A beauty to look at, with pretty good sound to match. In fact, contrary to the idea that all Yamahas (especially the ones from this era) sound hard and edgy, the 930 sounds full and even leans toward the sonorous and dark side.
The Yamaha also sounds relaxed and natural. It portrays a full and rhythmic live feeling but sadly its highs can lack ultimate air and refinement. Overall a very exciting and engaging natural-sounding player but ultimately (even used as a transport to an external DAC) not as refined as for example the Sony XA50ES (used as player or transport). The biggest downside to Yamahas of this age by now (2015) is that most now have transport issues. Even back then this series was never entirely reliable. The same is true for the beautiful Nakamichi CD players of the time.
Alternatively, the everlasting Philips CDM-1 transport and consorts spring to mind… I have several Philips and Marantz players still stacked away and every now and then I take one out for a spin and guess what? Even after 30+ years they all still play.
