I bought a CD player in 2025
Why I bought one and how I bought it
I bought a music player in 2025.
I started collecting CDs in 2023. I've got quite the collection but no good way to play them besides in my car. I'm saving up to buy a beefy, old school stereo system from my older sister (complete with speakers and a 5 disc changer).
I wanted something small and portable I could tote around with me, either in the house or out and about. I wanted to keep things relatively cheap.
I bopped around looking at different brands and models. There are some new brands making modern CD players with all the bells and whistles you'd expect. I wanted something more simple and low key.
In the end I went for a GPX PC332. Reviews were scatter shot across multiple shopping platforms; I looked at the manufacturer website, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Amazon. I even saw it listed on Home Depot, lol.
Eventually I found an olive green variant on Walmart. I liked the look of it so much that I knew right then and there it's the one I wanted to get.
I've vowed to de-Amazon my shopping, but I had $12 left on my Prime Rewards credit card, so I used it to buy the player. Then I spent $9 ordering a pair of Sony ZX headphones. The Sony website listing as a mic, but the version without a mic is half the price.
All in all, I spent ~$20. After controlling myself for all of February not buying anything beside the essentials, I was itching for a treat. I think I'm gonna make March a no-buy month too—my pocketbook is gonna be pretty slim after bills come out, so it's best for me to save again. But my birthday is March, so I've just decided this is my birthday present to myself.
Unboxing
Eagerly awaiting for my package to come through made me think of the Unfulfilled song from South Park lol. I was sitting in the living room and out of the corner of my eye saw a glimpse of a blue vest through the front windows. As soon as I heard the van depart, I popped outside and snatched the box that was waiting on my stoop.
Here it is, fresh out the box:
Listening experience
My first pick to spin on this bad boy was the best album of all time, Spiderland by Slint. The CD wasn't in the case though (I haphazardly swap CDs in and out of each other's cases in the car).
My next pick was the second best album of all time, Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eillish. Like the discography of my favorite band, Radiohead, HMHAS is full of intricately layered and produced tracks that lend well to intimate, analog listening. Let's just say Birds of a Feather hit extra fucking hard.
The sound quality isn't orgasmic, but I wasn't looking for that. To be fair, it isn't half bad.
I'm not snobby enough to posit that analog devices and physical media are inherently higher quality than digital media on streaming services. If there are any differences, they are marginal at best. But there's something about it, man. It feels so intentional and cool.
Scrolling through Spotify to put music on feels the same as browsing Netflix for a movie. There's just too many options and algorithms at play. I'm paralyzed by infinite options—and at the same time, unsure of how much my personal choice actually matters.
Walking up to my shelf full of CDs I spent years collecting and handpicking an album is an entirely different experience. It's a whole process to pull out the CD, load it up, and hit play. I'm not just putting on music—I'm sitting down to listen to music. And I'm listening a lot closer. I've picked out little bits of production that I never noticed before, and I've listened to this album literally hundreds of times.
A nosy girl
Marley took interest in what I was doing, so here's some pictures of her interrupting my listening sesh.
Miscellaneous notes
Chassis
A few of the reviews for this thing said that they recieved a broken unit. I thought I did too, at first. But actually there's just a divot in the back for the lid of the hinge.
Anti-skip
I'll be curious to see how the anti-skip fares with more use. I picked up the CD player to take a picture of the hinge and it skipped; I put the anti-skip on and picked it up again to test, and the playback remained seamless. I want to take it with me for walks in the woods, so I'll post again after I test it out in the field so to speak.
Bass-boosting
There's a bass-boosting mode but it sounds like trash haha. It's all noisy and crunchy, like the music has been run through an industrial grinder meant to chew up busted cars. I don't know if that's due to the player itself or the cheap headphones. Not really a big deal to me.
Power supply
This thing runs on two AA batteries and AC/DC input (no cord). I popped in two rechargeable Energizer batteries. Once I get a power cord, I'll test it out. Some reviews said it sounds better that way.
I heard mixed things on the battery life. I'll update when I get a better gauge of how long it lasts.
FM Radio
I briefly tested the radio out. Not gonna lie, it's kinda dope to have a portable FM radio like this. I'll probably use it a lot over the spring and summer sitting outside in the yard.
There's no display with the radio on, so you're blinding switching through stations. No big deal to me.
Final thoughts
My first impression is that I'm pretty stoked about this thing. The true test will be how it holds up to extended use. I'll post updates as I continue listening.
If you're thinking about diving back into physical media at all, I highly recommend it.
Take care. <3
Update #1 (03/03/25)
Bought a pair of over the ear headphones for my CD player.
The first pair I bought were cheap on the ear headphones. They were uncomfortable and didn't sound great.
This pair sounds a lot better. I think it's comfortable? Lol. I haven't worn a pair like this before. They fit fine around my ears but there's pressure on parts of my head I'm not used to feeling. I'm hoping I can get used to it.
Here's a picture of me wearing them.
[Click here to see the original post for this update.]
Update #2 (03/10/25)
I'm giving up on headphones. I guess I thought they were required to have a really good listening experience when playing music.
I've tried three different pairs since buying my CD player, both on-ear and over-ear. They all annoyed me for different reasons and were uncomfortable one way or another.
I gave up and bought a nice pair of JBL wired earbuds, and I'm having a much better time. They sound good, too.
I think I just hate having stuff over my ears. The headbands always seem to put too much pressure on the top of my head. And my hair always bothers me somehow when I wear them...etc, etc. I'm not beating my own allegations of being autism-adjacent with all these sensory issues, lol.
[Click here to see the original post for this update.]
✘ Posted on — 03/01/25
✘ Last modified — 5 months, 1 week ago
✘ Link — https://blog.xavierhm.com/i-bought-a-cd-player-in-2025