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I Tested 6 Portable CD Players So You Don't Have To

Passion for Sound

30,811 views

The FiiO DM15 costs $270. The xDuoo CDM-10 costs $429. I tested both — plus the FiiO DM13, Shanling EC Zero, Shanling EC Zero T, and Dunu Concept R — to find the best portable CD player for the money. The cheaper one wins. But the full story is more interesting than that.

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🎧 Gear mentioned in this video:
• FiiO DM15* — https://tinyurl.com/FiiODM15 or https://amzn.to/3Tu8sMk
• xDuoo CDM-10* — https://tinyurl.com/CDM10Global or (US) https://tinyurl.com/CDM10US or https://amzn.to/4wbu7Hz
• FiiO DM13* — https://tinyurl.com/FiiODM13US or https://amzn.to/44DATKf
• Shanling EC Zero* — https://amzn.to/4whFOfS
• Shanling EC Zero T* — https://amzn.to/4yywLIZ
• Dunu Concept R* — https://amzn.to/45idD4A

*affiliate link - thank you for your support!
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💡 This video is sponsored by Dekoni Audio.
Use code PASSIONFORSOUND10 for 10% off your order:
👉 https://dekoni-audio.myshopify.com/di...

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In this video:
• Why the FiiO DM15's R2R DAC circuit gives it a more spacious, refined sound
• What happens to the DM15's soundstage when you plug in external 5V power (not good)
• How the xDuoo CDM-10's vacuum tubes and upsampling change the sound — and whether they're worth the price gap
• Where the Shanling EC Zero T and Dunu Concept R fit if you have more to spend
• Which portable CD player I'd actually recommend under $500

⏱ Chapters:
00:00 FiiO DM15 & xDuoo CDM-10 review
00:59 DM13 baseline
01:21 DM15 sound quality
03:18 Design & features (DM15)
05:03 CDM-10 design & features
08:44 CDM-10 sound quality
11:39 Other portable CD player options
13:14 Premium options
14:04 Final thoughts

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I'm Lachlan — musician, audio nerd, and your guide to making sense of the hi-fi world. I make videos about headphones, DACs, amps, and portable audio gear — no hype, just honest impressions.

YouTube Memberships: https://bit.ly/PFSMember

A huge thanks to YouTube channel members and those of you who leave super thanks on videos like this one. It genuinely helps keep the channel going.

#PortableCDPlayer #FiiODM15 #PortableAudio #Audiophile #CDPlayer #FiiO #xDuoo #Shanling #HeadphoneAmp

20 Comments

@PassionforSound Creator 1 month ago Pinned

This market has genuinely gone mad — after testing 6 of these back to back, price and specs told me almost nothing about what they actually sounded like.
I'm curious — before you watched, which one did you think would win? And have you ever paid more for audio gear and ended up preferring the cheaper option?

Drop your guess/pick below — I read every comment and I'll tell you if you nailed it.
Chapters + all products mentioned are in the description.
Thanks for watching — Lachlan

💡 This video is sponsored by Dekoni Audio.
Use code PASSIONFORSOUND10 for 10% off your order:
👉 https://dekoni-audio.myshopify.com/discount/PASSIONFORSOUND10

@nx01craig 1 month ago (edited)

I have, or had ,every one of these CD players except for the XDuoo CDM-10, I absolutely loved the sound of the DM15 but returned it because like the DM13 both of the FiiO CD players have serious issues reading CD's of over 70 minutes causing them to skip, stop playing and sometimes add digital artifacts when playing a 70+ minute CD non stop from start to finish. Not acceptable at all.
The Shanling EC Zero AKM & Zero T are both excellent and sound great.

The Dunu Concept R is my favorite of the bunch, but I did have a warranty issue with a faulty LCD screen and it cost me $78 to ship it back to Taiwan for warranty repairs. It took 5 weeks.
Of all the CD players, The Shanling EC Zero AKM has been the only player that didn't have some sort of firmware or hardware issue. It's a close 2nd to the Concept R.

One unit not tested here that I absolutely love is the Moondrop DiscDream 2 Ultra. ($290) Sounds great, looks great and no firmware issues. The headphone outputs (3.5mm & 4.4mm) don't have the power that some of these do, but still sounds excellent with IEM's and easy to drive headphones.
Keep playing music!

@Mr.Fastrac 2 days ago

A combination of Fiio dm13 + a good DAC + a pair of decent headphones works perfectly well

@philipphegnauer7886 1 month ago

Not watching this video might just have saved me the whole $429. 😅

@elmerseiscientos 1 month ago

I use a cheap DVD player with a coaxial output and I use it for transport. I just saved you $250!

