The compact disc was once a ubiquitous format. The generation-defining format was the way to listen to music, combining high audio fidelity with immense portability and sheer convenience besides. The humble CD has been overlooked in favour of tech both newer and older in recent years – however, and at just the right time, the great CD rehabilitation is nigh.
And with this rehabilitation comes a naturally renewed interest in ways of listening to them. This is especially true for portable CD players, which are making a comeback all of their own. Not only do portable CD players re-unlock the potential of your CD collection (and of your charity shop’s undoubtedly-bulging CD racks), but they enable a considered, focused, even tactile listening experience at home or on the move. Put simply: you need one of these in your life. But which one do you need?
Quick list
FiiO’s DM13 is a gem amongst portable CD players. It combines rugged and seamless portability with the functionality of full-size hi-fi CD players, and does so while looking kind of snazzy as well. This’ll be just as at-home in your bag or in your living room, and will sound good however you tap its audio.
The KLIM Nomad is a different kind of ‘does-everything’ portable CD player, that offers some genuinely surprising features in a genuinely wallet-friendly package. A great CD player with an FM radio build-in, this device also has a TF card reader that can handle up to 32GB micro-SDs – ideal for bringing your digital collection to your car.
The Oakcastle CD100 is a no-nonsense portable player which does exactly as it says on the tin. An integrated rechargeable battery with a 12-hour life makes this an excellent all-day device, and its austere-ish casing design suits it to both your pocket and your car’s dashboard.
The Aiwa brand is back once again, and again with some retro-friendly brilliance courtesy of the PCD-810. This is a portable CD player that can handle CD-Rs and CD-RWs, with a control surface that enables easy exploration of MP3-CD files and folders – and easy creation of your own playlists too.
Philips brings new meaning to ‘sharp’ with the AZB798T – an amusingly-angular boombox that revives old-school portable CD player tradition. It’s a bit finicky to power with batteries, but when you do you get a portable boombox that marries old-school formats with nu-school connectivity (and a loud amp, to boot).
Lenco’s almost-trademark vintage stylings take an unconventional but highly-appreciated turn here, with the CD-202TR – a portable CD player with a transparent plastic case. Relive the glory days of Y2K-era Game Boy ownership with this snazzy throwback device; it takes AA batteries, but that’s also part of the charm!
The Louder choice
✅ Buy if you’re a hi-fi enthusiast: the DM13’s cavalcade of outputs enable it to speak to practically any system, and sound very good while doing so too. It’s a true versatile player, equally at home on the road or…at home.
❌ Avoid if you’re on a budget: The price tag is justified by the sheer functionality crammed into its minuscule frame, but that doesn’t change how much you might be willing to pay for a portable player.
The FiiO brand has come to dominate the latest wave of nostalgo-futurism, at least with respect to this fun niche of portable legacy media players. The CP13 portable cassette player was a slam dunk for tape enthusiasts, and this – their latest – threatens to do exactly the same for CD walkmen-adjacents.
There are scant few CD players on the market that touch every aspect the much-anticipated FiiO DM13 does. This is a CD-centric everything-box orders of magnitude smaller than your average player – and orders of magnitude better-sounding than a fair few genuine hi-fi separates on the market too. Peerless connectivity means this will slot in to practically any system and use-case, from feeding Bluetooth speakers to USB-interfacing with computers.
The DM13 has a built-in battery with an 8-hour life, ideal for a day’s listening out and about; a handy Desktop mode also lets you bypass the battery and power the player straight from plug, so you can dock your DM13 somewhat permanently if you wish. All told, this is an elegant device with an elegant design – and if you can make peace with its cost, possibly the last portable CD player you’ll ever need to buy.
Best for driving
✅ Buy if you’re a digital audio hoarder: the built-in card reader trivialises accessing your digital library on the go.
❌ Avoid if you’re an all-weather rambler: Well-featured and well-priced as the Nomad is, it might not survive harsher conditions or handling.
The KLIM Nomad is quietly a stacked affair, being a portable CD player with some unique features that set it apart from others at its price point. For starters, it’s rare to see a discman-style CD player with a built-in FM radio. This is a smart touch, too, giving you a little more longevity with the device if you’ve only brought one CD out with you.
The next feature, though, is a genuine surprise. The Nomad features a TF card reader, that can accept micro-SD cards of up to 32GB, which is a supremely nifty solution for accessing your digitised collection on the go. This makes the Nomad an excellent driving companion, being its own 800-album-ish CD changer (in spirit, of course).
These nice additions, coupled with Bluetooth connectivity and a built-in 14-hour battery, put the Nomad miles ahead of most other budget portable CD players. As for the actual CD-playing bit, it’ll play practically any CD you chuck at it – and has a 100-second anti-skip buffer for keeping your listening seamless while on the move. A steal!
Best budget
✅ Buy if your needs are simple: You won’t find a better-priced device for simply and reliably playing your CDs.
❌ Avoid if you yearn for more: The CD100 is an essential marriage of old and new, so its bells and whistles number few.
The Oakcastle CD100 is an unassuming little CD player, with an austere black plastic chassis and a basic, easy to read control surface. This minimalist device is a highly affordable portable CD player, with a basic feature-set that will meet the vast majority of needs.
Its 12-hour battery life is more than enough to cover the daily comings-and-goings of the CD listener on the move, and its 5V USB charging makes keeping it juiced easy enough – even if the micro-USB port is a little dated at this point. It does a sturdy job of playing, and its Bluetooth connectivity is especially welcome at this price point.
