If old music formats are becoming popular again, CD makes a lot more sense to me than vinyl. But I think the physical experience is a big part for vinyl collectors as well.

Love to see this new generation appreciate CDs. I still like both CDs and Vinyls Good Job ! 👍

AIWA is a well known brand, and AFAIR it's now owned by Sony (for some years now). Back in the 80s they were producing some of the best cassette recorder and walkmans. I still have an AIWA walkman around.

Aiwa was a big brand in the 80s and 90s. I love CD players like this that let you watch the disc spin while playing! Good Score 👍 🎉 P.S.: Thanks for keeping physical media alive. I think sales of cds as well as vinyl has gone up in recent months. Hopefully this trend continues. Cheers 🍻 👏 ✌️

Liner notes and cover art are the two main reasons I continue to buy vinyl and CDs. On my system, CDs and streaming sources sound way better than vinyl, but I keep buying old records so that I can geek out on the notes. IMO, artists don't put much thought into the cover art these days. Take a look at old Molly Hatchet covers... super cool. Look at the liner notes from Tool's Undertow... it's like it was designed by the same guy that did the opening credits from David Fincher's Se7en. Super creepy and actually instills additional emotion as you listen to the music. Without the liner notes, it's like being able to smell the food but you can't taste it as you chew.

literally been obsessed with this player so i randomly searched up the model on youtube to find a review, didn't expect to see one uploaded so recently 😭😭 thank you!

Very good move. The audio experience with a cd player is all about the quality of the dac inside. With a good external dac, listening to cd want only a cheap transport. I have cd that are 35 years old and still working.

That is a seriously cool player. Wish I had one. But my need recently was for a CD changer for my living room system. A new changer now would cost many hundreds; just saw a Yamaha that went for $900. Yikes. So I did what I always do...cruise Craigslist, FB Marketplace, Next Door. Found a nice Sony for $25 on FB. Works great, sounds great. No reason to buy new.

I was wondering how someone could make a 20 minute video on an old micro system from Aiwa. Thanks for pointing out more than specs. Older gear like this was supposed to give an emotional response and I appreciate your impressions and expressing your feelings about the thing.

Wow young man, it's good to see your generation appreciate CDs. I still like both CDs and Vinyls. Keep up the good work 😁👍🇬🇧

Yes I would like it. I collect cds and i have like 300+ cds. I would play some jazz cds. 😊

That’s a really cool CD player! I just picked up a new unit with all sorts of modern bells and whistles like Bluetooth, USB DAC function, etc. But I still have my old Discman with a line out that keeps chugging along. This 90s/early 2000s tech doesn’t die!

thanks for this video, now the younger generation who watched/will watch this will get curious about CDs so it won't die

Great find! This can give you a new appreciation of music. The art of crafting an album has been lost. I started out listening to my parents 33's and 45's. I got my first cassette (Purple Rain Soundtrack) when i was in 5th grade. By the time i hit high school cd's were becoming popular. So i have seen the different medium used to replay music and its effect on how we listen to it. It was common to put the album in and listen both sides. that was the same with tapes, then CD's allowed you to listen without having to flip. Most albums were crafted with that in mind so there was a flow or feel that you got by doing that. It created a connection between the artist and the fan that seems to be missing today with digital singles. As you get more cds start listening to it from beginning to end. you will especially notice this with older artists and music that came out prior to the digital age. I love music, and have made a career out of playing it. (DJ) I hope this retro device allows you to get what us older folks got out of music.

I often see CD players like this and small bookshelf stereos from the 80s and 90s at my local Salvation Army. They’re dirt cheap. I may pick one up just for fun next time I’m in there and see something again.

CD possess the great quality of sound. Uncompressed, dynamic, clean hi-res sound. Each CD is a story for itself: it has artwork, lyrics, different informational details regarding that particular album. Many friends asks me 'why do you collect CDs?' I don't think i collect them, I just buy them, occasionally listen to them, and put them back on the shelves, same as i did 20+ years ago.

It’s always been like this. Ever since streaming came along, over a few years time people realize that it’s never permanent. And while physical media eventually degrades over time, it will last 40-50 years. With good care even longer. Slowly but surely the same is happening with Blu-ray’s as well. I have a full HiFi system with receiver and external amp for both stereo and home theater, have a CD-player, Vinyl player and lots of CD’s and records, and from everyone I know, NOBODY has this. Literally nobody has a system even remotely the same. They all have these JBL boxes (which IMO are pretty great for the money and design), but when they come over and listen they realize it’s nowhere close to the quality of a fully fledged system. Unfortunately it’s also very expensive, so it makes sense the younger generation no longer grows up with these things.

