Rotel boosts 15 Series hi-fi range with new CD player and stereo amp

New to the Rotel 15 Series of hi-fi components are the £1195 RA-1570 stereo amplifier (above) and £695 RCD-1570 CD player (see below).

A Bluetooth USB dongle supplied as standard with the amp means the RA-1570 can handle music streamed from most smartphones and tablets. There's also a front-mounted USB socket for easy connection of portable devices including iPhones, iPads and iPods.

Playback of high-resolution music files up to 24-bit/192kHz is supported by the rear asynchronous PC-USB input (common in standalone DACs but rare in amplifiers) and by two optical and two coaxial digital inputs – ideal for connecting external streaming devices. There's also a choice of analogue RCA and balanced XLR inputs.

More traditional aspects of the design include a Wolfson WM8740 stereo DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), and Class AB amplification delivering a claimed 120W per channel into 8 Ohms.

The partnering RCD-1570 CD player uses the same Wolfson DAC as the amplifier, has a slot-loading disc mechanism and, like the amp, was created using Rotel's Balanced Design Concept. This uses carefully chosen components, optimised signal paths and 'critical evaluation' to fine-tune the performance throughout the development cycle.

Key components used in the Rotel 15 Series include custom toroidal transformers in the power supplies, T-Network capacitors and Slit-Foil capacitors.

By Andy Clough

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.