I have a confession to make. I’m yet to be swept up in the emotion of the vinyl revival. In fact, *whispers quietly* I don’t think I’ll ever own a turntable.
Now, please don’t think I don’t appreciate the format, or any physical format for that matter. I love being able to gorge on all of the tunes that Amazon Music offers (why I insist on sticking with Amazon is a feature for another day), but I grew up in the era of tape, CD and MiniDisc.
And when I started working for What Hi-Fi?, the CD was, how should I put it, the format du jour. I enjoyed and still do enjoy the ritual of taking a CD out of its case and dropping it onto a loading drawer or sliding it into a slot loader.
Sure, it’s not the same as carefully slipping a record out of a sleeve and playing it on a turntable, and the clunk and whir of a CD mechanism isn’t quite as warmth-inducing as the crackle and pop of a record coming to life, but both have their merits.
Now, back in the early noughties, I would have no problem calling in seven or eight CD players, all around the same price point for a What Hi-Fi? Super Test. Our stockroom was awash with them (and CD changers too!).
But for the past decade or so, the well has been pretty dry. You could count the number of new affordable players on one hand. It’s been reflected in the fact that the Marantz CD6007 and Cyrus CDi have become multi-year Award-winners. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great players, but the lack of any real competition has undoubtedly helped their cause.
But times are changing. In the past couple of years, I’ve heard the Rotel Michi Q5 (£5499 / $7499 / AU$9499) and two high-end monsters: the Esoteric K-05XD (£11,650 / $12,000 / AU$15,000), and Gryphon Audio Ethos (£37,500 / $50,500 / AU$64,995). Sadly, being realistic, neither of these machines is going to be slotted into my system any time soon.
Happily, I’ve also tested the Marantz CD 70 and Arcam CD25, two machines that are both brilliant and much more attainable. And it’s the Arcam that has really made a mark on me.
Hearing the jump in performance over the excellent Marantz CD 60, the increase in refinement and sophistication, and the insight that the CD25 could extract from our copy of The Eminem Show had me grinning like the Cheshire cat. This is the kind of player that will provide an instant upgrade to any suitably matching system.
And there’s more good news on the CD player front. NAD has recently announced the C 569 (£749 / €949), which slots in neatly between the Marantz and Arcam. There’s also the Rotel Michi Prestige Q430 (£3599 / €3999 / $3999), which I was lucky enough to hear in China earlier this year. Don’t worry, a full review unit will be winging its way in for review in the not-too-distant future.
Of course, this could all just be a minor blip and brief renaissance rather than a long-term trend, but I’m all for it. I don’t know about you, but I certainly can’t bear to part with my CD collection just yet.
MORE:
Read our full Marantz CD 70 review
Want a step-up model? Read our full Arcam CD25 review
Or go high-end and read our full Esoteric K-05XD review
Our pick of the best CD players you can buy across a range of prices
