CD/SACD-проигрыватели и транспорты — Audio Note CD 4.1x

The CD 4.1x is a one-box Red Book CD player from Audio Note (UK), classed by the company as a Level 3 integrated player. It draws on two separate Audio Note digital components - the CDT Two/II transport and the DAC 2.1x converter - and combines their circuits in one chassis, with parts quality that the maker places above either of those units. Audio Note treats standard CD as the best digital format available and built this machine around it rather than around high-resolution computer files. The asking price was USD 12,000.

Key specs that matter

A three-beam semiconductor laser at 780 nm reads the disc. The reference output is about 3.0 V RMS from single-ended analogue outputs with an output impedance below 2 kOhm, and left-right balance stays inside 0.5 dB. An S/PDIF socket on the back offers a digital feed. The player accepts AC 100 to 120 V or 220 to 240 V at 50 or 60 Hz and draws up to 48 W. The case is 142 mm high, 445 mm wide and 428 mm deep and weighs 11 kg, and the front panel comes in black acrylic or in anodised aluminium.

Engineering and use context

The drive is a top-loading Philips CD-Pro2LF, a broadcast-grade mechanism with a magnetic puck clamp and a four-spring suspension built into it. The converter chip is the Analog Devices AD1865, an 18-bit multi-bit chip that Audio Note also uses in its highest-level standalone DACs. There is no oversampling, jitter reduction, noise shaping or re-clocking, and all filtering takes place in the analogue domain. The output stage runs on two ECC88 (6922) dual-triode valves and couples through Audio Note copper foil capacitors. Audio Note's own resistors and electrolytic capacitors are used in all critical positions, alongside tantalum resistors and NOS Black Gate signal capacitors. The DAC board and the transport board each have their own power supply and mains transformer, and even the display has a dedicated supply to keep internal noise down. Five small front buttons operate the transport and dim or switch off the readout, and a plastic remote control is supplied.

Pairing

With about 3 V available, the player connects to a standard line-level input on a valve or transistor preamplifier or integrated amplifier, and no phono or extra gain stage is involved. The S/PDIF output lets the CD-Pro2LF transport section feed a separate converter, such as one of the stand-alone Audio Note DACs that use the same AD1865 chip.

Alternatives

The Audio Note CD 5.1x is the integrated player that superseded this model, adding output transformers taken from the DAC 3.1x Balanced.