Rotel RCD-1570
Rotel's been in the silver-disc spinning game now
for over 30 years. Will experience prove to be the clincher?
Here’s a
company with something of a varied past. In the seventies it was making huge,
chintzy hi-fi separates, but a decade later had become famous for
stripped-down, minimalist products with the accent on sonics
rather than frills. It has stuck with this, watching larger Japanese
manufacturers fall by the wayside in pursuit of other markets, and now has a
great reputation as a purveyor of affordable audiophile products. The player
here is the successor to the boldly styled 1520, whose basic layout it shares.
It sports a centrally mounted slot-loading CD drive, which works slickly.
Indeed, its classier to use than any of the other tray
loaders here.
Rotel RCD-1570 front view
The feeling
of sophistication continues when you look at the fascia, which is a lovely
slice of brushed aluminium and the buttons are neatly
laid out and positive in use. The vacuum fluorescent display lights up -
predictably enough - in blue, and while it may be a rather cold color it’s
easily readable. Inside, there’s a Wolfson WM8740
digital filter and DAC chip, working up to 24/192 resolution. Operationally;
the mechanism can be slightly noisier than the others here, and oddly it will
recognize and display HDCDs (remember those?), but won’t play them at their
higher resolution! This is something of a ghostly feature, harking back to when
Rotel made great HDCD players.
On test
This CD
player employs a Wolfson WM8740 DAC, but Rotel's own analogue stage has been 'tuned' with a mild low
frequency response roll-off amounting to -0.45dB/ 20Hz. Measured via its
balanced XLR outputs it also shows a slight increase in harmonic distortion at
these low frequencies (0.0024% at 1kHz to 0.016% at 20Hz) plus a slight
increase in output impedance to 100ohm - technical features that may not be
unrelated.
Rotel RCD-1570 rear view
More
important is the fact that distortion is largely unvarying through mid and very
high frequencies. Also this player offers a wide 110dB A-wtd S/N ratio, once we compensate for the high 4.2V maximum
outputs. Stereo separation is similarly wide at >105dB (20Hz- 20kHz) and intermodulation distortion held very low at just
0.0002%. On the other hand jitter, both correlated and noise-like, is rather
higher than typical for a player in this class at over 1,000psec.
Sound quality
The Rotel is a strong and assertive sounding CD player, with an
animated, musical nature. The New Order track sounds highly energetic and
forceful, with the RCD-1570 capturing the frenetic synthesizer work, chiming
keyboard stabs and that busy, undulating bassline.
It’s a very compressed track, which makes it all the more difficult for budget
CD players to shine, as there’s so much going on, crammed claustrophobically
into one small space. But this machine isn’t fazed in
the slightest, showing itself to have an extremely detailed midband
bristling with detail. This is allied to a clean and crisp treble up top and
partnered with a big, powerful bass down below; indeed its low-frequency power
is the best of the group.
Internal Rotel
RCD-1570
Moving to
the more gentle strains of Randy Crawford, and there is a good deal of air and
space to the proceedings, and the singer’s stunning voice is really well
carried tonally - sounding rich and breathy. Backing instruments time nicely
and the song sounds polished and sophisticated in a way that all here except
the Quad can’t quite deliver. However, this song does show the Rotel to be a little mechanical sounding. All the
instruments are beautifully rendered, but the whole doesn’t quite gel together
so well. It’s a very impressive-sounding machine, but not quite as seductive.
The Siouxsie and The Banshees track is breathtaking. Its
powerful piano cadences, allied to the impactful drum work, are carried with
blistering speed. The Rotel is a dynamic player, and
never quite lets you forget this - there’s a touch of melodrama to its
presentation, which is a joy with powerful pop such as this. Lead singer Siouxsie’s vocals are both haunting and ethereal. In this
instance, the Rotel’s presentation seems to suit the
song, and proves to be a compelling listen.
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Details
·
Product: Rotel RCD-1570
·
Origin: Japan/China
·
Type: CD player
·
Price: $1,154.37
·
Weight: 6.7kg
·
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 431
x93 x 320mm
· Features: Wolfson WM8740 DAC, 1x
RCA phono line output, 1x XLR balanced output,
Slot-loading CD drive
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