[fewtch]

Been evaluating the 855 with classical music, and I have to take back some semi-negative comments I've made... this is really an awesome source and I think I'd pay up to $300+ for its abilities. The realism with acoustic instruments is very sweet, and the background blackness... IMO everyone should use classical to properly evaluate a source. Rock, jazz, etc. doesn't do it, too much variation in mastering quality.

It's just lacking a little bit in ultimate resolution and soundstage width, otherwise this has to be up to the standards of pretty good modern sources. Let's hope the laser mechanism holds up awhile longer...

 

[JiggaD369]

Hey, nice find man. I bought mine off Ebay last year for $55 shipped because the guy who owned it couldn't get the drawer open and when I got it, I stuck a knife in it and wah-lah! Thing works like a champ. Also very heavy and very tank built. If I can, I will post some internal pics for you guys tomorrow. Im not much of a modifier myself but what mods can be done or gotten done for this player to achieve a (don't know if this is possible) better sound?

 

[Drag0n]

I love my Rotel RCD975. Some say it sounds better than the Rega Planet.
It sounds better than my brothers Marantz CD-67SE. All those models are great players though. The most modded ive seen of the three is the Marantz player though. The make it sound like a $2000 or better player with mods.
The Ah! Njoe Tjoeb players use a Marantz 3000 as a base and super-mod it and add a tube output to it,and upsampling.

The best buy is a California Audio Labs Icon MK2 with the Power Boss upgrade. I sometimes see them for under $500 on EBAY.................and i think it sounds better than alot of CD players that were rated Class A in Stereophile.

 

[dsavitsk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meat01 I believe the 855 and 955 are very similar and use the same DAC (TDA1541A) as the Scott Nixon Dac.

SN uses the TDA1543, the Rotel uses the TDA1541. The TDA1541 is the superior chip.

 

[ekwinix]

I just bought a Rotel 865 off ebay.

I have tried doing some searches for it on Google but can't really find anything.

Does anyone know anything about it? It looks very similar to the 855, and hopefully the quality will be just as good

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hciman77 It was the combination of affordable minimalist design (straight wire with gain) and tuning by European engineers that made these amps popular when most Japanese manufacturers were working out how to get even more swithes, lights and filters onto their amps.

LOL! I remember those days. I couldn't convince all my friends to steer clear of the lights, they were mesmerized.

Congrats on a fantastic find my friend. That's some bargain! And the quick gratification factor is a big bonus!

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekwinix I just bought a Rotel 865 off ebay. I have tried doing some searches for it on Google but can't really find anything. Does anyone know anything about it? It looks very similar to the 855, and hopefully the quality will be just as good

RCD865BX Bitstream, remote 1990-1991 $599

The 855/955 were multibit players, the 865/965 were bitstream players, will probably still have a similar philips transport, these older transports were pretty well regarded

http://www.audioreview.com/cat/digit...0_1586crx.aspx