JVC CD Players
JVC made its earliest players in Japan, but production for most shifted to Singapore during the latter years of the 1980s, which was earlier than many competitors. I've sifted through the second-hand market on Ebay, and JVC's players, in terms of syling, were remarkably consistent, always spare and somewhat elegant. The players are usually finished in black; silver is harder to come by, and the writing is kept to a small sized font, so they never seem cluttered or busy. They make a line of single-tray players, a line of cartridge-based multi-disc players, and a line of carousel-style players. Of the single-tray players, JVC offers an offset tray and a centered tray chassis configuration, and I like both of these.
I used to own the XL-FZ258, a carousel with optical out. It may just be the most utilitarian player out there, and JVC must have sold a zillion of them in the U.S., because you can pick them up for $65-100 all day long.
The more I look at them, the more it seems to me that the JVC players occupy a high-value segment of the secondary market. What you get for the money seems like a good deal.
Side-positioned single tray players with Digital Out
These are designated XL-ZXX, as opposed to XL-VXX. I don't think any V-labeled player has a digital out. Not one that I have seen, anyway.
Center-positioned single tray players with Digital Out
I ran across one and then I couldn't find it again. It was XL-4xx or something like that.