Temperamental

According to Crutchfield's records, I have had this CD/SACD player since January 2016, but I finally got sick of its idiosyncrasies and have replaced it with a McIntosh MCD600. As many have noted, it takes a long time to read and load any CD, but some CDs it takes a very, very long time to read, some CDs have to be presented to the machine 2 or 3 times before they will load, and some CDs it won't load at all. It also doesn't like cheap CDs e.g. the Brilliant label - in many cases it plays them, but with a tac-a-tac-a-tac sound over the top. Worst of all though, are SACDs: they suffer sound drop-outs - the sound just cuts out for several seconds, then resumes. I have progressively adjusted the Digital Phased Locked Loop bandwidth from the default setting to the highest, but it makes no difference. The machine will not play any one of my 30+ SACDs all the way through without at least one drop-out. When you read the specifications of this CD/SACD player, it sounds like a superb machine. It is also the heaviest CD player I have ever come across. Trouble is, it just doesn't work very well. (The MCD600 reads fast and plays everything, all the way through).

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Endless LOADING Loop after less than 7 months

First off, I've learned to love this unit since I purchased it in Feb '21 and would have rated it 5 Stars up until today when it has decided not to play standard CDs, just stuck in an endless "LOADING" loop. When it decides to load an SACD, which is not often, it will begin playing but when a front panel button or a remote button are pressed the display freezes but continues playing...I have to power it down before I can get it to do anything. I'll update this review after I deal with Yamaha customer support to see where that gets me.

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Beautiful, built great, and sounds exquisite!

Firstly, if you are using the DAC functionality of this device with newer versions of Mac OS, make sure you download the latest drivers from Yamaha's website or you could have problems with dropouts & audio quality. My first option was the Marantz SA-11S3 but its DAC feature does not work with new versions of Mac OS and Marantz can't or won't update the drivers to fix it! Back it went... Now, for the good stuff...this Yamaha CD-S3000 is an exceptional unit. Excellent build quality and a beauty to look at. Sound is encompassing and a dream to listen to. It isn't cheap, but it is a bargain compared to some other snobby-branded units. Yamaha put everything they had into the design of this player and it shows. I would put it up against anything more expensive. Anything beyond this is overkill! I look forward to many years of enjoyment...you should too!

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