CD Players

There is occasionally in this saturated market place a product that elicits a raw primeval desire to own and nurture.

Surround sound amplifiers come and go with their intemperate changes of HDMI protocols and surround formats.

The sheer conservatism of many excellent UK stereo products never penetrates the aesthetic sensibilities of many a potential music lover.

And then there is this McIntosh reference kit. Like a turbocharged Harley Davidson gate crashing Moto GP it is impossible to ignore, absolutely functional but outrageous design and audio quality.

An immediate object of desire after encounter and audition.

Come and try them

. McIintosh MA12000 Amplifier official site 

McIntosh MCD12000 Cd Player official site 

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Audio Research introduced its first Reference series CD player in 2005 with the Reference CD7, then evolving into the Reference CD8. Both players received critical acclaim for their accuracy and naturalness. People still want to play their CDs, but they also want to add other digital sources such as computer audio and streaming to their music systems, so we created the Reference CD9SE CD Player/DAC. It combines the best of both, a super high-resolution compact disc player with a super high-resolution digital-to-analog converter that is stunning in its musicality.

What Hi Fi? love it ...

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/audio-research-reference-cd9-se

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Sonically, the CD6SE is a stunner, uncovering new musical detail in every corner of your recordings and providing startling dynamics, both micro and macro. The top end is extended, airy and pure, while bass definition and impact are precise and powerful. The recording venues are lifelike, broad and expansive or close-up and intimate, depending on what was captured by the recording engineer. Like great analog, listening to music through the CD6SE draws you into the performance, not just the notes, with resolution and transparency that are in service of the music. Experience your music in High Definition

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Available for audition in-store, with the Chord DAVE. The Blu MkII is a compact, FPGA-based upsampling CD transport which offers the world’s most advanced filter technology. Used with DAVE, the combination delivers class-leading CD sound quality and technical performance. At the heart of the Blu MkII lies an enormously powerful Xilinx FPGA. Rob Watts’ (Chord’s Digital Design Consultant) has used this to create his exclusive WTA M-Scaler technology, which incorporates the most advanced filter of its kind in the world. The Xilinx FPGA has also enabled a key breakthrough in tap-length (the technical indicator of how complex the interpolation filter is) taking Blu MkII to an unprecedented 1,015,808 taps. Learn More

Rega, usually so famous for their excellent turn tables, have launched their new reference class CD player and it is a thing of beauty. Moving away from a naming convention of heavenly bodies (and hence Roman deities) we have something distinctly more Egyptian in the Isis. Learn More

This is the recently released version of PS Audio's CD Transport. And what sets this unit apart from anything that PS Audio has done before and also anything that's been done before by any other HiFi company, is their galvanically isolated output stage. That means that the data is being transfered from the input stage to the output stage via a type of very focused short wave radio frequencies. Any vestiges of interference that inevitably occur when these stages are hardwired, are completely eliminated.

Input and output stages have their very own board and power supply to keep them completely separated as well. FPGAs (Field-Programable Gate Array; if you'd like to learn more about these very handy devices see Paul McGowan's video here) is utilised to ensure clocking and data buffering are spot on. 

The best way to use this unit and unleash its full potential is to use the I2S output or the HDMI out put to a DAC (like the PS Audio DirectStream) that can handle it. In this respect you can hear a complete Raw DSD file...and that truly is another experience. A DSD file is what makes an SACD an SACD. Instead of sampling at a determined fast rate (bit rate) the sine curve of the musical file, a DSD file samples the whole sine curve. These raw files are bigger and have to be compresesd to even push it out of a transport. But not with this unit and the I2S...full blown raw DSD files streaming into your speakers. Heaven.

Of course you can still use this unit without the I2S and it's still devastatingly good. A pair of BNC connectors will double a normal DSD output to make it DSD128 and this connection is particularly scintillating with a Chord Dave...

Read theaudiobeatnik review of the unit here (he uses the I2S connection with a non PS Audio Dac with superb results)

The PS Audio website has some extra reading on this unique product too

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CD is not dead ... it's merely resting a little. In my humble opinion you haven't heard how good digital music can be unless you have heard a Cd or SACD through a really good player like this ...

Considered by many long term reviewers as the standard in SA CD and CD reproduction. The depth of musicality, extraordinary; The imaging, second to none.

The amount of times hardened audiophiles have said to me with this CD player, 'I haven't heard that in that track before', countless. We've put this CD player into a whole range of different types of systems. We find it very versatile as to what it can be 'matched' with and that's also a testament to it simply being a REALLY good CD player.

 "Hi Fi News" on the SA10S1 

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The super cool CD player to match the rest of the McIntosh gear. This unit is an SACD player as well. 

This is a solid unit where detail in the finish is matched by the detail of the sound. 

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A killer all-in-one unit including amplifier, streamer and CD player. And this isn't just a thrown together assembly of various componentry. Each of its parts are in their own right, exceptional value and performance.

Naim products bought from us, a genuine approved Naim dealer, include the full 2 year warranty. 

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A customer has decided to change over his SACD player for a serious streamer and this has meant we have a near new PS Audio SACD player Trade-in in stock.

