Audiolab 8200CD

I am very worried about the Audiolab 8200CD.

It sounds great, but...

(1) the CD tray tolerances are far too tight - there is a tendency to trap CDs between the tray and the jaws of the opening.

(2) the early firmware gave read errors on many CDs.  There were many complaints about this, and customers had to get a firmware upgrade.

(3) now its internal fuse is likely to blow.  There are new customer complaints about this, with numbers likely to rise since it appears to happen after 18 months use or so.  The sympton is a dead CD player.   The manufacturer can replace this fuse, but the replacement fuse also blows after another 18 months use or so...

What the manufacturer cannot say is why this internal fuse keeps blowing...

This can't even play hi-rez SACDs.

Makes no sense ... audiophiles aren't going to buy a player that only plays low -res CDs ... they will want something that can play hi-rez content on SACD.

I've had this CD player over a year and can safely say I don't use it as a CD player any more. The CD tray table is awful and brittle looking. The fact that the remote has no power / standby button is annoying. It reproduced better than the Marantz CD6003 it replaced.

But I do use the Sabre DAC acess and connect it to a Wadia i-pod transport on coax with all my tunes encoded in ALAC (apple lossless!!).

The sounds are superb ... I keep it permanently in Optimal Transient and it doesn't offend ... ever.

My conclusion it's really a great DAC with a CD built in ... so buy the entry Cyrus CD transport and buy the Audiolab M-DAC to partner.

My friend used to have one. I mean 8200CD. Had a problems with reading  factory made CD's. Sold permanently for half a price. He is very happy now with Creek Evo. No reading probs at all.

Anyway... 8200CD sounds correctly, no less no more when it plays, of course. What a pitty...brilliant idea with below average result.

Not a problem we have encountered over extensive use, Claude. And less of the racist comments, please.

Just installed the latest Mac OS 4.2 and was pleased to see you can now not only play music off your iPad or iPhone through your home Hi-Fi without wires but crucially for me without the computer or TV needing to be on (utilising Apple's Airplay technology).

Excuse my washing machine sound in the background! - www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bzxabOQthc

I'm using the new Audiolab 82000CD to handle the Digital to Analogue conversion via its optical DAC input.

Manufacturers expect us to change our gadgets every year!

Oh yeeeah???

We expect them to build the cd players wich read all factory made CDs. Do we expect too much??? C'mon man, be serious.

Regards,

Rocketride

Had the pleasure to test out the 8200CD this past weekend against my DacMagic and I have to say the 8200 does sound quite a bit better even through my budget Hi-Fi setup.

1) iMac(lossless)+ optical out + DacMagic + Marantz PM6002 + Kef Q10.

2) Audiolab8200CD (compact discs) + Marantz PM6002 + Kef Q10.

It sounds smoother and more organic. With just a little bit more bass as well. Would I get the Audiolab over the DacMagic? Of course, if I had £700 to blow I would. Or if most of my music was on CD, but it's not. So I'll stick to the DacMagic for now.

I had the same problem as Claude777. When playing CD's it would give me read errors on some of the CD-R's, but not all.  Original CD's were fine though.

here is the link to my setup.

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/610415/1/Hi%20fi?h=476a70

Ta.

I'm not the sort of person who changes or up grades kit unless there is a problem. I say this to underline the fact that until my 15 yr old 63KI finally died a couple of weeks ago I had no idea what was available as a replacement to partner my 15 yr old 8000s. I'm not that brand loyal but the the Audiolab amp won me over in 1995 and has not put a foot wrong since. This last week I have tried and tested Naim 5i, Rega Saturn & Appollo at Gullifords (Exeter), and Kandy 2, Cyrus cd6 and Arcam 37 at Sevenoaks (Yeovil), all with Audiolab amps (8000a & new 8200, and B&W685 speakers (recent replacements for castles that died).I'm also a believer that within reason you learn to "Love the one your'e with", and all of those players whilst significantly different in areas, are great. However the Audiolab 8200CD irrespective of its dgigital flexibility is a great listen, and I'm convinced it would have been my choice in a totally blind listen. When you add in all the future proofing connectivity, and its �700 price being several hundred quid less than most of the others, not a hard decision. I await with interest a review of the 8200 amp, as I thought the two units sounded great when paired in the store. Lastly great patience and service from Sevenoaks in Yeovil. Many thanks!!

About my audiolab 8200cd, beside my little problem, this cd player sounds superb. The audiolab dealer offered me to replace the unit right away.  Andrew, sorry for the racist like comment, you're right.

Just got this new Audiolab 8200CD, sounds great but there is a major problem with it. It can not read some cd's, just showing reading error, and I'm inserting original cd's not computer made ones. I bought this to replace my NAD but I will surely return it to the dealer, even if my NAD does not sound that accurate, at least it can read all my cd's. Chinese fast and too quick assembly shows flaws. Too bad for a unit that is supposed to be the best choice.