This thing has dual DAC so I bet it has a pretty good sound and channel separation. I have had AIWA portable CD player that was so good that was on par with some quite expensive actual CD players from the back in the day. It also utilized dual DAC ( by looking at your unit, i guess they have same laser pickup. )

I have games on Sega CD that use Q Sound from back in like 1994/1995. Sounds amazing on my trinitron CRT speakers.

Great Find ! Physical Media is permanent unlike Sony deleting your online movies and shows that you have purchased so Having your favorites in a physical format is not a bad idea. AIWA also made some really cool easy to use Minidisc players too.

see through lids are my favorite, although newer releases usually have bland disc art, the ones from 2000s and back always have such pretty art on them I would wanna see them while its playing

Beautiful CD's and CD player too :^)

I had an Aiwa cassette deck back in the day---excellent piece of audio equipment. If you can find one, get it!!

Considering (unless one just literally crawled from under a rock) that *Aiwa* also manufactured some of the baddest boomboxes the light of day has ever seen back in the day, the least bit surprised they also produced some quality cd players, could not be less shocking/surprising to me, if I tried.

I have a new marantz 6007cd player. It's output circuits were derived from the Ki tribute models earlier.. Darn close to vinyl..and unbelievable sound. Even slightly over compressed ones.

Good score. If the fan is noisy the oil in the fan motor is drying up. Just open the case up and re-oil the fan motor or look for a replacement from a respectable brand like Noctua. It will run much more quiet and cooler.

Like literally my dreams CD player since I don’t really have that many CDs and I just started collecting I just don’t have a CD player and I think it’s a really really cute one and I love how you can change the colors on the dashboard

If that CD player is old then I'm a fossil. :)

Great presentation and review on your Aiwa XR-X7 and awesome find at a thrift store. I have found nice things at many local Goodwill's here over the years. I been into the older formats from the beginning. Cd's one of my favorite formats since 1984. I still have my Philips portable player since new. Although CD's were pricey in the early days but later in time came down. I have 2 CD standalone decks. Sony and Teac as I use them to make my own mix CD's. I have found sealed CD-R "music" CD's at thrift stores and now have 400 discs to record and maybe 50 CD-R RW "Music" and the 3" CD-R and RW discs.

Nice find! Aiwa was very good quality brand and they specially made some amazing cassette decks back in the 80's. Your cd player has a nice unique look and features. I am an avid thrift store shopper for cool vintage audio and have found some amazing stuff. I recentley picked up a B&O Beosystem 2500 CD, cassette, and radio system along with a gorgeous Beogram turntable in mint condition with original boxes. I am addicted to thrifting for these awsome audio finds! ALso, you can fix the small scratches on your lid. Use car polish and a micofiber cloth. Just tape the areas that are not the clear acrylic with painters tape and slowly buff the scratched areas with the car polish and the microfiber cloth. This woks, I do this on all my old turntable acrylic covers and they look brand new once I am done.

Cds were Uber before Uber was Uber. If you know what I mean. Compact. Sturdy. High audio quality. Able to hold more music (than vinyl). A wonderful medium. Im glad you are enjoying them and wow, what a great player.

It's a common notion now that "nobody plays an entire album anymore". I fully agree. I used to buy and album and maybe only like 1 song on it. By the time I'd heard it a few times, I liked every song!

Superbe video. Godwill or thrift stores do not exist in Argentina. I so know Aiwa am an engineer from the valvular times so I saw and serviced 70 years of audio and tv. I like that youth like you appreciatw physical media. Cheers Patagonia Argentina

I remember buying this system back in the beginning of the 2000's. For about 3000 DKK/Denmark. I loved it, although the cd player quickly became a bit unstable with playing and the volume knob also quickly became a bit unstable, probably due to poor quality build, sadly. It sounded good with the small speakers that came with it, wish i still had it this day, the design was really ahead of its time.

Great handsome boy with a jewel cd-player!!! . Aiwa is a very common brand in Spain on late 90s and 2000. Very good video!!! Greetings from andalucia ( Spain) .

Aiwa was daughter company of Sony they had a interesting approach in designing to many of their products they where quiet inventive at times you probably could step up your game by hooking it up to good quality dac from the optical out.

That is a cool one. There are some absolute finds at Goodwill if you hit it at the right time.

just found someone near where I live selling one for $20, so I ended up here to learn more about it. and if I'm pretty much sold, I'm still unsure if I should get it aaaaa! ALSO, impeccable music taste omg (A.G. Cook / PCM, Slayyyter, Arca, Charli, YES!!!)

