Level 3 Integrated Red Book CD Player.
Whilst the rest of the audiophile world continues it delusional and ultimately doomed love affair with the currently fashionable crop of what are claimed to be ‘high resolution’ computer sources, we at Audio Note (UK) continue to extract even greater degrees of information and quality from Red Book CD, which is still the best, currently available digital music format.
Audio Note (UK) is highly critical of the digital medium as presented by compact disc; we sincerely hope that you too will find this transport breaks free from the ‘digital mould’ that we are all so accustomed to, and so opens a new window on your CD collection.
It has been specifically engineered for sonic performance rather than technical specification, and fulfils all Audio Note (UK) Level 3 criteria.
Better, by design
Its shares many of the elements found in two of our most highly regarded Digital playback devices, the CDT Two/II and the DAC2.1x. However, the component quality contained within its solid and purposeful chassis exceeds that of either machine. Our own custom Audio Note (UK) resistors and electrolytic capacitors are used extensively, in all critical positions..
Digital, done right
The Digital section features the highly regarded Analogue Devices AD1865 digital to analogue converter chip, the same device that we use in our highest level stand alone DACs. This 18bit device has consistently outperformed every competing chip we have tested regardless of specification or price.
The analogue output stage is based around two ECC88 dual triode valves, and the output capacitors are our own Audio Note (UK) copper foil variety.
Special attention has been paid to the power supplies in the CD4.1x; even the display has its own dedicated supply, which reduces internal noise to an exceptionally low level.
Technical Specifications
OPTICAL PICK UP |
3 beam laser |
SEMI-CONDUCTOR LASER |
780nm |
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE |
Less than 2 KOhm |
REFERENCE OUTPUT |
3.0V RMS (approx.) |
CHANNEL BALANCE |
Less than 0.5dB |
UNIT WEIGHT |
11 kg |
UNIT DIMENSIONS |
142mm (h) x 445mm (w) x 428mm (d) |
MAINS INPUT |
AC 220-240V 50/60Hz |
MAX. POWER CONSUMPTION |
48W |