Rotel CD Players - which is best of current offerings?

[EL_PW]

Howdy Folks,

I'm in the market for a new cd player and have been looking at quite a number of models and manufacturers and I came full circle back to Rotel for highest bang to buck. But which one?

If I'm reading the specs correctly the cheapest one at $599 CD11MKII has the highest SINAD of the 4 models they currently offer. Going left to right is cheapest to most expensive $599, $999, $1,399 and $2,299:

My questions are (1) is higher SINAD always better and (2) why would the SINAD be lower the higher up you go in price?

Genuinely scratching my head here.

Thanks!

 

[restorer-john]

Howdy Folks,

I'm in the market for a new cd player and have been looking at quite a number of models and manufacturers and I came full circle back to Rotel for highest bang to buck. But which one?

If I'm reading the specs correctly the cheapest one at $599 CD11MKII has the highest SINAD of the 4 models they currently offer. Going left to right is cheapest to most expensive $599, $999, $1,399 and $2,299:

View attachment 425914

My questions are (1) is higher SINAD always better and (2) why would the SINAD be lower the higher up you go in price?

Genuinely scratching my head here.

Thanks!

The figures you are looking at are not SINAD. S/N (signal to noise) and SINAD are very different. Not only that, S/N in CD players has been an 'artificial' number pretty much since the earliest days. The noise component of S/N is often specified with the outputs muted, hence the silly >125dB number.

The distortion numbers in Rotel's specs are nothing to write home about. That said, they may do better when tested. And also bear in mind, many CD playere THD specs are THD only with no noise contribution. SINAD will be limited by the CD format itself in all but poorly designed players.

 

[EL_PW]

Now it makes sense. Thank you!

 

[AnalogSteph]

The distortion numbers in Rotel's specs are nothing to write home about. That said, they may do better when tested.

I do have to wonder how they managed to get a PCM5102A based player up to 0.009% of THD in this day and age... that chip with its 2 Vrms single-ended output is hardly a low distortion wonder (and its digital filter periodic ripple is on the lowest ranks of what still passes as hi-fi) but around 0.003% (-90 dB) is certainly achievable. The CD11 MkII may be best hooked up to an external DAC (ES9039 or AKM or Cirrus based, generally no more than about $200). Still cheaper than the 14.

BTW, why one would buy a basic CD player new in this day and age is a bit beyond me. You get all the convenience of a basic CD player in the 1990s. No playback volume normalization (some fancy Sonys actually had a database feature with per-CD volume settings back in the day, but even that has long been surpassed by software), no playlists, no nothing. Maybe you'll get a subtrack display if you're lucky.

 

[RayDunzl]

why one would buy a basic CD player new in this day and age is a bit beyond me.

Because someone has a rack full of CDs?

But I just use mine as a transport to to send digits to the DAC that decodes it and everything else.

 

[Snoopy]

Because someone has a rack full of CDs?

But I just use mine as a transport to to send digits to the DAC that decodes it and everything else.

Get a cheap Sony Blu-ray player with optical out that plays basically everything from CD to 4K Blu-ray’s .

 

[Joe Smith]

I'm still waiting for a nice modern transport that does not cost an arm and leg and is tray-based rather than slot loading. In the meantime, I just use my legacy CD/DVD players that have optical out. I expect with my level of equipment (and hearing) gains from a higher-cost transport would be minimal.

 

[Roland68]

Howdy Folks,

I'm in the market for a new cd player and have been looking at quite a number of models and manufacturers and I came full circle back to Rotel for highest bang to buck. But which one?

If I'm reading the specs correctly the cheapest one at $599 CD11MKII has the highest SINAD of the 4 models they currently offer. Going left to right is cheapest to most expensive $599, $999, $1,399 and $2,299:

View attachment 425914

My questions are (1) is higher SINAD always better and (2) why would the SINAD be lower the higher up you go in price?

Genuinely scratching my head here.

Thanks!

The Rotel CD players look nice, but the market has developed further in terms of technology.

In the ASR Sinad list there are enough balanced DACs for €300-500 that easily outperform even the DT-6000 and have both larger ESS DAC chips and/or newer ones installed (9038/9039 Pro).

A Camebridge CXC transport should be in no way inferior to the DT-6000. But for €100-300 there are many new and used CD players that are perfect for transport.

When I see that Rotel has installed a simple plastic CD drive in a top model for €2300, which costs the end customer €50-100, then I find that very disappointing. I would look on the second-hand market for a solid old Sony (also SACD), Teac VRDS or similar, there are a lot of them for under €500 and a CD transport with belt drive doesn't have to be more expensive than a CXC.

 

[Doublej]

I'm still waiting for a nice modern transport that does not cost an arm and leg and is tray-based rather than slot loading. In the meantime, I just use my legacy CD/DVD players that have optical out. I expect with my level of equipment (and hearing) gains from a higher-cost transport would be minimal.

Shanling’s CR60 is a $269 CD transport + CD ripper | Darko.Audio

Rip to a PC, Mac, USB storage device, Android smartphone or DAP.

darko.audio

 

[Yuhasz01]

I do have to wonder how they managed to get a PCM5102A based player up to 0.009% of THD in this day and age... that chip with its 2 Vrms single-ended output is hardly a low distortion wonder (and its digital filter periodic ripple is on the lowest ranks of what still passes as hi-fi) but around 0.003% (-90 dB) is certainly achievable. The CD11 MkII may be best hooked up to an external DAC (ES9039 or AKM or Cirrus based, generally no more than about $200). Still cheaper than the 14.

BTW, why one would buy a basic CD player new in this day and age is a bit beyond me. You get all the convenience of a basic CD player in the 1990s. No playback volume normalization (some fancy Sonys actually had a database feature with per-CD volume settings back in the day, but even that has long been surpassed by software), no playlists, no nothing. Maybe you'll get a subtrack display if you're lucky.

Most of my cds come with extensive playlists(each player listed on a track) and very extensive booklets,ie, 15-30 pages, or more. Granted ,most are polyphony choral music or classical instruments and voices( late Medieval to Renaissance period).

 

[EL_PW]

Shanling’s CR60 is a $269 CD transport + CD ripper | Darko.Audio

Rip to a PC, Mac, USB storage device, Android smartphone or DAP.

darko.audio

I think the Shanling CR60 is just the ticket. Thanks!