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REVIEW: Rotel RCD 971 CD Player/Recorder Review by carlo at Audio Asylum

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I can't go to sleep, and I realised that in regards to the AH! Njoe Tjoeb review below it might help if I specifically wrote about what I felt about the Rotel RCD 971. I also saw that there isn't a formal review in the archives, as such, I guess this'll be the first one. I was considering borrowing this player for sometime as a home demo, but never got around to it. I've come across it several times at a local dealer (Sound Factor, Pasadena, CA - nice people) and a friend of mine purchased it a few months ago. Anyway, he lent it to me for two weeks. Enough of that, to the music:

The specs on this player are frightening, considering it's price tag. It's well built, solid for a player in it's price point (bettered in this respect by the Sony xa20es in my opinion though) and the dual dacs + HDCD are a nice touch. I didn't spend a lot of time focussed on the latter feature, but I can say that the Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin" and Springstein's "Tracks" boxed set sounded superb.

The first CD I played was Tricky's Maxinquay (which I didn't listen to on the AH! player, long story) and the first thing that struck me was how fast the player sounded. The album is filled with beats on top of beats, in kind of a quirky mix. The player hit both extremes very well, with a fluid and almost ballsy ammount of bass. I listened to PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke's duet "The Mess We're In" (Stories from the City...) and the space around their voices was breathtaking, her's off center a bit, his a little higher up in the middle, her's become dislocalized during the hook... good stuff. I was loving the player. The tambourine work sounded very real, with a natural decay.

I played Joni Mitchel's DCC release of Blue, and the midrange detail from the player was in a word: gorgeous. The soundstage was formed very well, very wide if not a bit shallow (compared to the AH!). Guitar work and handclaps were very realistic, but Joni's voice did sound a little more etched than usual. Much better than my current Adcom, but not quite right either (this is a disk I've heard numerous times in numerous systems). After listening to an enjoyable CD for a while, it started to become less fun... my response was to analyze the music way too much.

If you refer to my AH! review I make a comment about listening to "Everything in It's Right Place" from Radiohead's Kid A. Higher frequency detail didn't pop out from the background, but rather dominated. This is especially curious to me because I didn't feel the player was bright or harsh, just too aggressive. The player just sounded digital to me, not as bad as my Adcom, but not as good as I wanted. Not to say that it isn't an excellent player: it is. As I reread my comments it seems harder than I intend, but I find no other way to state it (and it's late/early).

The Rotel is detailed, fast, and has an exceptional ability to create a believable soundstage. There is absoultely nothing my current Adcom does better, and it isn't close. The only thing that kept me from buying it was the feeling that I'd want to upgrade again soon. I'm not saying the AH! Njoe Tjoeb is a better player, but that on my system it did more things right. This player may well be more honest and true to the source, but I didn't find it as musical as it could be.


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Topic - REVIEW: Rotel RCD 971 CD Player/Recorder Review by carlo at Audio Asylum - carlo 05:05:19 01/21/01 ( 0)