General Asylum: REVIEW: Cambridge Audio CD-6 CD Player/Recorder by Paul

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CD6

i got this as an ex demonstration model from Richer sounds- UK for £125.
for this money it sounds great, even in my inexpensive system. the difference between this and comparable players at this price new and second hand that i have heard is huge.
i am a bit concerned at the manufacturing quality, the player is a good design made on the cheap. although i have had no problems as yet, i originally had bought a CD4 se, this is a good player, cost £100 for an ex demo. however it worked fine for about a month then the display kept "locking out" and none of the controls would work not even the remote. i took the lid of and noticed pretty poor quality soldering, one of the main output leads had just a few strands connected, the rest hanging loose.
i took it back (to Richer) and i negotiated swoping it for the cd6 for £25
extra, the guy was selling it for £150.
anyway i checked the internals of the player when i got home, it was a work of art compared to most of the empty boxes that mascarade as quality budget CD players (the CD4se included). the quality of workmanship looked superior- no loose ends! the cd internals were packed in (no wonder the player is a heavy mamma!) there is no empty spaces; a big difference to the CD4se. i think there are 3 seperate transformers, the layout of the player is impressive- there are basically 2 sections seperated by a copper partition; the actual transport and the DAC bit. i think this probably contributes a lot to the sound and is about as good a seperation as you will get in a reasonably priced single box player.
the player sounds good, i was suprised at the difference. the cd6 is probably worth the extra money over the CD4se. i think i got a pretty good bargain; i will see if it is still going in 6 months time to decide.
this player is probably the strongest component i have, i intend on up grading my amp/speaker setup im sure this player would probably sound even better. i would be interested if anyone else has this player what components they have set it up with, thanks.

REVIEW: Cambridge Audio CD-6 CD Player/Recorder Review by Paul at Audio Asylum