. It’s a beauty, sounds great (even via analog outs), and the FM tuner brings in more stations than my car does. It was expertly packed and arrived from Japan at my USA-west-coast address in days rather than the projected weeks. Great seller! Notable features include CD autoplay on/off; 3-stage display brightness (regular/dim/off); FM station presets; and a nice remote. I likely won’t use the USB thumb drive input. Haven’t tested the digital outs, but may someday move this unit to another system with a digital signal path. Right now, I’m enjoying having this high-quality Teac gem in my smaller system!

Compact. Sounds good. CD and receiver operate well.

It constantly skips and stutters even with new CDs. It sounds good and the radio is a nice addition, but it’s been a very disappointing purchase. I sent it to Teac to fix it and it came back with none of the issues fixed.

Not so good as a CD player or transport. It skips a lot, and it is brand new and the disks I used were brand new. Some of the Japanese reviews state the same issue. I will keep it though for the FM tuner alone. It can send a digital signal to your DAC from the tuner. If you have a nice DAC then your stations will sound awesome.

Love the small size, quality, and features. Not only does it play CDs, but also has a built in FM tuner for listening to the radio, and a USB slot for playing files off a USB stick. In addition to RCA line outs, it also has both optical and coax digital outs so you can use it as a transport, which is what I was mainly looking for since I already have high quality DACs. I tried all 3 types of outputs and they were all excellent but optical was the best in my system. I also have another similarly sized CD player/transport (Cayin Mini CD MK2), which is also pretty good but this Teac sounds even better than the Cayin out of its digital outputs. The Cayin does sound a little better out of its analog outputs compared to the Teac out of its analog but, since I’m using the digital outs, the Teac is the winner here. The pulling in and ejecting of the CD is also better on the Teac. The Teac also seems to deal with scratched discs better and I’ve had no problems playing any CDs on the Teac whereas I had one CD that the Cayin just would not read for some reason. All in all, I’d recommend this Teac over the Cayin unless you will only be using analog outputs. The seller was also excellent. It arrived from Japan surprisingly fast.