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Years ago I had a Rotel CD-855 player. Lasted about 8 or 9 years, and sounded great. Replaced it with a Music Hall player. That took a dump after about 6 or 7 years, so I bought an NAD-568. This player has been OK, but as of late it's begun mistracking. So it's time for another player. I really liked the Rotel unit I had years ago, and the 1572 MKII interests me, but I have having trouble finding reviews that compare this player (and Rotels in general) to the NAD and Music Hall units. Anyone have any thoughts before I go drop $1k on a new player?Al
Edits: 12/08/23Follow Ups:
A friend, who has been on the manufacturing side of hi-end audio for decades, recently purchased a Pro-ject DS3 <$1K. Underwood HiFi has a sale price, I think for $599. It will also double as a transport to connect to a dac
hth
The CDP in my second system failed and i didn't want to spend bucks. Had a used Tascam CD-RW900MKII i bought for $150.00. Paired with a nice DAC ( MHDT Stockholm 2) it sounds very very good.
You are not going to get great reproduction from a sub $1k cdp. I have heard the low end Marantz units and they are just OK and are within your budget. Any Rega unit would be an upgrade. Once you hear more expensive CDPs, or separate transport/dac combos, you will be shocked at how much better they are than sub $1k one box CDPs made in China. And you will also be shocked at how much difference a good transport makes.
Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone
Here are a few options:
You could purchase a few units from a retailer that has a return policy, compare them, keep the one you want, and return the others. Crutchfield is one such retailer. It might cost you a few dollars in return shipping and restocking fees.
Or you could travel to a local-ish large retail audio store that carries Rotel and listen to it and a few other units.
Or you could call the Rotel retailer you are thinking of purchasing from, ask them which model CD players they carry and how they compare to the Rotel.
Or you could just buy the Rotel and be happy. It's an established brand, gets great reviews, and you have been happy with them in the past.
Based on your post, I would just get the Rotel from a retailer with a return policy. If for some reason there is something that bothers you about it, you can return it and get something else.
You know, sometimes the simplest answer is the hardest to see. :+)
First - the transport-D/A is a non-starter. Just not interested.
I've been looking at reviews and such for a few days already, and it looks like it's coming down to the Rotel 14MKII and the Marantz CD60. About the same price. The CD60 has a USB port (like my NAD568) but I've never used it. The Rotel does not. I leave tomorrow for a one week RV trip, so when I return I'll contact Crutchfield (I've done a lot of business with them over the years, mostly for cars) and discuss the differences with the two. Thanks for the headslap!!
Al
had bought it years ago used but replaced it with a Jolida CD100 I loved.
I'd forgotten about the 965, which has been in the basement for
some 15 years. My friend hooked it up with some other mid-fi
gear I gave hime it works great and he loves it.
If you like the Rotel, you should stick with Rotel.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
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The Shanling ET3 CD transport looks interesting...... Especially if you're looking for a new production CD rig that is NOT "slot loaded"...... It's a top load design with a "stabilizer" manually placed on the disc.
This is a dedicated transport, so you can choose your DAC, start inexpensive with the DAC and work your way up to something really satisfactory. (Unlike the Schiit CD transport, it does have an optical digital output option.)
Note that I have NOT heard this product, so I cannot vouch for the sound.... But as I stated, it does look interesting.
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If interested in this Shanling, take a look at Darko's online video review. He describes it in detail and compares with some other player described as Shit or something!
If you're willing to tolerate the annoying ads, you might consider looking up any player that interests you on Youtube. Steve Guttenberg and John Darko review CD players there as do others of lesser notoriety that post reviews of CDPs. There aren't many comparison videos of say, Rotel vs Denon or Marantz vs a manufacturer in the price bracket you're interested in. I'll occasionally watch some of the videos but as long as my 18 or so year old Rotel RCD-1072 keeps spinning as an acceptable transport, I won't surrender to the desire to buy a new toy, even at Christmas time.
I suggest a two part solution. The transport is the weak link as far as reliability--spend most of the money on a good DAC, and buy an out of favor former top-of-the-line DVD machine as the transport. I am happy with using a Sony DVP-S7000 (their first DVD player--way overbuilt with separate lasers for dvd's and cd's) for which I paid $36. I also have a Pioneer DVD-V7400 (a professional unit with a rated service life of 37,000 hours!) that is equally competent. It lacks a track display so it is less convenient, but it's replacement DVD-V8000 doesn't. The former is always available on ePay for around $50, the latter is usually around twice that much.
Have you considered getting a cheap CD or DVD player with a digital output and a nice dac? You could possibly get comparable or better sound for $1K or less, compared to a $1k cd player and have more flexibility for future upgrades or different sources such as a streamer.
Edits: 12/08/23
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