The Article
Marantz HD-CD1 CD Player: can also be used as a transport
18th August 2016
Marantz has announced the HD-CD1 CD Player based up a a Cirrus Logic CS4398 chip. This is used together with a crystal oscillator master clock and a low impedance capacitor.
An included headphone stage has its own volume control and a dedicated HDAM-SA2 amplifier, complete with adjustable gain setting: low, medium and high.
The HD-CD1 has both optical and coaxial digital outputs, meaning it can be used as a CD transport straight into the digital input on the company’s associated HD-AMP1, allowing it to be used with the ESS Sabre DAC built into the amplifier. Like the analogue outputs, the coaxial digital connection uses a gold-plated RCA socket and a digital cable is supplied with the player.
The new player has extensive measures to suppress both electrical and mechanical interference. For example, a high-current power supply with high-capacity storage capacitors is used along with high-speed Schottky Barrier Diodes. The player also has auto-standby and very low power consumption when in standby mode and is built on a double layer base-plate for rigidity and vibration suppression, aided by the use of compliant feet, a solid aluminium fascia and a rigid top-plate, and is finished with retro-style side-cheeks, whether in silver gold or black.
The new MusicLink HD-CD1 CD Player will be available from September onwards. Price will be £449.
To learn more, click www.marantz.eu
From what I can gather Roy, the CD1 is a decent player, nothing amazing but decent and would do pretty well as a transport with a DAC. The 6006 is not amazing either but it’s a decent product for the price. If you want a general purpose CD player then I’d lean towards the 6006 but if I had the money to spend I’d probably go elsewhere.