Don't Ditch Your CD Collection Until You've Given This Player From Rotel A Fair Hearing
The death of the humble CD has been greatly exaggerated in recent years. Soon the silver disc will celebrate its 40thanniversary and despite a gentle decline in sales, mostly thanks to streaming services and a revitalised vinyl market, the world’s first digital format is still selling well and consumers seem to like its permanence as well as the sound quality, which still knocks spots off MP3 files. It seems people still want to sit down and listen to a complete album, whether that be rock, opera or classical. Not everyone has succumbed to the lure of the random shuffle.
That said, the choice of CD separates isn't as extensive as it used to be but there is still a fair amount of choice from budget decks all the way up to the eye-wateringly expensive esoteric players to make this a competitive market. Basically, a CD player consists of two main components: a CD transport mechanism that spins the disc and uses a laser to read off the digital information encoded on it; and a Digital-to-Analog Convertor (DAC) which shapes that raw data into an analog waveform that can then be amplified and fed to a pair of speakers. The more expensive players use expensive and sophisticated DAC circuitry and are often powered by separate transformers in order to recreate a sound that’s pleasing to our ears. One of the reasons given for the resurgence in popularity of vinyl is that LPs give a warm analog sound that’s often missing from CD players that have to create a decent analog sound from the brutal rawness of ones and zeros.
Well if that is your experience of CD and you despair of ever listening to a CD player that can find the natural warmth that recorded music ought to capture, I think I may have found a solution. The Rotel RCD-1572 is a mid-price CD deck that, although quite a bit more expensive than the excellent Marantz CD6006 beloved by many hi-fi enthusiasts, has a great character that will breathe new life into your CD collection.
Rotel
The front of the RCD-1752 is a fairly plain design that belies the capability of this CD player.
The RCD-1572 is beautifully built and styled with rounded edges to match Rotel’s 15 series audio system that includes pre and power amplifiers. It’s a full width unit so will match your existing hi-fi and it’s available in both silver and black finishes. The player’s front is fairly plain with discreet rounded buttons and a blue scrolling LED display. The large power button is surrounded with a bright blue illuminated ring that you can turn down, thankfully. The same goes for the illuminated text display. I often enjoy listening to music in the dark and bright LED lights can be very distracting.
Rotel is a brand that’s been in existence for around 55 years and the company built its reputation on some excellent budget audio separates that became very popular in the 1980s along with the likes of NAD. Anyone starting out to build a decent hi-fi system was urged by audio magazines to consider Rotel separates at the heart of a decent budget system. Now Rotel is refashioning itself with the higher-end Rotel 15 series. The designers have concentrated on using premium components and the circuitry almost exclusively uses ‘through-the-hole’ componentry rather than the smaller surface-mounted components that many manufacturers use. This gives the designers far more options when choosing high-quality components like capacitors. The designers have also focused on oversized toroidal transformers to shield out interference and deliver clean and noise-free power to the circuitry.
At the heart of the RCD-1752 is a Wolfson WM8740 DAC offering 24-bit 192kHz support. However, the Rotel engineers have chosen to bypass the Wolfson’s internal low-pass filter in favour of a custom-designed filter of their own. The thinking behind this is to use the precision of the Wolfson DAC to get the maximum clarity from the data and then to use Rotel’s own filter to fashion the sound signature of the 1572 to match the Rotel sound delivered by the power and pre-amp units. Another reason for choosing the Wolfson DAC is the ability to offer both unbalanced RCA phono outputs as well as balanced XLR outputs. It’s all about choice and making a system that will adapt and offer more choices and pairing possibilities over its lifetime.
So how does this heavyweight beast sound once it’s hooked up? I didn’t get the opportunity to audition it with the other components of the Rotel system so I listened to it through my Linn Wakonda setup with its matching LK140 power amp and my trusty Mordaunt-Short M50s speakers. From the moment I pressed play the sound was strikingly warm and mellow. If you’ve ever shunned CD because of that harsh clinical sound of digital formats, the Rotel RCD-1572 will convince you that digital sources can be every bit as warm, inviting and yet clear as the very best analog sources you can find.
Using my current favourite test CD of Diana Krall’s ‘Turn Up The Quiet’, I could hear so much detail coming from the stand-up bass. Every slap of the strings and every breath taken by Ms Krall were beautifully reproduced. The luxuriating warm delivery just suits cool jazz sounds so well. The soundstage is impeccably reproduced and you can visualise every instrument right where it should be.
Rotel
The components selected for the RCD-1752 are high grade and powered by Rotel's own design of toroidal transformer.
The RCD-1572 may lack a little bit of attack but what it gives up in harshness it delivers in melodic rhythm that makes listening to music a genuine pleasure. It may not work quite so well on large orchestral pieces or heavy metal music because the delivery is a little laid back, but that suits my taste in music just fine. I auditioned the player over the Christmas holidays and almost everyone who heard it played remarked on its clarity and musicality. It’s rare that non-enthusiasts remark on my audio system, so when I do get compliments I know there’s something special about the piece of kit I’m testing at that time.
Verdict: The Rotel CD-1572 may not be the most exciting CD player in the world but for my taste in music it’s one of the best. I don’t particularly think its styling will win a lot of fans and it is a little on the plain side but shut your eyes and listen to its mellifluous tones and you really can’t help falling in love with its mellow tones. On the downside this player can’t handle SACD and the remote control is a little utilitarian, but for the money I think this is one of the best mid-range CD players I’ve heard in quite a while.
Prices: £849 / $899 / €999
- Total Harmonic Distortion (THD): 0.002% @ 1kHz
- Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz ±0.5dB
- S/N Ratio (IHF "A" Weighted): >118dB
- Dynamic Range: >99dB
- Digital To Analog Converter: Wolfson WM8740 24-bit/192kHz
- Channel Balance: ±0.5dB
- Channel Separation: >115dB @ 10kHz
- Dimensions: (W × H × D): 431 × 104 × 320mm / 17" × 4" × 12.6"
- Front Panel Height: 2U / 88.1mm (3.5")
- Power Consumption:15W
- Standby Power Consumption: <0.5W
- Weight: 6.7kg (15lbs.)
- Output Levels:
- Unbalanced (RCA): 2.2V
- Balanced (XLR): 4.4V
- Digital (Coax): 0.5V
- Output Impedance:
- Unbalanced (RCA): 100Ω
- Balanced (XLR): 200Ω
- Digital (Coax): 75Ω
