New CD player shopping

Ol' Ken

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
My erstwhile NAD C521BEE is past it's best before date, after numerous cleanings etc it has again started to act up again ...no disc error and skipping frequently.

I am looking at the ROTEL RCD-1570 which will match the RA-1570 currently in use.The 1570 reportedly sounds markedly better with balanced cables bypassing the integrateds built in DAC

OR

get almost any other CD spinner and use the built in dac in the integrated. The Marantz 5XXX,6XXX, NAD CD players and of course the ROTEL CD14 are available locally.

Looking for reliability and great sound

Views and opinions welcome
 
My erstwhile NAD C521BEE is past it's best before date, after numerous cleanings etc it has again started to act up again ...no disc error and skipping frequently.

I am looking at the ROTEL RCD-1570 which will match the RA-1570 currently in use.The 1570 reportedly sounds markedly better with balanced cables bypassing the integrateds built in DAC

OR

get almost any other CD spinner and use the built in dac in the integrated. The Marantz 5XXX,6XXX, NAD CD players and of course the ROTEL CD14 are available locally.

Looking for reliability and great sound

Views and opinions welcome
I would hold off on the Rotel. They will be releasing the RCD-1572 later this year. However you might get a close out on the 1570. But the new 1572 has ditched the slot loading mechanism for the traditional drawer based transport. The RA-1570 is being updated to the RA-1572 as well.

All the other players you listed are great units and probably equal to whats in the Rotel. Which is also really good.

The equivalent to your old player is the NAD C516BEE. A solid unit and transport. Probably the safest and cheapest bet at 300. The Yamaha CD-S300 is also a real solid unit.
 
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Don't know your budget, No hesitation saying begin looking at the OPPO BDP 105, And end with the UDP 205. Plus you get the nicest HiDef picture as a bonus. These 2 machines are all about analog playback first and foremost. I've heard them both. They are serious.
 
Not a big fan of slot load CDPs. The Rega Apollo-R is in that price range. Simple and reliable design.

I'm very much for affordable CD players as a transport into a good DAC. That will give you flexibility and will likely be more affordable in the long run.
 
Thanks for all the input going to the big city today to check out some CD spinners. Called the dealership I normally frequent and the owner says he can give a "deal" on the floor model RCD-1570. The have none in stock and tend to order each individually. I could also order a new discontinued RCD-1570 or the new model RCD-1572 .
AND

I could buy a NAD C516BEE for about $400.00 CDN and use it as a transport.

stay tuned for more info....
 
I second Rotel, but newer model would probably be worth the wait. I have been using a 1072 for many years with no complaints. I like it better than a $5K McIntosh CDP I played with last week.
 
Brought home the demo RCD-1570. It feels much more substantial than my old 521BEE. Four pounds heavier... The CD spinner was hooked up to B&W cm10s thru other Rotel bits..sounded just fine to my ears. Had a listen to some Bryston Middle Ts attached to a Moon Preamp and CD player and the amps were Emotiva mono blocks (curious combo) bags of brute power but lacking in finesse, the soundstage was only between the speakers. The Rotel/B&W setup had a much wider soundstage to my ears..
Anyway the 1570 had very few hours on it according to the store manager and it needs about 40 more hours to break in.. Gonna get XLR connectors once my wallet gets over the shock, using digital for now...

Thanks for the input
Happy listening all
 
Had a listen to some Bryston Middle Ts attached to a Moon Preamp and CD player and the amps were Emotiva mono blocks (curious combo) bags of brute power but lacking in finesse, the soundstage was only between the speakers.

Odd...very odd combo. The new speaker by Bryston are really good and sound fantastic with their new cubed series amps....that's what they should have been paired with.

Enjoy the new player and post some feedback on it when you can.
 
They had some Byrston separates attached to B&W 802s...I'm thinking the Emotiva/Moon set up was an ad hoc arrangement
 
Made a mistake it wasn't Moon separates it was Classe gear connected the the Emotiva amps
 
How come you don't use the standard analog outputs on the RCD-1570 ? Seems silly to buy that CD player and then use the amp's DAC and not the CD players. Maybe I'm missing something.
 
How come you don't use the standard analog outputs on the RCD-1570 ? Seems silly to buy that CD player and then use the amp's DAC and not the CD players. Maybe I'm missing something.

Affordable CD transports are very limited (Cambridge CXC comes to mind), with most carrying fairly high price tags. I think the OP was looking at the flexibility of a CDP used as a transport into the DAC of his choice.
 
Affordable CD transports are very limited (Cambridge CXC comes to mind), with most carrying fairly high price tags. I think the OP was looking at the flexibility of a CDP used as a transport into the DAC of his choice.
Your probably correct. But I would imagine the RCD1570 would be a nice step up over the DAC in the RA1570. Probably not night and day but noticeable none the less.
 
How come you don't use the standard analog outputs on the RCD-1570 ? Seems silly to buy that CD player and then use the amp's DAC and not the CD players. Maybe I'm missing something.

Ran out of "decent" interconnects just have the cheap unshielded types left..
 
Researching the many threads on AK concerning this subject I got the Onkyo C-7030. Some comments complained about failures, but almost everyone likes how they sound. I am very happy and consider it a bargain at under $200.
I hear their customer service in case of failure is good.

How well does the Onkyo track CDs with minor flaws? My Magnavox CDB-650 is starting to have some problems after nearly 30 years, so I'm looking for a new player. Since I plan to use it as a transport with an external DAC, the player's DAC quality is unimportant. The last time the Magnavox got sick, I bought a Yamaha DVD-S1800 combi player to replace it. I ended up fixing the Magnavox and putting it back into the system because the Yamaha struggled to track CDs that played with no problems on the CDB-650. I'll check the Onkyo out if it's a good tracker. If it's only so-so at tracking problem CDs, I'm open to recommendations of other drawer-loading players as long as they're not made in China.
 
Found a pair of shielded cables hidden within the "cable bag" down in the basement. The analogue connection is better than the digital to my old beat up ears.. Played about 5 or 6 CDs thru the player. Really very, very close to the turntable rig for SQ ( P3-24/PSU, rewired RB301, Denon DL-103, Jasmine LP2.5DU).
No buyers remorse at this time...
 
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