Consonance CD 120 Balanced Review (CD Player)

[fordiebianco]

This is just measuring for the sake of measuring. And that goes for all these cd players articles lately.
Rip your CDs to a hard-drive, recycle CD player after that. Done.
No measuring needed.
Well there might be 2-3 readers here who are in love with that "I'll go up now->browse my CD collection->press eject button on my CD player->put in another CD disk->grab a seat->repeat" cycle but they are most likely to eventually get the medication they need.

Some of us appreciate the reviews and the work invested by @NTTY into these. I love vintage gear and have plenty of these around the house. Thaks to @NTTY I know that they are still holding up well compared to newer models. Your mileage may vary, but there's no reason to fire off disrepectful emails,

 

[NTTY]

I recall the Consonance name but not the players, as they were a niche in a niche in a niche over these parts...

I hate that Philips mechanism with a passion and marginal tracking with skipping on so many machines using it was commonplace I remember. I *think* it was deliberate, as mechs like the previous DC-M9 could 'track up the side of a house' they were so accommodating of bad discs and many late 90s discs were found to be physically outside the red book spec. Linn ended up making a statement that their machines would happily play any red book standard discs, but any outside this specification may not or wouldn't play at all.

We had a killer disc ruined by a B&O 7000 slim loading tray forcing itself shut with disc dislodged in its shallow tray, terminally scratching it in the process - most machines (especially the Arcam Alpha 5 and 6 I remember), which tracked/interpolated it almost perfectly, the similarly fitted Naim and AVI players of the period almost as well, but new-generation machines with the 1200 mech were terrible trackers. The popular Sony mech wasn't happy on this disc, but I recall, tried to skip forwards a second or so at a time to clear the severe scratch.

I'm wondering if t

From my tests, I see a pattern in which the combo drive + servo makes a difference, a bit like the combo Oversampling filter + DAC.
It seems the Panasonic servo have something that made a Sony KSS laser head able to read CD with holes into it. I’ll review another one soon, for the few of us still interested

 

[DSJR]

From my tests, I see a pattern in which the combo drive + servo makes a difference, a bit like the combo Oversampling filter + DAC.
It seems the Panasonic servo have something that made a Sony KSS laser head able to read CD with holes into it. I’ll review another one soon, for the few of us still interested

'Course many of us oldies are interested, as it shows how good and less good some exalted players were and are. I'd love to see how good/bad the UK Naim and Linn players were, those still functioning (!), as tested with today's knowledge - as many claims were made by them and their dealers (me included at the time) on their 'ways with music' compared to the usual far eastern lot as tested here...

Please keep testing as and when you can

 

[Barossan]

Consonance are still making CD players, which can be purchased in Europe and Asia if not North America (eg https://en.homecinesolutions.fr/p/25353-consonance-droplet-cdp-5-0-h-d-light-wood). There is a North American Consonance distributor (https://westernhifi.com/) but they don't seem to carry the CD player any more. Osborne loudspeakers in Australia (who I understand make pretty good speakers) carry a full range of Consonance CD players, turntables, streamers and amplifiers to pair with their products. So, Consonance are still a contemporary brand, if a bit unusual.

 

[NTTY]

There are other Sony SACD/CD players that used the same DAC as in the SCD-XA9000ES and that might just have as much headroom for inter-sample overs... or not !

One of them that is cheaper, though not usually at bargain used price either, is the SCD-XA333ES.

There are also the SCD-XA777ES (the SCD-XA9000ES's predecessor) and, in the US, the SCD-C555ES (with a "C" in the designation: it's a 5 discs carousel changer).

Indeed, any of these are two expensive for that test.

 

[Roland68]

Indeed, any of these are two expensive for that test.

There was a time, about 10 years ago, when Oppo players were still being sold, when you could get these devices for half the price they cost today, sometimes even for a third...
Unfortunately, back then I only bought a few cheap, albeit rare, CD players

 

[PJR918BMW]

I have ZERO interest in buying or owning a CD player ..again. Ripped and streaming now. So as long as the World doesn't blow up.. ah hem .... I'm golden..

BUT I enjoy these reviews and the strip downs.

Come on. If you are sad enough to be a regular user of this site these reviews have at least a passing interest? And a big thank you to NTTY for putting all this work in.

PS. Has Amir taken a well deserved holiday?

 

[Scytales]

PS. Has Amir taken a well deserved holiday?

