ON TEST
26 AustralianHi-Fi ˹˹˹ƖŘˁʊǒǔǞƖƋɁȧ
Y
oucanblamemyNanafor
thisreview.She’s 89 but
she’sstillassharpasa tack.
She’slostgrandpa,butshe
hasn’tlostherhearing...
orherenjoymentof
music.Butshehasn’tbeen
listeningtomuchmusiclately,becauseher
CDplayercarkedit andshefiguredthather
grandson,thehi-fireviewer,wastheobvious
persontoadviseheraboutgettinga newone.
I startedoffbysuggestingthattechnology
hadmovedona bit,andtherewerebetter,
moreconvenientwaysshecouldlistento
music.ShecutmeoffatthepassbeforeI
couldgettoofardownthattrack.‘MyCDs
havesentimentalvalueforme,’ shesaid.‘They
remindmeof theconcertsDanandI wentto
whenhewasalive,andmostof themwebought
together,sothey’respecial.’
‘ButI couldputthemona harddriveand
youcoulduseyourphoneto playthemback,I
counter-argued.’ Tonoavail,asit turnedout.
‘Myphonescreenis sosmallI canbarelyuseit
asit is,’shesaid. ‘Besides,I havealltheCDsal-
ready...allI wantto dois beableto playthem!’
Asit turnedout,althoughhavinga CD
playercertainlymakesit easytoplayback
CDs,it wasn’texactlyeasyfindinghera suit-
ableCDplayer.Slot-loaderswereoutbecause
hereyesightisn’tthatgreatandherhands
area bitshaky:I didn’twantherdamaging
herpreciousmemories.Costwasdefinitelya
factor,complicatedbythefactthatwhatever
I boughtherhadtosoundgoodbecause,as
I said,herhearingis stillfine.Anyway,once
I’druledoutslot-loaders,andmulti-disc
carouselCDplayers(toobig!),andthereally
nastybudgetmodels,onemodelstoodout
headandshouldersaboveallothers,butIhad no idea what it was like because I’d never
reviewed it and, much to my amazement, I
couldn’t find a single review of it on-line.
But I can recognise a golden opportunity
when I see one, and I wasn’t about to miss
the chance of being the author of the only
on-line review of a Yamaha CD-S300 on
the planet, but Australian Hi-Fi Magazine’s
editorial policy is ‘Print first, then on-line af-
terwards’, so let’s hope that no other reviewer
beats me to it in the meantime...THE EQUIPMENT
The Yamaha CD-S300 might be a budget
machine—in fact it’s the lowest-priced CD
player in Yamaha’s fairly extensive line-up of
CD and SACD players—but it’s built pretty
solid, so Yamaha is obviously not going to
sacrifice its hard-earned reputation for build
quality just because it’s a budget machine. It
also can’t afford to skimp on quality because,
unlike most manufacturers of CD players,
Yamaha offers a full two-year ‘parts and
labour’ warranty on the CD-S300... and that
includes the laser mechanism!
When you pick a CD-S300 up, you’ll im-
mediately feel there’s real heft in the weight
of the all-steel chassis (3.5kg) and, because
there’s no plastic, there’s no flex either... and
this despite not being particularly large, at
standard component width (438mm), with a
depth of 260mm and a height of just 86mm.
The thinness of the chassis is made possible
because Yamaha has used quite a thin CD
tray. When you press the ‘Eject’ button to
bring it out you’ll find that this tray is not
only quite thin, but also all plastic, so it is a
little flimsy—but it’s still perfectly serviceable.
Once you have tray-loaded your CD
(which can be an ordinary Red Book CDor one containing MP3 or WMA files that
you’ve burned yourself onto either CD-R or
CD-RW), playback can be controlled using
either the pushbuttons on the front panel
(Stop/Play/Pause/Skip-Search: Forward/
Reverse) or on the small infra-red remote
control that is supplied with the unit.
That remote control adds the additional
playback options of programmed playback,
repeat playback (track, disc, programmed
list, and A–B repeat) as well as random track
playback. You can also switch the front panel
display to show the elapsed time of the track,
the time remaining on the track, and the
elapsed time on the disc. And because the
CD-S300 is compatible with CD-Text discs,
you can also switch the display to show Al-
bum Name, Artist Name and Track Name.
The infra-red control also allows you to
dim the brightness of the front-panel display
through four different settings, plus you
can turn it off by activating Yamaha’s ‘Pure
Direct’ mode which, as implemented on the
CD-S300 also switches off the digital output
circuitry, which Yamaha says: ‘achieves theIt sounds great, it’s
got pretty-much
every disc playback
mode you could
ever want and it’s
well-built, with a
generous warranty
YAMAHA
CD-S300
CD/USB PLAYER