This is the current Transport! And in immaculate condition.

These are incredible machines. Musical, resolving and detailed. 

These units have won accolades and awards galore.

For example the Absolute Sound gave it The Golden Ear award in 2021.

This unit comes with its box and all accessories.

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Available to Audition in our 164 Lygon st Showroom.

The Antila IIS Eco CD player introduces many unique technical and ergonomic innovations to combine state-of-the-art performance with surprising ease of use.

Leema's latest "Quattro Infinity Multi-DAC" employs multiple 24 bit / 192 kHz multi-bit delta-sigma data converters, specifically selected for their audio quality. These are driven from a fully balanced digital data stream. The result is significantly reduced levels of noise, distortion and crosstalk, thereby producing a breathtakingly real musical performance and a tactile panoramic image.

Read more at https://www.whathifi.com/leema/iis-eco/overview#GSADEh4qRgClhfC8.99

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Every now and then you get a piece of high fidelity that oozes high class as soon as you touch it, The Yamaha 5000 series preampifier and power amplifier have this quality in spades and so does this the highest ranging CD Player in the range of Yamaha high fidelity kit.

In the trade we can go a long way on the tactility of a product as a real assessment of its build quality, That and the less than minor matter of one's reaction to a component's particular sound quality are simply something that can never be realised via internet shopping. this is a device that begs to be individually auditioned.

There is definetly a Rolls Royce feel to this device and it immediately reminds me of the original Yamaha Centennial CD Player the no compromise CDX10000 that was released in 1987 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Yamaha music products.

The CDS3000 is also an external DAC that is a 32 bit device ...

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Synthesis has just released a new Compact Disc Player ROMA14DC+. It uses a pair of  ECC88/6DJ8 on the output stage for warm sound characteristics. The particularly configuration is used to obtain a very low output impedance and extremely large bandwidth.

The Roma 14DC+ has USB "B" type, DSD 5,6MHz and optical input. The 32Bits of resolution give you a fantastic sound stage and a perfect sound reproduction. The TEAC mechanism is specially developed for audio reproduction guarantee at this CD Player high quality performances.

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This is something of a reincarnation product but with rather cutting edge digital disc and streaming tech . . Made in Japan with love. Physically the SA30 is actually gorgeous, the photos don't do it justice, it really exudes a quality aesthetic presence. In combination with the matching amp it is a piece of Hi Fi art that will make people who know nothing about stereo want to go and fondle it inappropriately ...

StereoNet on the Model 30 release 

Marantz UK site for the SACD30 

"Hi-Fi News" loves the Model 30 

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The brand new Cyrus transport CDt-XR builds on a lineage of exceptional reference CD players.

Cyrus is a small brand in the HiFi world hailing from just outside Cambridge, UK where many heavy hitting HiFi players originate. Think Mission, Quad, Arcam and Cambridge Audio. Of course it's not really much of a surprise that such awesome HiFi comes from the University town where engineering excellence and ingenuity are in good supply!

The master clocks of the old Cyrus SE models that are now incorporated into the XR models are what provide Cyrus CD players with their true magic. Timing and rythym is sorted - period.

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We are preparing for the arrival of new models of marantz SA CD players and as such it is time to sell our demo units of the current stock. This particular unit is Black and in great condition. It comes with box and accessories and a three year factory warranty.

Marantz CD players have often been the port of last call for that particular customer that is searching for music in a digital realm where everything measures well but is post apocalyptically sterile to the listening. There is also that small but significant in our fanatics base of people for whom SACD is the only answer. And for them these high end Marantz players are the go to product for real quality and realisation of the potential of the format.

This new piece of kit has been voiced and refined by the Marantz dream team sound engineers and is an excellent external Digital to Analogue Converter for your other digital sources.

 

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A streamer and high quality CD player combined into the one convenient box. 

Leema has been a boutique, well respected HiFi brand from Wales for decades. The Stream IV combines the Quasar's streamer module with their superior CD mechanism for an ultra functional, premium streamer/cd combination.

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A superior high quality CD player where no detail has been overlooked in the circuitry design. Extensive measures have been taken to make sure the inherent jitter from the loading mechanism doesn't reach other sensitive circuitry.

A 32bit DAC is paired with 192KHz Upsampling capability giving tremendous results. 

This high quality DAC can be used separately as well. This means you have a multitude of different options for your digital sources - 2 Coax, 2 optical inputs and Type B USB. You also have the option of RCA or balanced XLR out.

Feature packed unit that doesn't disapoint musically.

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The Leema Antila is a classic CD player. Resolving articulate yet deeply and engagingly musical. 

This is a briliant opportunity to buy our old Ex-Demo stock at a great price. Because this was such a winning formula, Leema haven't changed much in their new version of the the Antila.

There are a few marks and scratches on the unit which is to be expected for a much loved piece of gear that has spent a number of years on the demo floor.

The price of this unit reflects the aesthetic marks on the unit. We have tried to take pictures of all of the slight blemishes.

This unit comes with a box and accessories.

 

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