JVC XL-MC222 200-Disc CD Changer

I used to get jazzed up about outboard 20bit Burr Brown digital to analog converters with optical connections to a ultra high quality CD transport. Then I realized how much money you spend on this stuff. I spent hours listening at the local hi-fi shops and came away with the realization that, in my opinion, speaker quality is by far more influential on the sound you get than a CD player. The type of amplification also is more influential, in my mind. See my review of the NHT SuperOne speaker for a great buy on speaks.

Back to CD's...once I realized that spending $8000 on a CD transport and DAC wasn't going to (1) help my bank account, (2) impress my friends, or (3) give my a quantum leap in sound quality, I began to look for a practical CD player solution.

Ok, in order to have a solution, you must have a problem. My problem...over 200 CD's. Storage for the jewel cases and constantly changing from this CD to that CD is a PAIN! Enter the Mega changers. You can spend a lot of money here to get a "high-quality" mega changer (see Pioneer Elite, etc.). I am no longer convinced that spending more means better sound quality. You may get more bells and whistles, but don't expect to "hear things in the music you've never heard before."

The nitty-gritty: The unit is fairly big...it eats up every last cubic inch I had left in the entertainment armoire. Loading the discs is easy and straightforward...a door opens, exposing the rotary tray, and you slide in your disc. Jog the dial to the # you want to load/unload, the tray spins to that point. It comes with a big binder to hold all of your CD booklets, allowing you to stow or trash your jewel cases (I stowed mine in the attic). The display shows only disc number and track number, no alphanumeric display for disc titles. The remote is smallish; it has all the buttons you need, though. There is a good pause while changing CD's, about 2-5 seconds depending on how far around the tray you're going. Sound quality is right on par with the bulk of what I've heard on the market today. It has a weird red LED that shines up the side of the frontmost CD, illuminating it...don't ask me why, looks interesting, though.

The downside: Without alphanumeric disc titling, you cannot easily find your CD's. The binder comes with numbered stickers to stick to each CD booklet, so you can find the number you're looking for. This is OK when you first get started: just put all the booklets in alphabetically, and you're set. The problem comes when you add new CD's to your collection and they must either go in at the back or you must reorganize the whole booklet AND the CD tray (we're talking a couple of hours!). Also, with a 200 CD capacity, I have already outgrown it. I have no room to add another unit, so I will most likely upgrade to a 300 CD changer (or wait until 500 is commonplace). I will look for alphanumeric titling/search AND keyboard input.

Buy this unit if you have far less than 200 CD's, don't mind searching by number, and don't want to spend much money.

Don't buy it if you've got close to 200 CD's, hate messing with numeric stickers/binders, or can afford an alphanumeric/keyboard input changer.