Omg!! I started my cd collection a couple years ago! And I came across your tik tok and became obsessed with this model ! We have similar music taste so I can soo imagine myself with this cd player! I would play my charli xcx album “how i’m feeling now”! “Forever” and “claws” would sound so good!! I also love the function where you can change the display color to match the vibe or album cover of the cd that is being played 💿

Excellent doc. I went retro for the same reasons you explained. Though I chose to get back in the cassette medium. Since im horrible in leaving my cds out, they get scratched all to hell, so I choose to keep them as master recordings and record to cassette. You can leave cassettes out and they won't get ruined. . Unless you leave them in a hot car.

I bought BEATLES White Album-Deluxe Edition five days ago I can’t believe I own it when you’ download, it’s not the same feeling!

My stereo is Aiwa but will need to throw it out it no longer works tried to repair it, but unfortunately they no longer make the part. This is a very nice cd player you found for a very good price.

Very nice - you can’t beat a top loading CD player. Personally I bought a 1984 Marantz CD54 a couple of years ago to replace a Sony PlayStation 1 I’d been using for a while. I owned one (the Marantz) back in the late 80s, and always liked it, so I sought out another - and like your Aiwa, it has personality, and sounds great.

Dude You handled the disc properly in the beginning of the video. Didn’t watch the whole video yet. But that’s literally the first time I’ve seen a disc handle properly by someone other than myself.😮 😅😂

saw your comment on reddit and here to say the same thing that you took the word right out of my mouth when it comes to why i wanna own cds🤣

Cool Cd player! Looks amazing

way to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ive been buying cd's since 1981 & haver NEVER looked back !!!!! I haven't bought vinyl sine 1980......cd's are probably the best sound quality period.....dont have 2 worry about skips or surface noise !!!!!!

Aiwa was bought by Sony in the 80s. If you wanted Sony audio equipment but baulked at the price, you could save a bit by opting for Awia instead as they were basically the same under the hood as Sony. I had 3 Aiwa walkmans in the 90s (HS-P202, HS-PX310, HS-PX347.)

I still have my Fisher ad800 cd player from 1983! Has been retired for the last 20years but it has a value for me. First cd player in town 😎

Great Video, great editing and audio. Well shot. Thanks. Enjoyable video.

You never heard of AIWA? I feel old! 😀

I remember AIWA in Australia in the 90s. We didn't get the good versions of their brand. So wasn't a great brand here. This looks amazing.

I been tryng to find a clear lid CD player for a reasonable price for years, so fair i have found blue ray players and portable walkmans, but no clear lid player.

I’ve always loved music, and it has been such an amazing journey of finally being old enough to be able to collect physical copies of the music I love. And it would be just so great to play my cd’s on something nice. And it’s just such a cool cd player so that’s a bonus ❤️ I’d probably play my K-pop cds first 😭

Get some bootlace ferrules for your speaker wires and crimp them on, they eliminate the problem of whiskers especially with the speaker inputs/terminals on your CD player. You'll probably need 0.75mm to 2.00mm variety.

I totally agree, physical media has unique appeal

i’m sure this never crossed your mind but i think you’re actually missing a piece, the bottom of the metallic circle on the underside of the lid has an insert that is metallic, it’s not meant to be plain white. the pattern is kinda similar to a car tire rim on my player of the same model

You are a young dude. AIWA was a well known brand in the 80's thru the 90's.

It's weird you've never heard of Aiwa brand, but congrats for getting this cdPlayer, it's so beautiful with the transparent lid. Great video, bro!

Good find. This unit looks great.

Because... I'd like to own my music rather than subscribe to streaming... plus it sounds great!

Really great video! This is definitely more attractive than the average CD player I have seen.

Nice player. There is certainly a resurgence in cd listening at the moment, helped by the low price of cds on the second hand market. I have about 1000cds I ripped years ago, but recently bought a nice transport and have gotten back into cd listening. Shanling, a great Chinese company have just brought out a very cool range of players and transports, including the EC mini, a transportable battery powered cd player which is also an excellent digital audio player and headphone amplifier. Also, makes me feel old that you hadn't heard of Aiwa.

A really nice piece of kit! Well done

Aiwa made quality items. I have a walkman from the mid 90s that's Aiwa and works perfectly

nice find ,I have 400 plus CDs ,and still buy them used ❤

Great video! I can’t believe you found that player for such a cheap price. 👍🏼👍🏼

A great find. Especially because of the optical-out. Buy a DAC with optical-in to get Hifi sound. A friend gave me a Philips cd deck, but I don't use it. I buy cd's and rip them to flac, to play on my laptop or phone. I always buy car radio with a cd player. And I have a cheap portable cd player. I hate how some songs are only on vinyl and not on cd.

