Technabob » cd player

Darth Vader CD Player: A Long Time Ago… We Still Listened to Compact Discs

Technabob — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:30:10 +0000

It’s too bad that my entire CD collection is packed away in boxes somewhere in my basement since I converted everything to digital files so I can just carry all my tunes in my pocket. Because if I still listened to CDs, I’d totally buy this Darth Vader CD player.

I first spied this thing back in February, and now you can finally buy it just in time for nobody to listen to CDs anymore. Still, Darth would look cool sitting there on your desk, staring down people, as you watch the spinning platter behind his red eyes.

In terms of features, this thing does have an equally low-tech AM/FM radio, and an old-school telescoping antenna sticking out of the back. It also lets you program the sequence of the tracks on your CDs, which is sort of like a poor-man’s digital shuffle. I suppose you could just skip the whole CD thing, and just plug your MP3 player into Lord Vader’s 3.5mm jack if you so desire.

The Darth Vader CD player is available now over at Hammacher Schlemmer for $69.95 (USD). I think I’ll wait until they come out with a Luke Skywalker 8-track player, or maybe a Chewbacca cassette player.

Darth Vader CD Boombox: I Find Your Lack of Built-in MP3 Playback Disturbing

Technabob — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:31:25 +0000

While a CD player isn’t exactly cutting-edge technology, I still like the idea of a sound system that looks like Darth Vader guarding my desktop.

Jazwares‘ Darth Vader “CD Boombox” doesn’t really qualify as a boombox in my book, but it definitely qualifies as a CD player and most definitely qualifies as Darth Vader. Sure, the light up red LED eyes aren’t exactly something Vader had in any of the Star Wars movies, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have. The player has built-in speakers, and while it doesn’t have built-in MP3 playback, you can connect your media player and use Darth’s speakers to listen to Cantina Band. And from the looks of that antenna sticking out behind his dark helmet, I going to go out on a limb and guess Darth has an FM radio built in too.

There’s no word on when you’ll be able to buy one yet, but we do know it’ll retail for $69.99 (USD) when it eventually arrives from a galaxy far, far away.

[via Chip Chick]

Steampunk CD Player Ready to Play Industrial Tunes

Lambert Varias — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:05:04 +0000

While this CD player isn’t as hardcore steampunk as the vinyl player we featured a couple of months back, the craftmanship is really great. Steampunker extracted the guts of a plain CD player and speakers and decked them in brass and wood.

I’m not 100% sure, but judging from the pictures the gauges on the CD player seem to measure the output on the left and right channels. Here are more pictures, including the pre-steampunk case of the CD player and the speakers:

Check out Steampunker’s website for the detailed walkthrough. Aside from the instructions (originally) being in Russian, there’s a fair bit of Dremel action and woodworking involved. No steam engines though.

[via Hack A Day]

Onkyo Debuts Cool Retro Style Audio Gear

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:56:34 +0000

I was a child of the 80′s, so I tend to remember all the weird stuff we had back them. The bright colors, questionable wardrobes, and gigantic electronics of the period are what I grew up with. Onkyo has unveiled a new line of audio gear that includes a range of audio components that has some retro 80′s style.

The only one of the new components that really looks like the 80′s I remember is the M-5000R amp with the big analog gauges on the front. My dad had a stereo with some gages like that on the front when I was a kid. Onkyo is showing of the M-5000R amp, the P-3000R pre-amp, and the C-7000R CD player at CES.

The gear from Onkyo has high-end features like DIDRC works to improve sound quality. The P-3000R preamp has AES/EBU digital connectors and USB inputs for PC audio. It also has a Burr-Brown DA and more. The M5000R amp has 8-ohm FTC rating and 80W of power per channel with a dynamic power rating of over 450W into 1 ohm. The C-7000R CD player is a high-end device as well with a silent disc mechanist and die-cast aluminum tray. The P-3000R sells for $1699, the M-5000R sells for $2499, and the C-7000R sells for $1499.

Vincent Audio C-60 CD Player is C-Razy Expensive

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:28:28 +0000

There are lots of things that I would squander $5,000 on and not think twice about. Most people would probably think these things were a waste of money. None of the ways to part $5K from my wallet has anything to do with music though. I mean, I can listen to tunes on my PS3 already.

I guess for the sort of folks that consider themselves audiophiles listening on a plain CD player or the PS3 is sort of like a muscle car enthusiast driving around in a minivan. Still, the Vincent Audio C-60 CD player is crazy expensive at $4,695. That much money gets you a CD player that has both vacuum and solid-state output stages.

The output stage can be changed with a remote control to give the vacuum tune sound that some audiophiles apparently like. The device has a top-loading CD tray that promises to skip no bits during playback. The thing has balanced XLR output along with unbalanced RCA, coaxial optical out, and digital outputs. Still, for $4,695 this thing better be delivered to my door lovingly packed between the massive fun bags of Jessica Simpson.

Muji Wall-Mounted CD Player: Pull String, Hear Music

Lambert Varias — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:45:44 +0000

Now this is something I really really want: a stylish, easy-to-use CD player. Pull the string to turn the player on, pull it again to make the player stop. The volume and search buttons are on top of the player. That’s all there is to it; beauty in simplicity. You can see the Muji in action at the beginning and ending of the trailer for Objectified, Gary Hustwit’s documentary about design.

The Muji CD player is US-only, and at $178 USD it’s quite pricey too. Order yours at Muji’s online store.

[via Uncrate]

Bacharufurontosaraundo: Kenwood 2 Channel CD Player With Surround Sound

Lambert Varias — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:00:46 +0000

Japanese electronics company Kenwood recently unveiled a currently unnamed and unpriced CD player that incorporates DTS Surround Sensation. Surround Sensation is a technology that allows listeners to hear surround sound even from conventional two-speaker systems (e.g. stereo headphones & speakers). Kenwood claims that their CD player is the first of its kind.

DTS is neat, sure, but… on a CD player? In an iPod-equipped world? This player had better be real cheap, or at least have a USB/mini-USB port so people can link their DAPs into it. Wonder why they didn’t incorporate DTS into a portable player instead.

[via CrunchGear]