@Doofyguy7971 1 month ago

Thank you so so so much for adding the names clearly in video contents. A lot of channels dont do that so it's hard to go on a website and actually search for the same name since a different spelling could yield a different result.

@TheAudiotaku 1 month ago

Still using a Sony D-33 myself.

@thoughtandword 1 month ago

I got the dm13. Love it. I don’t use bluetooth because it ruins the sound. I use my BW px8s2 with a cable. Man o man what a sound! I’m not atracted to the dm15 because of the tiny buttons and the volume knob. I can control the dm13 with ease from the top. Thanks for the video.

@gldphish6907 1 month ago

Bought my dad the EC Zero and he's been using it daily, completely changed the way he listens to music.

@7switty 1 month ago (edited)

I have 3 of the Fiio dm15 r2r players, I didn't have the desktop mode issue that you had. Yours sounds like it is doing the exact opposite of what it should do. Fiio claims that desktop mode should expand soundstage because of the power boost. Have them send you another one.
One thing that has been a issue with these players, is that on longer cds, it will sometimes skip a bit in certain tracks and sometimes not.
I listen to albums so I rarely have the issue. I really enjoy this player and think the sound is a good upgrade from the dm 13.
Thanks for the video.

@guyforkellis9858 1 month ago

Just Great‼️
You always deliver so much useful detail in so little time
Thanks from a Brit-scriber 🇬🇧

@trinityflow 1 month ago

Thanks for all you do! I really appreciate your insight. I am a big fan of CDs but also enjoy streaming and albums. For me it’s all good and it’s all about the music in all its glorious forms.

@royramos432 3 weeks ago

After much research, and one returned Cayin mini cd mk2, I settled on a Shanling CR60 transport ($299 on Amazon). I connect using it's USB out to my Denafrips 12th iris/ares ddc/dac. Also I'm powering it with LHY 12V LPS. To my pleasant surprise the bass is impressive. The controls could use refinement (eg. pressing close doesn't auto launch play with or without remote control), but the sound is wonderful. The only noise (minor) the mechanism makes is tray open/close, there is no audio noise added to my audio background. The display is very small, but I'm keeping it for the sound. Hope this helps someone. There is no dongle holder, hahaha.

@JustinRoby9311 1 month ago

Usage notes are so useful. Thanks for that! One thing I've seen in user reviews on some of these are notes about, for example, FiiO's Merak player, tending to swallow the first few milliseconds of tracks either on start of the disc or when skipping tracks. I hope that's something the producers of these new players figure out, because it seems like it should be a solved problem.

@PaulsLittleRoom 1 month ago

This is exactly the video I wanted! Yep there are so many of these CD Dacs now, very confusing. I have the Moondrop Discdream 2, sounds fantastic but I don't like the functionality at all.

@TheKizersoze13 1 month ago

I really like my DM15 so far. It’s only been a week and I have only used it around my house as a portable player.

I recently got a p50 to try as a desktop system. I can report back if I have issue. The only issues Inhave had is a read error that needed a basic reset of the unit.

I’ll let you know, how it goes. Still looking for a small unit for downstairs. I had two smsl p150 fail in a month. Wished that unit worked.

@adamarmstrong3991 1 month ago

I really like my Fosi Merak CD player. It's 140$ and offers optical out.

@Yayadays111 1 month ago (edited)

I like dm15, decent price, features and size.
The problem with some other cd player is they have both r2r and tube amp, I haven't heard these in person, but that just sounds like too much colouration to me and almost a wasted unnecessary feature.

In traditional setup we would be stacking and finetuning the sound signature, here it sounds more like they are just putting everything inside a thing and hope it sounds good across all

@pawellpogodin2599 3 weeks ago

I owned a FiiO D15 for about four months. A problem cropped up in the second month: it stopped playing discs. To clarify, the disc would spin and the time display would show the track playing, but there was no sound. This issue occurred randomly—usually after listening to three, four, or more discs. It would then sit idle for two or three days before working again as if nothing had happened. Interestingly, when I took it back to the seller for a return, it worked perfectly. When I left it at the service center for testing, it behaved itself and worked fine, so they just gave it back to me. Maybe it just liked all the attention I was giving it. I even wondered if the problem was faulty headphones, but no—I have plenty of pairs to test with. Of course, it drove me crazy; the player worked when it wanted to, not when I wanted it to. I finally managed to get rid of it and breathed a sigh of relief—I will never buy this brand again. Another major annoyance was the buttons being too small; presumably, that’s why a remote control was included.

@jw8567 1 month ago (edited)

Thanks for the review. I must be really cheap coz I bought the FiiO DM13 delivered for $128. If it turns out I don't like it I will pass it on to my wife.