Rotel CD

[bribassguy]

I have heard good things on the mid 90's CD players. Anyone own one?

 

[dura]

I used to have the 965 (can't rember the letters coming with it). It got rave reviews but frankly I thought it sounded bland. A popular trick in those days to avoid sounding "digital" but ultimately players like that sounds gray.

 

[Pars]

I own an RCD-855 (TDA1541a DAC) and an RCD-991 (2xPCM-63 with PCM100 HDCD filter). The 855 is highly modded (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/3416222-post2669.html). I haven't done anything to the 991 yet, but will redo the output stage and probably reclock it at a minimum. Currently the 855 walks all over the 991, but the 991 should wind up being the better of the two. Pay attention to the DAC chips and the transport used (make sure you can get a replacement laser for instance). This is a good list for DACs and transport list. The 965BX previously mentioned I don't recall being all that well thought of, but I could be wrong. The subsequent RCD-971 was considerably better for example.

 

[brianva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dura /img/forum/go_quote.gif I used to have the 965 (can't rember the letters coming with it). It got rave reviews but frankly I thought it sounded bland. A popular trick in those days to avoid sounding "digital" but ultimately players like that sounds gray.

I agree 100%. Even with some of its high end digital harshness, my oppo 980 is just more exciting and fun (=better) to me than my rotel 965.

 

[DLeeWebb]

I have a Rotel RCD-1072 single disc player and I love the features and the sound.

 

[aeolian]

I own a Rotel 1072. Highly regarded, for its price, for its ability to render playback musically. But, it is not a giant-killer. After some research, I found out that oversampling (8x with the 1072) merely pushes the distortion away from mid-range to high and low frequency. What the 1072 does is reduce the sound level/amplitude/gain of HF and LF so that the distortion is less audible. What you get is a player with good (or good enough) mid-range but lacking somewhat in the HF and LF frequency ranges.

Yo-yo Ma sounds great on my system. Chris Botti, on the other hand, sounds uninspiring.

 

[Twoguns]

I own a Rotel RCD 965-BX LE, and its a pretty good player in its own right. It was considered the most legendary and upgradeable of the Rotel-players in the 90s. It is filled with Black-gates, and the DAC-chip is the SAA7323GP (very analogue-sounding). By reclocking, which there are a lot of solutions (and providers) for (just google RCD 965 clock) it was believed to hold its own against newer players up to ~2500 USD.
in my opinion, the best feature is the Philips CDM4/19-transport. This is very reliable and accurate, which makes the player really good as a transport. I am working on reclocking mine, with a tent-labs XO clock so that I can timesynch with a Tentlabs XO Dac in an external DAC, and then have a kick-ass two-box system! So, in summary, some of the Rotels are really good, like the 965 and 971.. but only with further tinkering.