CD / SACD players and transports — Orpheus Lab Absolute CD Player A Zero PC

The Absolute CD Player A Zero PC is a CD player from Orpheus Lab, a Swiss company founded in 2001 whose products are designed and produced by MECTRONIC Sarl. It belongs to the Absolute line and borrows converter technology from the Heritage series, the company's upper range. The front panel is curved aluminium, shaped to match the other Absolute components.

Key specs that matter

The transport is a TEAC mechanism synchronised by a high-precision quartz clock, reading pressed discs plus recordable and rewritable CDs. THD+N is below 0.0005 percent (minus 106 dB) at 1 kHz, crosstalk is under minus 120 dB, and dynamic range exceeds 117 dB from the balanced output and 111 dB from the unbalanced one. Output impedance is 150 ohm balanced and 75 ohm unbalanced. The chassis measures 440 x 420 x 100 mm and weighs 11.6 kg including its power supply, and maximum consumption is 15 W.

Engineering and use context

The converter follows what the company calls a 4-1-1-1 topology, with four synchronous DACs working in current mode and grouped into a single ensemble to improve behaviour during the current to voltage conversion. They feed a so-called Revival Filter intended for phase optimisation, after which an output driver follows. The output level is set digitally inside the DAC. The stereo DAC sits on a single board with two conditioning circuits laid out in true dual mono. The analogue output uses one balanced XLR pair and one unbalanced RCA pair, and three output levels can be selected. At the high setting the player delivers 4.8 V RMS balanced or 2.4 V RMS unbalanced, the medium setting gives 2.45 V and 1.27 V, and the low setting gives 1.227 V and 0.635 V. Digital outputs on AES/EBU at 110 ohm and S/PDIF at 75 ohm carry signals up to 24-bit and 192 kHz. A USB type B input turns the unit into a DAC for a computer, accepting PCM up to 32-bit and 384 kHz and DSD up to DSD256. The player mutes itself automatically if the mains voltage drops.

Pairing

The three selectable output levels allow the disc player to suit preamps and integrated amps with different input sensitivities, and the balanced XLR pair suits fully balanced electronics such as the Absolute Preamplifier A Two 22D. AES/EBU or coaxial links can supply an outboard DAC, while the USB input serves a computer.

Alternatives

Orpheus Lab also offers the Absolute SACD Player in the same Absolute line.