Jean Jealous of you, bro, looks great!

they made some one the best walkmans back in the early 90s

Bang & Olufsen inspired. Cool top loading format, just add DAC if it has digital output. Almost audiophile level.

I was given a nice denon one last week for free it needed a new belt but fixed and all going now.

I like something physical and my collections are also my memories

AIWA was a very popular brand in Asia in the 90's.

2001 is now over 20 years ago. That’s scary. I’ve just gone for a Brennan B2 which is a CD player with a hard drive and internet radio.

Excellent

I remember AIWA from the sixties. They made decent mid price audio gear. I remember them mostly for their tape decks.

You are lucky, Spencer to find such a wonderful device at Goodwill... I've been a couple of times at Goodwill too (while travelling around the US) But I have never come across anything like that though!)) But I've bought an Elton John cd for 75 cents!!))) God bless GOODWILL!!!)))

That was one thing CDs decided to forgo fairly early on - visual info/entertainment when playing. When I worked at Wal-Mart, the seasonal department had a boombox they played Christmas CD's on, which had the uncommon vertical play feature. I was surprised that the disc spinning seemed to make it sound more "real", but I did grow up on vinyl. I would have grabbed that, too. It's amusing to me that somebody is extolling the tactile virtues of CDs, and they ARE most likely the best bang for the buck format right now. Those pattern CDs look pretty cool spinning.

So it’s a mini hifi not just a CD player. Looks very good

It’s very strange you could find that CD player at Goodwill,because it’s not just “an old CD player”. It was top tier of the brand with pretty high tech inside. And more to AIWA - the brand disappeard from marked in 2000 when bought by SONY.

Optic out ? get a bluetooth optic out transmitter/receiver and an optic cable

i still use DVDs to install Windows every now and then lol because sometimes i am too lazy to make a flash drive or i am dealing with a quite old system damn i used a dvd like a day or twi days after the comment to install windows on my dad's huge laptop a 2009 acer aspire 8935g the core 2 duo version it has a massive 18.4 inch 1080p display and it has a Blu-ray drive

Subbed. Im into cds,tape and vinyl.

Nice find

I like that you found a neat item that works well. I have a unit made by BrookStone that has some nice features. Now this one came with its own speaker system designed to be used with it. Tiny 2-way speakers and a small woofer cube. the power supply cube is also about that same size. I got this at a thrift store as well thinking a niece or nephew might want it. well it had a a CD door problem, It all works as it is but the one hinge is broken. I am pretty good at this kind of thing, but have not figured how to open it up without breaking it. Also the whole market has changed so much. So I was stuck with it. I have been using it as my computer speaker system for many years now. Oh your voice and the sound is out of sync, making it just weird to watch and listen to you talk. It looks like a voice over instead of a live mic.

this were expensive in 90s, and it's hard to find now... nice aiwa player, and this were competition with sony, jvc, philips, panasonic.

I still buy cds, mainly compilation cds from goodwill if I can find them but I use them to rip them raw uncompressed for my dap

The music is not laser etched into the plastic. It's actually "burned" into the reflective metallic layer ( aluminum, usually) within the plastic (polycarbonate to be exact)

Of many cd players, I prefer to buy the ones with pitch controls up to 100% slow & fast. Because for instance, the song When I Need You by Leo Sayer, the song sounds a little too fast. So I like to listen to that song a little bit slower. I’m the cd’s & the cd players, even with pitch controls, are making a comeback, buddy.

Subbed you keep the retro tech coming dude. More retro gaming stuff.

Aiwa was quite popular in Europe in the 80s and 90s. Well known sub-brand of Sony. Not a top notch brand, but comparable with brands like AKAI, Aristona, Nordmende, etc.

aiwa is top quality. part owned by sony or owned by sony but its sony quality for slightly less money. i had an aiwa stack system in early 90's, awesome system.

i had a sony digital radio walkman, auto reverse, the works. was 80 pounds in 1989. 245 pounds in todays money

This is one of my favorite KZfaq videos.

Also playing CD's in the car is much safer IMHO.

That's a nice CD player.

My first nice walkman was an Aiwa, around 1996. I never owned a Sony. It was pretty good compared to the competitors.

I think there's a need for attractive, inexpensive CD players (not those silly ones that add a cassette player & radio all in one). They may bring in younger listeners in the same way Victrola & Crosley brought some folks to LPs. I like the video editing you did on this as well.

Loved Ridge Racer Type 4 😊