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Best portable CD players 2026: listen to music on the go
Jonny blends rigour with the ridiculous to find what works, from chasing Bluetooth trackers nationwide to piercing bin bags with a force gauge.
CDs are back. Sales are climbing again, charity shops are being raided and a generation of people who grew up on Spotify are discovering the novelty of actually owning the music they listen to.
Whether you love CDs for their sound quality or have a library of CDs you'd like to get more from, we've put the best portable CD players from Amazon, Argos, Currys and more through our rigorous testing.
Our testing revealed an enormous gap between the best and worst players. One player couldn't handle even the most gently scratched CD, while others shrugged off damage we'd inflicted with a sharp knife.
We found two wonderful Best Buy models and a Great Value pick that offers outstanding audio quality at a budget price.
How our tests find you the best
Sound
Our listening panel judges vocal clarity, bass and stereo separation using high-quality reference headphones.
Scratch tolerance
We use a knife to carve progressively deeper scratches into a test CD to see which models can still hold a tune despite the damage.
Anti-skip performance
Using a special vibrating plate, we replicate a bumpy commute to see which players lose the rhythm.
We also test...
We gauge how simple it is to swap discs and navigate the buttons, try out any included headphones and measure how quickly the players drain their batteries.
The portable CD players we've tested
The portable CD players we tested are listed below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the portable CD player test results.
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| Portable CD player | Price | Score | Sound | Ease of use | Error correction a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign up to reveal Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations Unlock tableGet Digital access £9.99 per month, cancel at any time. Already a member? | 92% | ||||
| 89% | |||||
| 75% | |||||
| 73% | |||||
| 71% | |||||
| 60% | |||||
| 51% |
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Date tested: September 2026. Page last checked: September, 2026. We're not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
a Error correction: how well the CD player can play a heavily scratched disc. The heavier the scratch, the higher the score.
The portable CD players we tested are listed below in alphabetical order.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best portable CD players from our tests.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations.
Bush CD Player with MP3 Playback
Available from Argos (£24.99)
Outputs 3.5mm headphone jack
Need to know 141 x 141 x 28mm (HxWxD), plays CD, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3-CD, 2 x AA batteries, around eight hours of battery life, 40-second anti-skip buffer
Bush Personal CD Player
Available from Argos (£15.99)
Outputs 3.5mm headphone jack
Need to know 148 x 136 x 27mm (HxWxD), plays CD and CD-R/CD-RW but not MP3-CD, 2 x AA batteries, around six hours of battery life, 60-second anti-skip buffer
Fiio DM13 BT
Outputs 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone jacks, 3.5mm and 4.4mm line out, Bluetooth
Need to know 138 x 145 x 29mm (HxWxD), plays CD, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3-CD, USB-C rechargeable, around 10 hours of battery life, selectable ESP with 60-second anti-skip buffer
Ready to dust off (or start) your vinyl collection? See our guide to the best record players
Fiio DM15 R2R
Outputs 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphone jacks, 3.5mm and 4.4mm line-out
Need to know 144 x 137 x 26mm (HxWxD); plays CD, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3-CD; USB-C rechargeable, around seven hours of battery life; selectable ESP with 60-second anti-skip buffer
Groov-e Retro GV-PS110-SR
Outputs 3.5mm headphone jack
Need to know 162 x 156 x 49mm (HxWxD), plays CD and CD-R/CD-RW but not MP3-CD, 2 x AA batteries, 60-second anti-skip buffer
Groov-e Retro GV-PS210
Outputs 3.5mm headphone jack
Need to know 155 x 164 x 56mm (HxWxD), plays CD, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3-CD, 2 x AA batteries, 40-second anti-skip buffer
Oakcastle C100 Portable CD Player
Outputs 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth
Need to know 140 x 140 x 30mm (HxWxD), plays CD, CD-R/CD-RW and MP3-CD, USB-C rechargeable, around 10 hours of battery life, 100-second anti-skip buffer
How we test portable CD players
Many free-to-access websites review portable CD players using just one tester and base scores on their preferences. These sites may also receive CD players free of charge, directly from manufacturers.
Which? tests are different. Our CD player test scores are based on a panel of testers' findings as well as objective measurements and ratings, and brands can't buy their way into our testing. We select the most searched-for portable CD players and we pay for every single one we test.
We also regularly revisit portable CD players on sale to see whether any more popular models need testing.
We’re not influenced by third parties and we don't accept freebies from product manufacturers or retailers. As a not-for-profit organisation, we have no owners, shareholders or government departments to answer to, so we work entirely on behalf of you, the consumer – nobody else.
Read our full statement of editorial independence.