No. He is at work at AXPONA 2026: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/axpona-audio-show.33/

 

[NTTY]

And got COVID

 

[NTTY]

I have ZERO interest in buying or owning a CD player ..again. Ripped and streaming now. So as long as the World doesn't blow up.. ah hem .... I'm golden..

It wanted to stop too, but got really bored of ripping CDs after 3’500 or so (so many not recognized), and much more to go. I was using iTunes as the player and it became too slow, so I subscribed to two streaming services, and I listen to my non-online CDs with couple of old CD players.
As a side consequence, my SACD collection is increasing rapidly, reason for my interest in those players too.

BUT I enjoy these reviews and the strip downs.

Thanks and I initially started because I wanted to know about these old DACs, some being recognized for their sound (eg the Philips TDA1541) or the opposite, Sony initial 1bit DACs being criticized for instance.
Now I know where is the truth

Come on. If you are sad enough to be a regular user of this site these reviews have at least a passing interest?

I must admit I don’t have interest for many items that Amir reviews, but I of course like the effort and all the knowledge that represents. Many times it is also an opportunity to learn something new, and that alone is a good reason to donate.

And a big thank you to NTTY for putting all this work in.

Thank you!

 

[PoorishDecision]

thanks for these reviews, I'm on the lookout for another cd player. there's plenty of people who still use cd players alongside their digital only libraries, pity my rotel rcd-02 is well over 20 years old now funnily enough it's hdcd compatible.

 

[Talisman]

This is just measuring for the sake of measuring. And that goes for all these cd players articles lately.
Rip your CDs to a hard-drive, recycle CD player after that. Done.
No measuring needed.
Well there might be 2-3 readers here who are in love with that "I'll go up now->browse my CD collection->press eject button on my CD player->put in another CD disk->grab a seat->repeat" cycle but they are most likely to eventually get the medication they need.

Do you go around all the technologies you consider obsolete and say how foolish people are for using them? Have you already switched to vinyl, or do you still have a way to go?
We hope we can continue to use what we like without having to rely on those who try to show us "the way."

 

[Mnyb]

I just got my first new CD player after being without one for 20 years been ripping and streaming since the Squeezebox 3 days !

But now I have the SMLS 200T . ( and my first LP player in 30 years )

There is something with the experience of putting on a physical media. Even if I have an LMS server and a ROON server and Spotify and Tidal.
It’s sometimes fun to put on a record.
And it ties back to my original interest in the hobby since I was a teen .

 

[martin900]

Odd hamonics dominant, I guess it sounds rather atrocious?

 

[NTTY]

Odd hamonics dominant, I guess it sounds rather atrocious?

Maybe read again the conclusion

 

[Jole]

NTTY I will not commentat at all people's preferences related to how they listen music. I use denon dvd3930 as cd/sacd/dvda/hdcd player and I am satisfied.. very... When I sometimes need more highes or bass I outsource to wiim and use EQ..Thank you on your efforts and contribution to us who still use plastic...

 

[Bob101]

Yikes, why the hate? If you don't like reviews of classic equipment, fine, then don't read them, and certainly don't dis them. They take time and effort to create just like anything else here.

I'd like to personally thank @NTTY for keeping a review stream flowing while Amir was busy with AXPONA.

Agreed. The point is: all players tested are ones that in their time were expensive enough to be out of reach of a lot of people.
I'd be a lot more interested if someone for a change would do these tests on vintage budget CD-players that peomple like me listened to when we were young and broke. Like the Sony CDP220, Kenwoood DP-SE7, Kenwood DP2040 or the Sony CDP190, my first ever transport. It was cheap, bulletproof, and at the time the best link in my questionable audio-chain.
I'd just like to know how 'bad' or not they were...)

 

[NTTY]

The cheapest one I tested so far is the Yamaha CDX-393. Best resistance to scratched CDs and good DA results. I’ll review soon the CDX-396, the cheapest Yamaha of 2000. It used an all in one chip from Panasonic as the 393. We’ll see if it repeats the same good results.
There will be soon too a cheap HK HD 750 HDCD player and a Technics SL-PG460/A, definitely not super high-end either. And why not more than that indeed

 

[Linnie]

I have ZERO interest in buying or owning a CD player ..again. Ripped and streaming now.

I started ripping my CDs but at some point stopped. I found I was spending more time on this than I wanted to. So, if I want to listen to some of the CD stuff I just drop the CD into the player I kept and play it.
Same with vinyl records.

 

[Linnie]

Interesting review, btw! Never heard of this brand before.