The CD100 lends itself well to most outdoor jauntery, but is especially useful in the car. Anti-slip rubber feet keep it safely stationed on your dash, and you can connect to your car’s hi-fi either wired or wirelessly. It’s a no-nonsense player, and will do precisely what you ask it to – without hurting your wallet in the process.
Best for MP3-CDs
✅ Buy if you’re a serial audiobook fan: A handy pick-up-where-you-left-off resume function, coupled with somewhat-rare MP3-CD-friendliness, makes this your audiobook narrators’ best friend.
❌ Avoid if you’re big on fidelity: The PCD-810 sounds fine for day-to-day, but audio enthusiasts will miss the clarity and depth of more balanced players.
Aiwa’s PCD-810 is a fun portable player from a classic name in older hi-fi. Though today’s Aiwa is a new enterprise against the various Aiwas that came before, it retains a close connection to the original brand – and makes good on its heritage with robust players like this one.
The PCD-810 is a great portable CD player in and of itself, but its USP is in its handling of CD-Rs and CD-RWs. This is truly a digital device, with a nifty control surface that enables swift navigation of your MP3-CD-R/Ws’ files. Sound-wise, the X-HyperBass boost is a tad overzealous, but the PCD-810BL is otherwise extremely serviceable.
The player runs off AA batteries, but it has a micro-USB input for 5V DC power – and a recharge switch for topping up your rechargeable batteries (some of which can be found in the box). This unit ships with some fun goodies too, including a neat, soft, branded carry-case and some well-constructed wired earphones. You’ll burn through your audiobook collection with this one.
Best boombox
✅ Buy if you’re a mixtape master: CD-R/W and cassette-tape compatibility make this the ideal portable hi-fi for blasting your own mixes.
❌ Avoid if you want a sleek player: It’s loud-looking and a little costly to power portably; you might want something a little smaller in scope.
The humble boombox has all-but disappeared from public life, having been unceremoniously usurped by the wireless Bluetooth speaker – but here, we have a stubborn remnant of tech formats past, in Philips’ AZB798T portable boombox system. And it’s got a CD player in it.
The AZB798T is a portable boombox with a raft of features, some of which are less expected than others. In keeping with convention, this boombox also has FM radio and a cassette deck; in keeping with modernity, it enables Bluetooth connectivity for streaming tunes, offers access to DAB+ radio stations, and will even read MP3s off a USB stick.
The AZB798T can be battery-powered, but will require some old-school investment in D-type batteries (and six of them, as well). This investment is but a gateway, though, to all the adolescent fun of a sharp-looking CD-blasting loudmaker.
Best for nostalgia
✅ Buy if you miss your transparent-blue N64: The clear plastic casing is a rare treat of a throwback design choice, and a fun reliving of simpler tech-times.
Avoid if you like modern convenience: The CD-202TR might take its nostalgic positioning a little too seriously, being bereft of built-in batteries and Bluetooth.
Lenco is a brand perhaps better known for its turntables, which range from suitcase-y retro bedroom spinners to direct-drive DJ-friendly systems. In keeping with its commitment to the formats and design styles of yesteryear, Lenco’s CD-202TR is a love letter to the heights of the CD-supremacy generation. In so many words, it’s see-through.
The CD-202TR is a portable CD player which gamely hearkens to the iconic near-transparency of 90s electronics. It’s immediately clear (eh? eh?) why this device should appeal to the CD rediscoverers amongst us, nailing as it does the aesthetic of millennial tech. Meanwhile, it capably performs as a CD player of that era would perform, with core functions all accessed by neatly arranged buttons that follow the contour of the lid.
The CD-202TR is powered by two AA batteries; if you get the rechargeable kind, you can recharge them via the DC jack input on the device, which can also act as a power source for at-home listening. There’s no Bluetooth connectivity, but perhaps that’s befitting of a device which looks like it remembers the ‘computer room’ in your childhood home.
FAQ
The CD’s recent fall from favour has been slow but sure, with the format having taken a great deal of unjust flak over the years. Despite the CD’s objective merits over most other formats, the hip glamour of the vinyl record posts-revival eventually outshone the CD’s practicality – and the one-two punch of smartphones and streaming services put paid to the CD’s convenience-based supremacy as well.
But the second wind of CD, and hence of the portable CD player, is testament to the endurance of the format – and inextricably linked to streaming-service fatigue. Poorly-optimised audio and poorly-adjudicated AI playlists have turned many music-lovers off the apps, with the high fidelity and near-permanence of the CD there to pick things back up.
Portable CD players enable a kind of focused listening that counters the intention-less meandering of streaming service algorithms, and happens to do so in an undeniably cool retro-ish fashion as well. If you’re in the market for one, there isn’t altogether much to look out for. Most new portable players will already have the same anti-skip and anti-shock technology that was perfected the first time around – but there are some modern features you might be glad to find in your next discman-style device.
For one, you might be better-served selecting a CD player with a built-in rechargeable battery, and particularly so if it’s micro-USB or USB-C; this way, you can treat it just as any other piece of portable tech in your life, right down to emergency-charging from a power bank.
For another, wired headphones aren’t going the way of the dodo, but they are becoming less and less practical in a world of wireless earbuds and headphones. A Bluetooth-enabled portable CD player is much more likely to integrate well into your pre-existing personal-tech ecosystem.
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