CD/SACD-проигрыватели и транспорты — YBA PASSION CDT450

The Passion CDT450 was built by YBA as a top-loading transport for compact discs, with the French electronics brand itself dating back to 1981, when Yves-Bernard André founded it. It belongs to the Passion range, which sits below the Signature series in the YBA hierarchy, and the maker now lists it as discontinued. Design work stayed in France, while production moved to Shanling in China. In the UK the CDT450 was priced at GBP 3,995.

Key specs that matter

The disc drive is a Philips CD PRO IIm mechanism fitted with YBA's patented Blue Diode system. It reads CD, CD-R and CD-RW discs. There is no digital-to-analogue converter inside, and all five outputs are digital - I2S, coaxial, optical, AES/EBU and BNC. Sample rate conversion can upsample the data stream to 96 kHz or 192 kHz at 24 bits, but this function is offered only on the I2S output, so the other four connections carry the native CD signal. The power supply is a linear design, and its transformer is of the R-Core type. The case is finished in natural aluminium and measures 430 mm wide, 388 mm deep and 118 mm high, with a weight of 10.8 kg.

Engineering and use context

A sliding door gives access to the platter, the disc is held in place by a heavy magnetic puck, and play begins once the door is pushed forward by about 2 cm. YBA advises leaving the door partly open during playback, because the air moved by the spinning disc would otherwise create vibration inside the closed compartment. The chassis rests on three feet in a tripod layout. An elliptical panel in the centre of the fascia holds the display, a styling cue shared with other YBA product lines, and two discrete buttons flank it. Every function can be run either from those front controls or from the supplied remote handset.

Pairing

Any capable external DAC can accept the signal through the coaxial, optical, AES/EBU or BNC links, so the CDT450 works with converters from other makers as well. YBA designed it first of all to feed two models of its own Passion line - the PRE550A preamplifier with its built-in DAC and the IA350A integrated amplifier, which also contains a converter stage. A single digital cable between transport and amplifier then forms a complete disc front end without a separate DAC box. The I2S output, and with it the upsampling feature, is useful only if the receiving converter has a matching I2S input.

Alternatives

The YBA Passion CD430 is a complete CD player from the same Passion range, with its own converter on board.