You managed to keep an electronic device for 15 years? Very impressive given that these days manufacturers expect us to change our gadgets every year!

Had an Audiolab 8200CD this weekend at home for testing. I barely couldn't resist my curiousity but before listening the 8200CD I left it playing a CD (repeat)for several hours to heat up.

Then my wife and I fed it a well known CD and the sound we hear was...

...extremely (read: beyond imagine) disappointing!

Waited for another five hours or so, reversed wallsocked connector, changed filtersetting, switched to USB, well I tried and I tried but it just doesn't sing one bit. To desribe it precisely I have to be honest I could hear some detail I had never heard before but it was like a employee in a factory hearing coins falling on the ground when no one else does because he was already deaf and didn't hear all the background noise; I could hear some new detail at the loss of far more other detail. It seems like there is some strong potential but it just doesn't come true; like you are outside and hearing some great sound coming out a window opening of a near by house. Sound was glue-ed to the speakers, absolutely no microdetail regarding room ambiance whatsoever, at one moment I thought this is the sound when I turn my speakers 180 degree around. Pff, it's just january but to me this is already my anti-climax of the year. And I really, really want to like this one!

The good:

Sturdy case, nice remote with option to control USB mediaplayer, rich features

The bad: the sound, the sound, very flimsy CD-drawer, display difficult to read at a distance, did I already mention the sound?

Note: when I read all the above it looks like I'm trashing this machine and/or am a troll but I can assure you I am not (to be honest I took the effort to register here just to express my findings; this is just a strong advise to audition the device at home (as you always should). To me - to put it mildly - it wasn't the relevation that I hoped for but for many others it certainly is. Maybe I had a faulty device or the output stage doesn't match my YBA input stage at all...

Have purchased Audiolab 8200A amp and 8200CD last saturday.Speakers are Monitor Audio RX6.For AV I have a Yamaha 2700RXV which I connected via Pre-Out Fronts to the Audiolab amp.Cables are mid priced 4mm Copper,no Bi-amping and Bi-Wiring,nothing special.

I am very pleased with the setup now,expecially with stereo.Was never really satisfied with the Yamaha in stereo,although it wasnt bad at all.Just a little harsh and not such a good controlled bass as I wished.Also there is a win in surround mode but not as much as in stereo.There is also a huge improvement in media from the computer.I use foobar with wasabi.The Dac of the 8200CD is just great.I connected via optical.Didnt tried via usb and asio4all yet.I am curious if there will be further improvement.Build quality is very good and the looks is beautyfull for me,very subjective I know.

Attention now.The cons are,the cd tray is very flimsy and not accurate with the rest (be carefull),I wished banana and XLR (the 8200CD has XLR) connectivity for the 8200A and I miss codecs like mp3,flac for the 8200CD.

The worst i am dissapointed about is the fact,that the 8200CD has problems with the the CD-Drive.The problems began just the evening I bought it.I had  some reading errors where I couldnt start playing,sometimes the drive stopped itself while playing.Next day it refused all my Cds (I tried about 30) with reading errors.All Cds are original ones.As I read here I am not the only one with this problem.Very disappointing regarding the price and claiming quality standard (award winner?).I never had problems with electronic stuff till now(even with the cheap ones),and believe me I have a lot of stuff standing around here.

Now lets see how rma works,because i intend to keep the equipment;I will report.My advise to you,please let check CD-drive if its working at least for two days. For me its obvious there is a severe problem with some drives/production.    

But the worst is    

I dont know why,but everything is just working and sounding fine the last days.I did give a try again next day and till now the CD8200 eats all the cds which it didnt before.Maybe it had to get used to its new home... just wanted to mention in order to be fair...

Asio4all and foobar works perfect (you can control with the remote) and sounds very good via 8200CD Dac.I dont regret my buy.

I bought the 8200CD and 8200A over the weekend. With a fair amount of playing its proven its quality. i read what hifi as i always do and they do get it right. my last system was a NAD but this Audiolab C player seems like it has a correct balance of middle bass and treble. it took a while to work out the filter adjustments. these are core to its technology as the filter changes emphasis from dynamic to flat and huge detail but like the manual says... that setting even though throws evrything through the convertor is somewhat tiring. so i set it to the transient which it recommends. the default setting no.1 is a bit too dynamic for low vol levels. and to get all detail thru requires too much vol at the amp. although its incredibly sharp. probably classical likes setting 4 and rock more setting 1.

I didnt find problems much in reading CDRs or CDs only 1 had probs at end (jeff waynes war o the worlds CD2)but not surprising as they could be a bit scratched. from bunging around in the car.

overall this is a fabulous british hifi. Also i bought Monitor Audio BX5 floorstanders and they are a great partner and look very nice.