Audio quality: how good does it sound?
A five-person listening panel rates each player on vocal clarity, bass, stereo separation (whether sounds seem to come from distinct, identifiable points) and how enjoyable each one is to listen to.
Everyone uses the same reference headphones and the same albums, and we queue identical CDs on two players at once so testers can hot-swap between them and hear differences directly.
The best players keep every instrument distinct, the worst blur a song into one muddy wash.
Anti-skip performance: how well can the player function while moving?
Skipping was the curse of the original Sony Discman era, where a small bump or vibration could make the player's laser fail to read a section of data, causing the music to jump forward, repeat a short segment, or briefly go silent, creating a sense of 'broken sound'.
To see how much newer models have improved in this regard, we place each player on a vibrating plate to recreate a bumpy bus or an off-road run, then skip back and forth between tracks to test how smoothly the music keeps playing. We then gradually increase the vibration intensity to see when a player starts skipping.
Some models held on at surprisingly high settings, others stalled and skipped at the very lowest.
Error correction: how well can the player read scratched or damaged discs?
To find CD players that won't crumble at the first sign of wear, we cut progressively deeper scratches into a test CD, and play it on every model at each stage.
The best players still played after the deep-scratch damage we inflicted with a knife, while one showed an error on the first shallow scratch we left.
Ease of use: is it simple to use the controls and change CDs?
Our panel rates how easy each player is to load with a CD and how intuitive the controls are.
We also check the battery life, the range of outputs and whether the included earphones are worth using. (Spoiler alert: they're not. More on this below.)
How we choose portable CD players
To keep our reviews 100% independent, we never accept free product samples from manufacturers or brands. Instead, we buy each portable CD player we test – covering models from Argos, Currys, Richer Sounds and more.
They span a range of prices, from less than £20 to more than £200, and enabled us to find premium Best Buy models alongside a Great Value player that punches above its price.
Why are CD players becoming popular again?
More and more people want to own their music. A streaming subscription is essentially a rental agreement: cancel it, and your library vanishes, and albums can disappear overnight when licensing deals change. A CD on your shelf can't be taken away.
Subscription fatigue plays its part, too; music is often one of several monthly payments competing for the same direct debit. Free tiers of those subscription services have also become harder work, with ads between tracks, incessant prompts to upgrade and algorithms that nudge you towards music you may not want. Listening to a CD is a much more personal experience and gives you a greater sense of control.
Sound quality matters as well. A CD holds uncompressed audio at a quality most streaming services can't match.
Finally, there's the object itself – the artwork, the sleeve notes, the ritual of picking something off a shelf. It's the same pull that brought vinyl back, but cheaper and far more portable.
Are portable CD players any good?
For sound quality, yes. A CD is uncompressed audio, which means a decent player fed into decent headphones will comfortably beat a standard streaming service played through your phone.
The trade-offs are practical, not sonic. You carry one album at a time rather than several hundred. Skipping can happen if you're listening on the move and some players will struggle with scratched, dusty discs.
Reliability
Portable CD players are mechanical devices with a spinning disc and a moving laser, and owner reviews across brands regularly mention players that arrive 'dead 'or stop reading discs after a few months.
This didn't happen during our testing, but it is a theme that recurs in many online reviews, so take care to look after your player: keep it out of dusty, damp or very hot places, don't shake or jolt it while a disc is spinning, store discs in their cases and hold CDs by the edges.
As with all products, keep any warranties or proofs of purchase in a safe place, just in case your player suddenly stops working for no obvious reason.
Poor earphones
If your player comes with earphones in the box, treat them as packaging. Our panel rated every included pair poorly, describing them variously as 'tinny', 'plastic' and 'awful'.
This matters. Feed a mediocre player through good headphones, and you'll probably still enjoy the music. But feed our top performers through some included earbuds, and you might wonder why we're recommending them.
See our guide to picking the best headphones to unlock your music collection's potential
Are portable CD players compatible with Bluetooth headphones and speakers?
Some are, yes, but it's far from standard – most portable CD players still offer just a 3.5mm headphone socket.
Of the seven models we tested, three support Bluetooth: the Fiio DM13, the Fiio DM15 and the Oakcastle C100. These let you send audio wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones or a portable speaker, which is the easiest way to turn a personal player into something the whole room can hear.
But bear in mind that Bluetooth compresses audio, so you'll lose some of the quality that makes a CD worth playing in the first place. If you don't fancy a Bluetooth-equipped player, a 3.5mm-to-speaker cable will connect any model in our test to a speaker with an aux input.
Our audio experts have reviewed the best Bluetooth and wireless speakers